Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, and YouTube are a few examples of social networking sites that are popular these days. If you are involved in more than one of these communities, is there a way to make the sum of social networking sites greater than the parts (the individual sites themselves)?
Flock is a web browser, based on Mozilla Firefox, that attempts to unify social networks. Read a Technology Review article about Flock.
WRAL has an article on one of Google’s latest initiatives, called “Friend Connect”. “Friend Connect” provides a framework, no programming required, that will enable people to interact with their friends and use favorite applications they have accumulated on social networks even when they aren’t visiting those sites.
And to consider future possibilities with social networking read the Technology Review article about MIT students who are exploring the power of an open source cell phone operating system, provided by Google. One idea is a social-networking program that helps people make new friends in their area using geolocation. It doesn’t seem too much of a stretch to imagine how a service like this could be integrated with social networking sites. For example, the cell phone software could help create spontaneous in-person connections leveraging connections made online through social networking sites.
This blog entry definitely interested me. Especially the part of the blog asking if a social network can become more than the sum of its parts. I have noticed social networking sites are fun, but there aren’t very many features that allow you to network with people to find an internship, startup capital if you have a business idea, learn from and talk with a professional, collaborate on business, school, non-profit, local, and cross cultural projects? This is the idea behind a small project Collaboration Board. If anyone is interested or have noticed certain “must-have features” not available on social networking sites feel free to take a look http://www.collaborationboard.com and post or email any comments or questions. This blog entry is great because it really poses the question – What is in store for the future evolution of social networks?