As you can see from my last entry, I am very much into SNS (or social software) these days.

Seeing announcements of new SNS almost every two weeks, I started to think where all these SNS should be headed.

For the time being, I am somewhat enjoying the mix of various Social Network services, but in the long run, I believe they will turn into this: an address book application.

Accessing information via web browser is like using chopstick through boxing glove. I see some value in Social Network Services but I think it would be more convenient if they are integrated into the OS (+an application made specifically for these purposes). It kind of reminds me of “People, Places and Thing” interface which Taligent (and HP) were trying to implement.

From here on, I would like to discuss how we should materialize the future Social Software. In doing so, I would like to pick some elements of SNS.

• profiles
  
  

  
  
  I believe the OS should have a multilingual, vCard 3.0-based, extensible profile which you can send Bluetooth (or IrDA) to your phone or export to SNS, e-commerce service, etc. And this profile must be signed, certified and sealed by some electronic signature technology.

  
  
  

  It will be great if you can limit access to each information the way you can do with most SNS.
  
  Also, if we had one (or two) repository for all these profiles, we can say “Sayonara” to the tradition of business card. You will always have access to your friends’ latest contact information while you can block the access to your profile from unwanted people. Drawing the line between “the wanted” and “the unwanted” can become a big issue, but I believe SNS’s today are giving us great lessons here.

  
  
  

  Even if today's SNS survive for a long time, having an exportable profile would help fair competition.

  
  
  

  Joining another SNS is a very painful process, you have to enter your profile, search your friend, add them to your friend list and join same communities. It is much better to stick with the old SNS even if it lacks some features the newer SNS’s have. So those who come in to the game at a later time have less opportunity to be accepted regardless of their design and service.
  
  

  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

• BLOG integration
  
  

  
  
  Although not popular (yet) in the US., what I like the most about mixi.jp and other SNS in Japan is how they integrate BLOGs to their system.
  
  If someone in your friend list update his/her blog, it will show that in your profile page (others won’t see it). Mixi will also send you an e-mail around midnight notifying who have updates their blogs.

  
  
  

  I think this feature can be easily integrated into address book. Imagine, Mac OS X’s “Address Book” if you have used one. It is a great example of your communication hub.
  
  Even today, if you enter a blog URL for your friends, the link will automatically show up in your safari Safari web browser.
  
  I think it will be very natural for them to integrate NetNews Wire like RSS browser capability. So you will know who have updated their blog. You don’t even have to launch Safari to read the latest headline from your friends’ blog. And if Apple would add a “Smart Address Group” feature a la iTunes, you can program Safari to list only the blogs that has been updated in the last 24 hours., etc.
  
  

  
  
  

This should be enough for today. But I would like to continue this discussion once in a while -- unless someone wants to start a project with me, of course ;-)

Homework: study the culture of iChat status and how the Mac users use them to exhibit their feeling, characteristic, etc. click here for hints.

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there seem to be a strange bug with MovableType version I am using, it doesn't reflect the correct link:

below are some of the URLs I have refered to:

People, Places, Things:

http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/2000/HPL-2000-16.pdf

mixi:

http://mixi.jp

NetNews Wire:

http://www.ranchero.com/

iChat:

http://www.google.com/search?q=iChat+Status&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8