Why do some social networking Web sites grow popular like YouTube or MySpace while most others struggle through obscurity?

This was the question I sought to answer in a story appearing in this week's issue of The Deal magazine. Some keys to social networking success are:

1) Passionate founders with a clear vision of the community they want to create
2) Actively engaged founders willing to stamp out activity they don't want
3) A Web site that enables user discovery
4) A Web site that encourages user participation
4) A reliable Web site
5) A useful service
6) Some luck

Acquirers that spend millions, or in the case of Google, billions on a social networking acquisition look for a few signs that their money is being spent on a site that has staying power. These are:

1) A service with a position of market leadership
2) A Web site that users would find troublesome to switch from
3) Founders willing to stay on and help continue to evolve the service

For more on the the science of social networking, see:
The Deal
The New York Times

Tags: google, youtube, myspace, yahoo, m&a, vc, venture+capital.