What is the “Next Big Thing”?

The past two years we saw the rise of the social networks. A new site sprouts up at least once a week. If you read what some of the early adopters are saying, you get the feeling that people are tired of signing up for every new service every time. It is fast becoming hard work to maintain your social status on all the other social networks.

So, I guess the natural question for these tired-of-social-networking individuals is, what next? The other buzz that is doing the rounds is “Distributed Social Networking”. Plainly put, use the social networking service you prefer, but be able to interact with friends on other social networking sites. This is basically what people would love to see. At least, this is what I’d love to see! Thing is, it is hard to break down the walls around these gardens. Facebook recently banned Google’s Friendconnect due to “violation of privacy”.

The problem is that you basically need to tap into API’s to enter a walled garden. This means that Facebook controls who does what with its API and can easily dictate what is and isn’t allowed to happen. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that they’re just trying to protect us! I mean, it is in our best interest to live behind the walled garden, right? Blegh, I’m sorry, but I simply don’t share that sentiments. Why not let users decide? Build in GPC’s (Granular Privacy Controls). They’re already doing it, so they can simply extend it!

This could all be made so much simpler if the use of microformats was implemented. Data could simply be marked up according to the specified standards, and Harry’s your uncle! ( Nobody wants Bob as their uncle anymore, so we rather go with uncle Harry… ) Suddenly, data is freely available to whoever wants to do what with it. The only issue remaining now is security. Big problem… yes, but not as big as getting past red tape.

So why is this not being done?! It sounds so simple! You are dead right and in fact, it is fairly simple. The one big issue is that microformats are not really a new technology. It’s a new standard. It has been around for a couple of years. Yahoo! is implementing it left, right and center. So why then is it such a problem to implement? Well, we all know how some companies feel about standards! Just look at CSS and HTML. Thats been around for decades, yet some browsers still ignore the standards and do their own thing. In short, standards are much more difficult to get implemented and accepted.

I’ve been ranting and raving about microformats for a long time now on my personal blog. For me it is an extremely simple, but powerful concept and I love simplicity.