Blue Ocean

There is a clear excitement in the valley on anything related to social networking (some would even say irrational exuberance). Like many of you, I started using FaceBook and came to the realization that social network is not an application or a Web site. Instead, it is a primitive, a core identity service that is worth embedding across most network application. I know what you are thinking: "what took you so long"?

Indeed, everyone seems to be joining the social network party. All the big guys are publicly playing catch up. Google social stream wants to unify all your networks into one (one social network to rule them all with no evil). Yahoo! is secretly working on something too. Meanwhile, Microsoft seems to be ready to open the purse. Even Cisco has realized that social networks are a network platform and as such, are worth placing a bet on. But eh, wait. Someone is missing the party. There is no black turtleneck to be seen anywhere. There is no word of Apple when it comes to social networking.

I have never used .MAC. I always found it hard to pay for services I can get online for free. However, I did switch to Mac OS X, MacBook and iPod for pictures, video and music. Certainly, there is an iPhone in my future. But let us think different for a second. Would not it be insanely great if all these second to none applications called iPhoto, iTunes and MailViewer let me do the basic things that Flickr, Last.fm, and Facebook let me do every day?

The more I experience social networking, the more I am convinced that social networks capabilities should be part of any modern operating system. No, Apple does not need to buy Facebook. However, we, the Mac users could greatly benefit if the boys in Cupertino were to take a serious look at it. Knowing my old NeXT friends, I would not be surprised if they were not already working hard at it.

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Yesterday, Mike Arrington and a few other folks published a brief yet promising "bill of rigtht" for open social networks. Although less spectacular than the launch of the new iPod at Moscone's, everyone involved with digital identities will recognize the importance of such first step. In fact, this may well be the beginning of new and interesting development: the emergence of a new identity layer that will enable an open mesh of social networks.

Consumers should love it. It is all about control, empowerment, consolidation, and convenience. By taking a user-centric approach where the user can consolidate and own his identity profile, social graph and activity stream, the social Web tables are turned upside down. The user now is completely in charge. Consumers regain ownership of their "content". They decide what is being shared, when and where. Privacy advocates will love it.

What I like about the idea is that it is practical. As Brad Fitzpatrick explains, there are enough APIs (FaceBook, LinkedIn...) out there to bootstrap the effort whether or not the big social network guys want to play or not.

Relying party sites could potentially become the big beneficiaries of the new identity layer and the open social Web that it enables. There is a clear business value to take advantage of this new movement because it can improve the interactivity and user experience of any network application or service. It will drive more interactions to the relying party sites and more interactions mean more business.

The idea of sharing names and passwords across the Internet is as exciting as curling tournaments. This on the other hand, carries a lot of promise. If the technical community and service providers can provide consumers with the tools to start regaining control of their distributed self, it may just work.

Where will the new identity service reside? Anywhere that's secure, reliable, and always-on: my cable set-top box? my home networked PC? Or, with a trusted service provider in the cloud? Only one thing is clear: Consumers will be the ultimate winners. Yes, social network portability is a very disruptive and exciting idea. Hang on to your seat, the revolution is being blogged.

Posted by at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)