Never Forget That 16-Year-Old Girls Run the Internet

[Commentary] You may have created a social startup that finds favor with the tech blogs and is so hot that it overtakes the 20-to-40-year-old social/tech hipsters. But never, ever forget this cardinal rule: 16-year-old girls run the Internet.

Two of the hottest social network apps right now are Secret and Whisper. Whisper and Secret are both scaling very quickly. Are they part of a fad that’s going to fade? Or can we count on one of these as the perfect outlet to dump our feelings and thoughts on society? Building a social interest network that is not a fad requires:

• Developing cultural pillars. At a minimum, both Whisper and Secret need to give you some sense of their values, purpose statement and expectations to help shape the intent of the network. Not everyone listens, but these guidelines and expectations have a powerful effect on networks, especially early in the user experience of the service.
• Relying on your contacts. Scanning contacts freaks people out a little, but the genius of scanning your contacts is that it sets a cultural tone. Because Secret scans contacts, users of Secret take it more seriously than Whisper. With Whisper, you get the distinct feeling that you’re revealing your innermost shenanigans to a random crowd of strangers from all age groups and interests. his is precisely the experience Secret is increasingly positioned to deliver on, that is getting more and more difficult for Whisper to capture.
• Develop a solid collaborative filter. A collaborative filter in the main feeds will connect users with content that’s more relevant to them based on what “Whispered Secrets” they “Like.” Unfortunately for Whisper, all they have to go on is “Like” data for this, because they don’t know who their users are, where they’re from or what they like. Secret is developing a substantial edge here, since they’ve already set a precedent that they’re going to ask for personal data like contacts. Expect them to ask more questions soon. It’s the only path toward a killer browsing experience.

[Sotira is the co-founder and CEO of deviantART, the largest online social community for artists and art enthusiasts]