What chat client do you use to talk to people online?
Right now if you want to chat with someone you have to log into a platform, whether the platform is aim, gtalk, or facebook is irrelevant. The point is that you need to log in to “something” to have access to your friends, contacts, networks, etc. Online networking and communication is fragmented with a countless number of platforms, chat clients, tools, and resources. There is information everywhere yet nowhere. How do you think online communication will change in the future? What are the possibilities?
Perhaps this is a hypothetical topic, perhaps not; but think about this. What if the internet became it’s own social network. Meaning, there was no login, there was no platform. What if every time I moved my mouse and showed that I was active online, all of my contacts and connections immediately new and could connect with me? Using the internet as a social network would make the internet the ultimate aggregator and macro social network that could exist. But is it probable or even possible, and what would happen to sites such as facebook? I’m curious to see what will happen to social media and online community collaboration and communication in the next few years. Could internet service providers, computer manufacturers, and technology companies offer a universal client that came preinstalled on every machine and with every internet connection, for free? If not, then how much would it cost?
We are seeing sites such as friendfeed and socialmedia act as aggregators and we are also seeing sites such as ning allow for the creation of extreme niche networks. We are moving to the fringes on both sides, to two extremes, the ultimate niche networks and the ultimate aggregator networks, but when does it stop? How much of a niche network can you get and how much of an aggregator network can you get?
I ask these questions because I think it’s important to look at the big picture and to understand where things are now and where they can possibly go. I don’t know we wold create an internet social network that acts as the ultimate aggregator but then there was a time when people didn’t know how they would light up a room, explore space, or communicate with each other without seeing each other. We have the technology…will it happen, when?
What are your thoughts? Can the internet become it’s own social network? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this and anything else relationg to the subject.
Thanks for reading everyone!
Interesting topic and thought. I personally don't see the value in the Internet becoming a macro-social network, although isn't OpenID attempting something similar? At the end of the day, you will always have to sign-in or log-in to something whether automatically or not. With that said, it's an interesting question to pose and I look forward to the other responses.
Not every interaction needs to be shared with one's social graph — whether it be the user who wishes not to share their purchases, articles read, sites visited, etc. or that the members of the user's social graph just doesn't care.
I view the niche networks and aggregators to be somewhat orthogonal to the social graph (and what Friends Connect and Facebook Connect are attempting to do). Niche networks are great for bringing together a bunch of otherwise random people who have a common interest around a particular topic. Aggregators may be a combination of friends/colleagues and people you just want to follow. They may ignore every comment you make. In either case, some people may become your friends and some may not.
I think this is a huge issue about privacy. Do you remember the facebook beacon fiasco last year?
There is a tenuous balance between people's desires for personalized experiences and privacy. We may want to share certain parts of our lives with some people, and not with others.
As it is, I think facebook is doing a pretty good job at being a robust platform that people can use to share what information they wish.. I just think that people want to be able to “opt in” about the information they share.
Jacob,
I don't think you're too far off with your vision. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the future looks similar to what you forecast in this post.
I believe that the market will decide which social networks survive. They will all need successful business plans if they want to survive and many of them don't including twitter. I love twitter, but unless it gets a business model ti be profitable, how will it be able to sustain itself?
John Kreiss
SullivanKreiss, Inc.
it is an interesting question, and as i mentioned perhaps it is more hypothetical than probably, but still worth considering. the value would be to create a truly connected network, in fact, we are all connected online, we just dont have a little icon that tells us we are 🙂
you are absolutely correct on this, we don;t need to share all of our interactions with one another. i am more curious form a hypothetical standpoint than i am from a practical standpoint.
ah yes, good 'ol facebook beacon. i'm not talking about tracking ever movement and reporting it though, im talking about allowing everyone to have their own “internet profile” that allows users to connect with one another. i do see your point though, could become a real mess.
hey john, who knows what will happen. a few years ago if you were to tell me that i would be able to meeting people through a giant social network i would have send you were crazy. the market will definitely be a deciding factor, companies need to pay for themselves afterall
Hmm, so everything would be “opt-in”?
I think that the biggest challenge would then be that the vast majority of people who use the Internet are “lurkers” – those who don't actually care to contribute. if they had to opt-in to share information with every step, well, you'd end up where we are now: with plenty of folks off the grid.
it is an interesting question, and as i mentioned perhaps it is more hypothetical than probably, but still worth considering. the value would be to create a truly connected network, in fact, we are all connected online, we just dont have a little icon that tells us we are 🙂
you are absolutely correct on this, we don;t need to share all of our interactions with one another. i am more curious form a hypothetical standpoint than i am from a practical standpoint.
ah yes, good 'ol facebook beacon. i'm not talking about tracking ever movement and reporting it though, im talking about allowing everyone to have their own “internet profile” that allows users to connect with one another. i do see your point though, could become a real mess.
hey john, who knows what will happen. a few years ago if you were to tell me that i would be able to meeting people through a giant social network i would have send you were crazy. the market will definitely be a deciding factor, companies need to pay for themselves afterall
Hmm, so everything would be “opt-in”?
I think that the biggest challenge would then be that the vast majority of people who use the Internet are “lurkers” – those who don't actually care to contribute. if they had to opt-in to share information with every step, well, you'd end up where we are now: with plenty of folks off the grid.
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