OSS Watch team blog

In a recent post I described my worries about Web2.0 Social Networking tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, BeBo et. al In that post I asserted that in order to be truly useful social networking sites need to open up and share more of their data. I predicted that only those sites that go this way will survive.

In this post I’ll look at an alternative future to the one in which a small number of social network sites win out. In this alternative scenario there is no need for “one site to rule them all”, instead we get a whole range of useful tools that allow communities to build their own social networking sites to support their specific needs.

There are a growing number of Web2.0 Social Networking tools (as opposed to sites) that look really interesting, at least to me. They provide small units of functionality that I can quickly and easily embed in by chosen web desktop in order to create my own social networking “site”. I recognise that some of the current big players in this space are heading in this direction. They provide “applications” that can be plugged into each users version of their site. However, these sites suffer from the “walled garden” problem I discuss in the earlier post. In my alternative scenario the tools are focussed on doing one job, and doing it well (note this is much closer to what the term Web2.0 originally meant than what many people think it means today). Each tool can be seamlessly integrated as and when needed because the user owns the data and the tool is either open source or has an extensive open API (note, I’m not claiming we are there yet, this is a potential future scenario).

Currently on my personal list of “potentially useful” are:

• Dopplr – know when your schedule takes you to the same place as others in your social network (the bar or dinner table is still the most effective social networking tool)
• Twitter – took me a while to “get it” but as Brian Kelly recently described it, it is an online “two minute water cooler chat” – lets see if I agree with this view in a few months time
• del.icio.us – social bookmarking, now if only I could figure out how to mine this resource for good data
• Google Calendars – it really does save time if people can see your availability without sending another mail

I realise there is nothing particularly new in this list, I’m a follower in this space, not a leader. I provide my list to illustrate what I consider to be potentially useful tools. For each of these tools I believe I may, over time, find a place in my social networking armoury, alongside my current tool set which consists of:

• email for discussion
• web sites (with blogs and RSS feeds) for publication
• a revision control system for document and, where appropriate, source management
• an issue tracker to manage community objectives, resources and strategy

What makes these new tools stand out from the others in this space? For me the common factors in these new tools are:

• they provide something email can’t
• they provide an API that allows me to do what I want with the data (actually Dopplr doesn’t, but RSS and iCal feeds do allow access to the data generated by the tool)
• they don’t require me to sign up to and navigate a gamut of tools I don’t want, just to get at the one I do want
• they let me define my own processes for community development and interaction

I’d love to hear from people about social networking tools they find useful, especially if they satisfy my criteria above.
(if anyone is interested in finding me on these tools then it is useful to know I always use the username “rgardler”, except on Google – mail me if you need access to my calendar)