

Is a Perfect Storm Forming For Distributed Social Networking? - edw519
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/is_a_perfect_storm_forming_for_distributed_social_networking.php

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anigbrowl
Quite likely, though not for the exact reasons the author thinks. I have this
theory that while some sites trade on content (this one for example), those
that trade on specific functionality tend to be just incubators for technology
that becomes widespread if its any good.

People inside the full-service site enjoy a more structured net experience
that would be difficult to create otherwise, as well as a multiplicity of
special features that are unique. But eventually, the overhead of maintaining
existing features means change takes place slowly within the site compared to
what's taking place outside, and those who relied heavily on it as a portal
eventually discover that the benefits offered by the site are no longer unique
and disperse.

Remember when CompuServe and AOL towered above all other virtual communities?

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m_eiman
Interesting. Maybe there's a slight chance someone will be interested in my
toy project at the moment, a distributed replacement for Twitter (as opposed
to the other five hundred ones like it... But it's a fun exercise).

"Only" need to time the release with a particularly bad case of downtime for
Twitter and have suitable connections to media. Did someone say that the
better tech doesn't always win? ;)

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socratees
Users experience a feeling of betrayal? Users know the service is going to be
sold to someone at some point, and that's why the service was created in the
first place. And investor knows that the only way to make a profit is to sell
the service.

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rpdillon
Yeah, but just because something is sold doesn't mean it has to die. In the
case of FriendFeed, Facebook has all but said it's going to kill it; they
bought FriendFeed because they wanted the people, not the product.

Not so in the case of Google with Writely (Docs) or Grand Central (Google
Voice).

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bkudria
Or Dodgeba..oh wait, no, never mind. (What was the point of that again?)

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sahaj
check out what google is doing with orkut:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JNgKNRSgm0>

this is comparable to the facebook "like" feature, but goes a step beyond.

