As Faceboook’s value explodes on Wall Street, publishers might be tempted to build their own social networks. During the “Connecting with Kids: Strategies and Challenges for Building Engaging Communities” panel at Digital Book World, two industry experts urged publishers to avoid this idea.
Jacob Lewis, the co-founder and CEO of Figment, explained that he was forced to scrap an idea for a new Facebook-style interface for his writing community: “There are a lot of ways you can socialize reading. Making it Facebook is not one of them.” Instead, he urged publishers to use Facebook Connect–letting readers access Facebook accounts on your site.
“If you try to force a social network on kids, it will feel forced,” agreed Lyle Underkoffler from Disney Publishing Worldwide. He urged publishers to create secondary materials that don’t exist yet for a particular readership–like online games.