Why couldn't an open system allow for different profiles? E.g. personal, professional and public. Facebook has started to get the right idea with its lists feature - but there needs to be far more control - a completely separate profile, option to target statuses to certain groups etc.
Inevitably the solution will be a decentralised social network which other providers can tap into - core functionality such as profiles (and location?) should be as portable as a wordpress blog: either I get someone else to host it or I host it myself.
I think one problem is that users want more than just share and hide information selectively. I want each of my "friends" to believe that I share everything with them because they are soooo super special.
If my "friends" know that I'm hiding something from them, they feel bad, and they may not be my "friends" for much longer.
But is that true of business contacts, casual aquaintances? Some guy who's going to sublet your apartment while you're on sabbatical?
I would hope that my friends don't feel left out if they aren't getting my complete output stream. If someone did, I would find it odd and possibly creepy depending on the context.
I agree that in many cases it shouldn't be a problem. But if everyone has one or two real friends who might be disappointed, that's enough to destroy the idea.
But it probably depends on whether people use social networks for managing a broad range of contacts or to keep in touch with close friends and family.
The general problem is that some things can change dramatically as soon as they become explicit, even when nothing of substance has changed.
There's a certain amount of overhead and risk in that. What if I "friend" someone from work and forget to file them in the right group on Facebook? Whereas I know that there are things I would simply never ever say in my LinkedIn status, let alone post those photos...
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I think many people like that their LinkedIn and Facebook personas are completely separate.
Why couldn't an open system allow for different profiles? E.g. personal, professional and public. Facebook has started to get the right idea with its lists feature - but there needs to be far more control - a completely separate profile, option to target statuses to certain groups etc.
Inevitably the solution will be a decentralised social network which other providers can tap into - core functionality such as profiles (and location?) should be as portable as a wordpress blog: either I get someone else to host it or I host it myself.
I think one problem is that users want more than just share and hide information selectively. I want each of my "friends" to believe that I share everything with them because they are soooo super special.
If my "friends" know that I'm hiding something from them, they feel bad, and they may not be my "friends" for much longer.
But is that true of business contacts, casual aquaintances? Some guy who's going to sublet your apartment while you're on sabbatical?
I would hope that my friends don't feel left out if they aren't getting my complete output stream. If someone did, I would find it odd and possibly creepy depending on the context.
I agree that in many cases it shouldn't be a problem. But if everyone has one or two real friends who might be disappointed, that's enough to destroy the idea.
But it probably depends on whether people use social networks for managing a broad range of contacts or to keep in touch with close friends and family.
The general problem is that some things can change dramatically as soon as they become explicit, even when nothing of substance has changed.
There's a certain amount of overhead and risk in that. What if I "friend" someone from work and forget to file them in the right group on Facebook? Whereas I know that there are things I would simply never ever say in my LinkedIn status, let alone post those photos...
One profile to rule them all sounds great, but read ths http://www.plausiblydeniable.com/opinion/gsf.html