Keith Watanabe * NET 2.0

I recently added spaces from live.com as another SNS to my list (gotta update my profile though).  I realized, as i'm certain most people have as well, that there are too many of these generic, overlapping SNS sites abound.  Sadly enough, none of them do SNS correctly (heck, I tried building my own), except maybe linkedin, but that one is more focused.

The problem with SNS is that it's easy to do and a necessity.  So everyone tries to do their own.  However, there is very little added value that I've seen per SNS.  Most involve the obvious profile page, add friends/groups pages, maybe events, some privacy, etc. which end making these things function more like a glorified version of a groupware piece of software.  However, these SNS only attract scum or abusers, just like email, which end up being a massive turn off.

The main thing I've come to realize is that the architecture for SNS needs to change.  First, most SNS sites need to disappear.  The problem is the decentralized ID system.  Second, the redundant functionality between SNS gives little reason for people to continuously sign up.  Of course, sites like Open ID  attempt to mitigate part of this problem, but leaving one's ID to a centralized system is always a security (although it is an excellent business model if you consider the implications).

What people want to consider in an SNS is being able to aggregate information from various sources.  You really want something that is able to pull information from each SNS for a specific person into one centralized area.  This includes searches.  Consider the benefit of having something like a google search geared exclusively (and accurately) through locating people's SNS identities.  This is a key feature I think really needed, where open APIs allow aggregating data to allow people to find their friends if they exist on the net.  In other words, first generating a data mining tool to pool this data, then being able to search on various parameters.

Right now, the sad truth about SNS is that they are little more than Geocities 2.0.  Take a look at the horrible layouts and crap that people put on their pages.  What people are saying through SNS is "here I am and here are the people who know me."  There is very little add value to this, especially considering the decentralized nature of these sites.  Even the ones that do aggregate these identities, big deal. All they are in reality is just a database with a table that has a list of SNS and links to people's identities.  Again, no brainer sites.

Then you have people creating topics of SNS.  An SNS for Barbie?  Or shopping?  Come on.  Just create a group and have people link into it.

Either way, I hope Murdoch realizes he overpaid for Geocities 2.0.  Hopefully, people aren't going to make the same mistakes with Friendster, mixi, Facebook, hi5, etc.