Aswath Weblog

Owning Your Social Graph

In a post yesterday, Tom Evslin identifies the directories of social networking to be exciting. He says: “The directories of social networks like Facebook are exciting. YOU own your directory entry; YOU decide what it says about you. Most important YOU decide who has access to which information in your directory entry and who can communicate with you.” (We may “own” our directory entry, but “They” are the real arbiters; but it is a quibble.) He goes on to say, “Social networks, especially their directories, are enablers of the next big thing in communication.” And a bit later he also points out, “But, so far, the social networks are largely developing as islands. [… all your friends] don’t all live on the same social network.” But we all live on one Network, the Internet. As I have quoted Gary McGraw in an earlier post: “People keep asking me to join the LinkedIn network, but I’m already part of a network, it’s called the Internet.” We need to focus on developing what I call “User-centric Social Network”. To borrow one of Jeff Pulver’s oft quoted refrain: You can own your own social network. To hear more about it, please come join us at “Social Networking” session in Innovators’ Track on Wednesday at 9AM. Alternatively, you can explore EnThinnai to get hands-on experience.