Social Media Fails: 5 Social Projects That Tanked In 2010

2010 may have been a big year for some social media outlets, but for others business wasn't so great.

While Google struggled to gain a foothold in the social media space, Facebook hit 500 million users. MySpace introduced Mashup, an integration with Facebook that signaled MySpace has all but surrendered to the world's largest social network.

Here's a quick look at the five biggest projects that just never caught on. Are there other social media fails we should add to the list? Click "Add a slide" to submit your suggestion.

 

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Google Buzz

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There are a social media fails, and then there are social media epic fails. Google Buzz, Google's answer to microblogging sites like Twitter, was not only met with heavy criticism, but resulted in a lawsuit. Settled in early November, the suit resulted in Google giving over $8.5 million that will go to privacy education, according to New York Magazine.

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There are a social media fails, and then there are social media epic fails. Google Buzz, Google's answer to microblogging sites like Twitter, was not only met with heavy criticism, but resulted in a lawsuit. Settled in early November, the suit resulted in Google giving over $8.5 million that will go to privacy education, according to New York Magazine.

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This Fail

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Going Strong That Tanked

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Comments

[Brandon1990]

07:43 PM on 01/02/2011

I knew ping would fail.

[EricBishop]

03:15 PM on 12/31/2010

The fall of Google Wave was a bummer. I used it a ton with family while planning two trips, and I think it had potential. I really wish they'd not given up on it.

[Cowoak]

10:00 AM on 12/29/2010

ping 127.0.0.1 -t

[whyanything]

07:10 PM on 12/30/2010

LOL!

[Cowoak]

10:26 PM on 12/30/2010

Glad somone got it!!!!

[loki]

07:32 AM on 12/29/2010

Im shocked. Arianna allowed anything that sheds a negative light upon steve Jobs ? Amazing.

[EricBishop]

03:16 PM on 12/31/2010

That looks terrible.

[Mister Wu]

06:23 AM on 12/29/2010

I'm still wishing I could delete Ping from my itune software upgrade.

[Mr Hankey]

11:49 PM on 12/28/2010

Myspace was great for artists of all media; and facebook is not as artist friendly. I was so addicted to myspace for a long time, and I made friends with amazing, super-talented unsigned musicians. I so miss what it was a few years ago.

Never heard of Ping though...I should check it out.

[EricBishop]

03:18 PM on 12/31/2010

Myspace should have tried to sell themselves to Apple or an iTunes competitor, maybe even Amazon, about 2 years ago and worked on hooking into facebook as a platform for artists and companies to promote themselves within online social networking.

Alas, it's degraded to a haven for small-time indie music and pedophiles.

[Mik McAllister]

11:42 PM on 12/28/2010

Can we please call them for what they really are? They are a-social networks. Their only purpose is to make sure you do not socialize with any real people.

And at that, they are succeeding admirably.

[Lance Uppercut]

12:33 AM on 12/29/2010

I'll be off your lawn in a minute sir.

[Mik McAllister]

12:43 AM on 12/29/2010

So, how many "friends" do you have, meaning people who have:
a) seen yoru user name and think it's cute
b) like your avatar because its one they've always awanted and where did you find it
c) happened to have the same status as you for about 20 minutes one day
d) mistook your status for the lyrics of a song they like, although they can't remember who "did" it or what the name of the song is
e) mistook your avatar for somebody they saw in a movie once and they really want your autograph
f) think you are really one of their relatives in disguise and they want to prove how smart they are by "catching" you at it.

Yeah, some of us recall what a real friend is. And it has nothing to do with how much they paid to buy us as a pet.

[mjcc1987]

09:46 AM on 12/29/2010

Now that's funny.

Thanks

[teysko]

07:37 PM on 12/28/2010

Dude, I remember I spent last spring BEGGING for a Google Wave invite. And Google Voice, but at least Google Voice is cool. And then I got the wave invite and I was all, "ok, now I'm waving to myself" and it seemed pretty stupid. I felt like Ralphie in A Christmas Story when he got the decoder pin and it was a commercial for ovaltine and he was all, "what a ripoff." Well, I hadn't paid for Wave, but I was pretty disappointed that I had spent so much time begging for an invitation and it was such crap.

[bwright85]

05:27 PM on 12/28/2010

I think one of the reasons Facebook "Places" isn't doing so well because it is ONLY available on the I-Phone, as opposed to Four Square (which has a strong following), which is available to ALL cell phone models and carriers.

[Liz Patrick]

04:24 AM on 12/30/2010

I have places on my BlackBerry. I'm just way to smart to advertise my whereabouts, or lack there of, to robbers, rapists, and stalkers. Which is not to say that I think my friends are any of the aforementioned criminals, just that you can never be too careful.

[grod805]

02:51 AM on 01/01/2011

Yup, my droid from verizon has it too.

[psilocynic]

04:01 PM on 12/28/2010

Social media is a fail and facebook will go away too.

[okami]

06:56 PM on 12/28/2010

i agree that it may happen, but not for a while. uncounted numbers of sites have come and gone; there was a time Friendster (now in obscurity) ruled a large portion of the field, and then MySpace. Facebook will eventually go, too.

what i do have a problem with is that many nonsocial sites on the web are so hooked into Facebook and similar sites is that there is no personal account linked to the site itself; you have to associate your Facebook or other site to it to gain access. i see it as ultimately self-defeating when those sites eventually fail.

[ewj1]

10:58 PM on 12/28/2010

Isn't Huffpo social media? If not what would you call it?

[Liz Patrick]

04:28 AM on 12/30/2010

I'd call it optional social media. It's only social if you want it to be. I can still read articles without ever HAVING to have an account or post comments. It's not social media to the extent that you have to join to get any use out of it.

[Dunkleberger Karl]

04:00 PM on 12/28/2010

Forgot "Wulf" the social media, set up by "dunder mifflin"!

[Gingerale]

03:56 PM on 12/28/2010

Mergers, mergers, and more mergers. How many mergers does one country need? How big does one company need to be in order to make BILLIONS for its CEO while shipping all of its jobs overseas and leaving our citizens bankrupt, homeless, unemployed, etc., etc., etc. Every American should read this detailed history of how we got here. We've been going down this path for a very long time -- decades! Available in a few days.

http://www.e-tabitha.com/2010/12/smoke-mirrors.html

http://www.e-tabitha.com/2010/12/smoke-mirrors.html

[Jerome Morrow]

03:40 PM on 12/28/2010

All of these deserved to fail because the didn't realize what was going on in the market.

[Parietal]

03:25 PM on 12/28/2010

facebook is boring.... Ive never been a fan of social networking. I think its more of a distraction than an attraction.