about building effective social networks

As I mentioned in a DB posted earlier, I was drawn to his point that a social network depends on early adopters to be successful. He goes on to say that you must provide users the ability to collaborate and to build those collaborative networks. I found this particularly interesting as I considered not just social networking but blogging too. I think it is wonderful to have a blog where one can pontificate on whatever topic they desire, but if you do not give readers the opportunity to pontificate along with you, i.e. post a comment or even to go so far as to ask their opinion, what’s the use in blogging if you don’t have a place for discussion. As with any discourse, it takes two, so I imagine a social network or blog would need to have the option for users to be part of the discussion or determining the direction otherwise they wouldn’t bother reading or joining in.
Hargadon’s fifth point was also interesting to me and refers back to my last paragraph. If there isn’t anything interesting going on and a user isn’t involved in the discussion, why bother. He brings up the point that a social network needs to have focus. Like any good marketing plan, you need to focus on your audience and those you are trying to attract to your product. He states that numbers are as important as the discussion that is taking place and I would agree, if you can keep those few engaged, you’ve succeeded.