Social Network Interoperability

[jducoeur]

For a year or so now, I've been thinking about the problem of the larger social network -- how to deal with the plethora of social networks that are springing up out there. Others have also been pondering this, but I've just stumbled across the most interesting one yet: BradFitz, founder of LJ (and now at Google) is starting to look at the problem really seriously. He seems to be focused particularly on one aspect of the issue -- how to leverage the existing social network for future applications -- but that may well be a key element, and I'm intrigued by what he says. This may turn into an interesting and significant project, and make life easier pretty soon...

Comments

[the-nita.livejournal.com]

It sounds like a lovely idea. I don't see it being done as a "it should just exist" thing any time soon. Or ever. At least not while we live in something vaguely resembling a capital-driven world. Or until there's a benefactor on the order of Bill or Richard who wants to give the world the machines/code/support for that sort of project, and can convince the world that it isn't a marketing scam to get a hold of their demographic information on a tighter level.

Interesting. It'll be curious if it can get past the thought experiment level.

[jducoeur]

Well, keep in mind that he's working at Google now, and they're tending to take the long view. I can easily see them supporting and running this, simply on the grounds that it fits nicely with their "aggregate all the world's information" strategy. For that reason specifically, I *do* expect it to happen -- it'll be interesting to see if it does so in a form that's genuinely useful...