A new page, Openness>Inclusionary social networking, has been added to my Social Networking+ notebook for My Idea Outlet. The contents can be found below.
I have been talking for years about the inclusionary model of social networking. What is inclusionary social networking? It's the idea that a social network is inclusive of the entire social networking world, including individuals who are only members of a competing social network. This contrasts with exclusionary social networks that exclude those who don't join their services. All existing social networks embrace an exclusionary model.
Around the time Google+ launched, I came up with an example of what could happen if we embraced inclusionary social networking. Google+ didn't exactly take off, and my example may feel dated, but it still seems to work. Imagine having a Google+ account and putting someone in your friends circle. This friend does not have a Google+ account and is using Facebook. You can make the connection between services in order to allow this friend to access pictures that are viewable by friends only at Flickr.
While most social networks allow connections between websites through APIs, this falls well short of my expectations. Code has to be developed between any combination of two sites to allow even basic communication. This creates exponential development requirements for adding new websites into the mix, and it can be prohibitive for newer and smaller social platforms to become established. The APIs are also limited in scope, frequently used to create links or copies to content posted elsewhere. These links and copies are contained within a social network without even simple inclusionary concepts such as cross-service commenting.
In order for inclusionary social networking to work, we need to develop protocols that embrace both security and openness. I intend to look into several ideas relating to these protocols. Since I do not have a background in software development, all of these ideas would likely need to be modified before any kind of implementation.
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