Comments on: Building the user-centered web

By: Steve Schofield

Steve Schofield — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:47:54 +0000

Good evening Ben
This is a massively insightful view of what “could” and “should” be the future of the industry that is (or will be, depending on your perspective)niche or special interest community led.

Your list of Ben Werdmuller identities resonated with me, as I just went through the process of listing all of my own social network profiles on my google profile, just the other day – and I was totally blown away by the inefficiency of it. The problem is, I believe the management of multiple network identities has to be the future – so this is a problem that must be solved. It would certainly help me fulfill a core objective for my startup!

Thanks for the knowledge!
Steve

By: Brett Husbands

Brett Husbands — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:28:57 +0000

Ben this is awesome (and Thanks to Silona for pointing at it).

Let’s say we want to start building this today (and I am serious) – where do we start? Most users don’t have the interest, skills, tools, etc to maintain their own private portable data stores.

Andrew – There is nothing in it for any company except good ethics in the short run. In the long run if I am given a choice of being able to have data portability with some services and not with others I will be inclined to move away from the sinister people.

By: DracoBlue

DracoBlue — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:40:55 +0000

Hello Ben,

just wanted to say thank you for this interesting blog entry!

- Jan

By: Ben Werdmuller

Ben Werdmuller — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:44:18 +0000

@Trent That depends on what you mean by “organic”. For example, I’d say that a company – which is more enforced than organic by some definitions – is also a social network.

By: Trent Batson

Trent Batson — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:38:42 +0000

Ben: “interconnected system of people” should be “interconnected ORGANIC system of people.” Right?

By: Silona

Silona — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:13:23 +0000

ah Andrew Ducker asks what is in it for the companies…

Well for the current 800lb gorillas, perhaps not much. But for all the other businesses and orgs that realize in the current model few people will join more than 1 Social network. There is much to be gained in the long tail of people’s attention. What Ben is proposing here is a long tail approach to the business of Social media. And I have to admit I am one of the proponents!

By: Mir Seth

Mir Seth — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 06:49:13 +0000

Ben, this is a wide and deep overview, and you give an inspiring vision for the future. May I suggest you set some time aside for regular (annual?) speaking or discussion sessions at major universities?

By: Andrew Ducker

Andrew Ducker — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:36:36 +0000

The main question here, for me, is what’s in it for the companies?

What do they gain by opening up?

Oh – and as for fragmenting my identities (which I agree is necessary), I like Livejournal’s approach – where I divide up my contacts into different groups and make different things available to different filters, depending on the content.