As many have been beginning to understand recently, a social network is less like a website and much more like the World Wide Web.
Imagine what the world wide web would be like if it was a privately owned and controlled network, or multiple networks that had limited interaction with each other.
This is the current state of the social web.
The web is what it is because anyone can play. Without that freedom, nothing even remotely as rich and complex as the web now is could ever have been created. The same concept applies to a social network. If we want the future social network to be as rich and as powerful as it can be, we need to build one that is open and free; one where anyone can participate in its development; one that no one can own in entirety and thus no one can control.
Not only are freedom and openness essential, privacy is also a core issue for a social network. Privacy is a complex issue requiring a wide array of approaches, however users’ ownership and control of their own data is a key ingrediant. In order to build a social network where privacy works as it should, privacy needs to be one of the basic principles central to the design of the network.
Numerous projects are working on the building blocks for a free and open social network. Some have even been highlighted in the news recently. To help achieve a network like this, we need to get more people involved: get bloggers blogging, tweeters tweeting, writers writing, speakers speaking. We want to build support for projects like these by increasing public interest and attracting developers and funding.
