I think the “Coolness” is only a small factor of something more important. Innovate or die! The warning sign is stagnation.
With each of the social networks that fell out of grace, someone took a look at what they are doing and came out with a better way of doing it. If top one had continued to innovate and improve faster than the new start ups they would of stayed on top.
For example look at Google. They weren't the first search engine. They came up with a better way of organizing search results and rose to the top. If they'd stopped innovating when they hit the top, someone else would have came up with something better and beaten them. But Google has continued to innovate and improve fast than any new upstart has even come close to so far.
If you don't see constant worthwhile improvements coming from a social networking site, then they are going to be out innovated by someone new.
(as Brock Phillimore)
I think the “Coolness” is only a small factor of something more important. Innovate or die! The warning sign is stagnation.
With each of the social networks that fell out of grace, someone took a look at what they are doing and came out with a better way of doing it. If top one had continued to innovate and improve faster than the new start ups they would of stayed on top.
For example look at Google. They weren't the first search engine. They came up with a better way of organizing search results and rose to the top. If they'd stopped innovating when they hit the top, someone else would have came up with something better and beaten them. But Google has continued to innovate and improve fast than any new upstart has even come close to so far.
If you don't see constant worthwhile improvements coming from a social networking site, then they are going to be out innovated by someone new.