Social Networking, The Internet’s Future

The first time you sent an email, did you envision what the Internet is becoming today?  As more and more people got on-line, two things were just bound to happen (as they’ve been want to do all through history) …

1. People wanted to express themselves, and
2. People drew together into communities.

There was just no way around it, and now we’re seeing it happen.  In the last couple years alone, dozens of sites have sprung up that are focused on these two things.  Sites like MySpace, Technorati, Flickr, Del.icio.us, Topix and a host of others are all part of a recently-under-construction section of the information superhighway called “Social Networking”.

A social network, according to Wikipedia, is “a social structure made of nodes which are generally individuals or organizations. It indicates the ways in which they are connected through various social familiarities ranging from casual acquaintance to close familial bonds.  The term was first coined in 1954 by J. A. Barnes.”  Great technical definition, but let’s unpack that a bit…

MySpace is a pure social networking site.  I want to express myself and connect to others, so I “create a MySpace” (how long will it be before that makes it into Webster?).  I link to those I like, and those who like me link to me.  In a short amount of time, the “structure of nodes” Barnes was talking about is quickly and easily created.

But isn’t a link you put on your site simply a vote for the site you’re linking to?  Is it any less a social network if you post your votes on a social bookmarking site like Del.icio.us?  When everyone else can see your votes and use them to create a network of sites / content that interests them, that’s social networking as well.  Another step further…  If everyone tags content on sites like Google Video or Flickr, we’re also creating a social networking, because the rest of the world can use those tags to connect sites and create a web (network) of stuff that interests them.  Each of these “Web 2.0″ tools — though different mechanisms — accomplish similar purposes … to give the masses the power to express themselves in community … to surround themselves with and share with others their network of content.

This is the Internet of the (at least near-term) future.  Everyone’s voice weighing in to help you decide which content you want to check out.  Even blogging fits into this category, if you think about it.  First, we learned to create static pages.  Now, as the 21st century really gets underway, for the second time, the self-describing power of the Internet – where the users of the system create the system — is really being taken out for a spin.

Technorati tags: social networking, social network, internet, web 2.0, flickr, myspace, del.icio.us, topix