Social switchboards as commodity: from dawn to dusk

I decided to use the Google Translate to post some of my blogs in English. I don’t expect them to be perfect but hopefully good enough to understand what I’m talking about. I want to edit the posts ASAP. Thanks to Google!

See original Russian text…

Today, when an increasing number of publications, where characteristics of the Google +, its advantages and disadvantages in comparison with Facebook are considered from all sides (which I also occasionally dabble in [ 1 , 2 ]), we would like to take a look at new project from a different side. That, in general, represents the emergence of Google + on the market and where all this may lead Internet along with us? This article of mine consists of an introduction (goes below) and divided into five sections, each of which will be published as a separate note. All notes are small, because of the experience realized that conceptual questions are better understood and more productively discussed step by step — one question after another. Most of the notes I’m going to develop later in separate articles, some of which may be «closed».

Social switchboards as commodity, and what follows from this

Some call the subject of our further conversation as social platform , while others — the social foundation, or backbone of Internet, and others — a social stratum of Web operating system , or OS in the clouds. Names are many, but they all relate to one class of social networking resources, which until recently was representated by Facebook. Earlier I suggested that such resources are called social-communicating , but recently realized that the most appropriate term here social switchboard (or social commutator).

And nearly three years ago, timidly emerged first talk about the early formation of social networking for the Internet some are still very vague component, which clearly bears the features characteristic of what in Russian is called communal services, and the English — commodity. Under public services refers to services (and if you talk about the commodity, then the goods) general consumption. This includes, without which civilized man has to do cannot: sewerage, electricity, transport, post and telecommunications (telephone), and the like.

But today, when Google introduced its new product, thus, likely to create another stage in the development of social switchboard is already a growing number of experts have begun to realize that this has still a few elusive Internet component as a time they (social switchboards) and are, as well as the services they provide social connectivity. Talk about the early days of the new commodity sector began to be heard all the louder and louder .

Frankly, I highly delighted Coming Google +. And except for the factor of the appearance of a serious competitor in Facebook — that is very useful for social switchboards market — there is also a bit of personal satisfaction. As never before, many points from forecast from my «Fantasy…” come true, as well as in some other notes published before and after. In particular, about » How to weigh the friendship «- a concept largely coincides with the ideology of Circles (Circles) — one of the main trump cards in the game that Google started against Facebook.

So it does not seem unfounded hope that Google and other players of social networking market will listen again to my reasons and «recommendations». So I decided to gather in one article all said above about the social switching to generalize a bit and «comb» your thoughts, given the kaleidoscopic changes that took place during this time.

For commodities is closed a lot of social (in the literal sense), economic, and legal problems. This is an area of ​​the economy where the state wants some of it or not, forced to intervene more often. Such interference can affect many aspects of the social market switches from their neutrality to antitrust legislation. This will be my first major article «Social switchboards, and … the state» (as the publication notes links will be activated).

Not the last role the state (or rather, the combined efforts of states) can play in terms of speeding up procedures, and standardization. Indeed, the emergence of Google + indicates that the social switchboard industry clearly entered the stage of stabilization. And with this step due to so many processes, including the unification and standardization is not the last place. Some of the issues arising here are presented in the article «Shape exempt» It should be noted that Google has now, after much hesitation practically admitted as a standard de facto specificity of constructing social switchboards underlying« Facebook. This recognition means a lot. It displays a corresponding «standard» to a new level. In particular, this can be attributed to the informal protocols of interaction with users and with the third-party resources. Further already much more strict unification will not happen in a vacuum. To date, the relevant standards already attained enough (OpenID, OpenSocial, etc.), you only need to refine, implement and use correctly.

At the same time, standardization and unification cannot happen without generating a common terminology base. In the next section, «Let’s define» just and attempt to respect the formal definition of the concept of «social switchboard.» We will indicate a place of social switching resources in the social network space and their relation to other media and service resources. This includes both social resources, as well as resources, not having anything to do with «social» world. In the section are listed the main characteristic features of social switchboards. Prior to this section will be provisionally attributed to social resources such as Facebook, Google +, LinkedIn, and all others who are in their basic functionality, well, at least 75% closer to each of these three.

Today, when the end of the first month of existence of Google +, almost no one doubts that his debut was a success and Facebook finally have a rival with which everyone will have to reckon with. Thus, the development of the Internet chose the second (competitive) to the script mentioned in my » Five scenarios … «. Where and how to move further social switchboards market, see the following two notes. It will be shown how, starting from the current state of centralized Web space, social switchboards reached its peak («From the dawn …» section), then to slowly but surely come to its complete degeneration in an already decentralized network («… Until dust » section). At the same time somewhere in the new development branch will return to something such as the OpenSocial standard, at whose birth the most actively involved none other than the same as Google — now the builder has a «walled garden.»

Departure from the scene of social switchboards does not mean that vanishes actuality function of social communication. On the contrary, the role of this function will only increase with time. Simply a function of social communication gradually begins to move from specialized resources directly to the media, and service resources. There is a function of focus in certain social communication modules that bring ever-increasing variety of application resources for «virtual common bus» — the apotheosis of standardization. Web-based resources will learn how to «talk» to each other through these built-ins and users of these resources will directly communicate each other through the modules assistance. Begin flowering of standalone personal and social interactive sites. They will be very different, ranging from simple communication platforms and ending with advanced multimedia blogs and publishing sites. On the basis of the convergence of traditional media and «social» web resources will be born a new interactive media. All of this is devoted to the latter still somewhat futuristic, and yet unnamed section of the article.

To be continued