Open Letter to Marc Andressen, Gina Bianchini and Diego Doval
Wow! - I’ll leave the congrats to another post and first focus on how your recent investment can be turned into helping us all out.
I know the majority of your cash will be used for new features, infrastructure and hanging in for the long haul - but ‘just a little bit’ could be earmarked to helping to establish open standards for social networking.
And that’s why I’m writing you today.
1. My company Broadband Mechanics has this crazy idea that there’s plenty of fish in the sea, way more future social networks than either of our companies could ever satisfy and that the world’s future is NOT about these huge centralized social networks, but 100,000s of smaller, niche networks. As of this writing - you folks have added over 70,000 to that future. Congrats!
2. I’d like to make a proposal which would ‘open up’ Ning more and create a vibrant environment where not only individuals, but also ENTIRE networks could “own their data” and freely move between systems. This should come as no surprise to you as I have been ranting about these ideas for a while now.
3. When Dave Winer proposed “opening up social networks” I responded with some ideas of my own and a list of pending standards that could help to coalesce our disparate efforts and goals. Others agree. Some see this all connecting to the semantic web, while some people said I was being too vague in my posts.
4. Most people assume vendors would never open up. I humbly disagree and in this battle between open and closed, I think it’s evident which side the users will come out on. Just because you may not be a member of 10 networks or wish to move your data around, does not mean you don’t support the IDEA of such flexibility and personal empowerment. I mean who WOULDN’T want that ability? The big-time vendors - that’s who!
5. But Ning is a vendor too. And just because you just raised $44M doesn’t mean you can’t ‘do the right thing‘. You three people (and your whole company) can help change the world by pushing the envelope one step further - beyond what Facebook is doing now - and into the realm of truly open social networking.
6. Marc - you changed the world once by bringing us all the web browser. Helping to kick start this ‘open social web’ can be just as big. We need to make sure that a fertile, rich ‘Internet-like’ evolution of social networking keeps moving forward - where small startups and individuals can participate in ecosystems and make a living. So we can’t allow JUST the big networks - like MySpace, Facebook and Bebo - to reap all the rewards of social networking. That’s what Jason Kottke was getting at recently.
7. Look around you already and it’s easy to see all the
- different approaches to open and interop (Twitter<->Pownce, IM and communication interop, profiles, app platform, widgets, universal widgets, subscribing to people, etc.)
- different standards (OpenID, Liberty Alliance, Shibboleth, Infocard, i-names)
- different areas of focus (sports, business, religion, cars, gaming, families, research)
- different killer feature emphasis (Plazes, Profile Linker, Flickr, Tagworld)
- different markets (like mobile, gaming, small business, schools and baby boomers)
- and all the IPOs, fundings, ad revenues and home brew platforms (like YouTube, NetVibes and Pageflakes and the biggest new platform of them all - Facebook)
…are all driving this puppy.
8. All of these market factors are non exclusive and are happening in parallel. As danah boyd has pointed out - in fact Facebook users are different from MySpace. And so are hi5, Multiply, Bebo, Pageflakes, NetVibes, Xing, Mixi, Cyworld and Elgg (Eduspaces) users. In fact this whole thing is so gigantic that I doubt that we even have an inkling what’s really gonna happen in two years from now.
9. But one thing we know for sure - users want to control their own data. And they want to move freely between systems. So here’s what I’d like to propose Ning support. Help us create a data structure and support the OpenID2 Attribute Exchange to facilitate the movement (in both directions) of entire social neworks.
10. Let’s say Mark Cuban and his Dallas Mavericks, who have a Ning network - wish to move to a PeopleAggregator network after we launch our Sacramento Kings network (which focuses on basketball features, fan interactivity and ties the network into the physical arena.) Ning doesn’t have this capability - yet - and Mark Cuban wishes to move his entire official network somewhere else.
11. Now obviously a Ning developer could go and clone the features we’re putting into the Sac Kings network - and that’ll happen anyway, but why shouldn’t the Dallas Mavericks be able to move their network - anywhere they want? In fact there are 128 Dallas Mavericks networks on Ning! Any of them should be able to move their own networks anywhere they want, forget about Mark Cuban!
12. So the idea is that entire networks of people should be able to move between systems, just as individuals or even mid-sized ‘groups’ of people - should be able to move around. Think of all those mail lists on Yahoo Groups which seek out a new home?
13. One could argue - to what extent must a vendor be open? Or even “what is open?” But that’s the beauty of open standards . As long as we each support the standard, its up to us to define just what we call open. Some would argue that Facebook is open, while others disagree. I’m just happy that they’re headed in the right direction! And clearly its helping them out! And its even influencing MySpace! and LinkedIn! Right on!
The open juggernaut cannot be stopped!
14. And don’t forget all those new kind of aggregators (like dabble, Plum, Spokeo, MyLifeBrand, xxx and dd ) and new kinds of networks of networks. There’s plenty of room out there for everyone!
15. I know you folks (I’m back to Ning now) recently supported FOAF and I have every reason to believe that you’ll do the right thing. So I’d like to invite you to our SocialNetworkDevCamp and I suggest:
- a) we all get together and talk about these ideas
- b) and we come up with some action items and utilize the Attribute Exchange going as our open infrastructure. We just need t map each of our data structures together.
- c) and then we can all join together - and sing a beautiful chorus of Kum-bah-yah - in harmony!
16. I bet Facebook, AOL, Yahoo, SixApart, NetVibes, Verisign, JanRain, Sxip, Ecademy, eTribes, xxx and YYY would all be willing to participate and support these sort of open standards!
Lets make it happen!
I wish more of the companies in the space tried to understand how important the OpenID2 Attribute Exchange really is and what it’s holding up. A large computer company who is a client to a company I’m involved with is deploying a significant community forum area. As part of this deployment, they want to integrate 6 or 7 different vendor apps and need these to have a traveling profile so that end-users cam move seemlessly between these apps w/o having to login each time. They’re starting with three of these apps including a white-label social networking platform being branded to the client, a discussion forums provider to enable reviews to take place, and a CRM system that will track and offer user info on their rewards/loyalty points balance as users move through the apps and perform various activities. Each of these platforms handles logging in differently. Fortunately, one of these is more open than the others and is dealing w/the tough task of normalizing the login function, but it’s been a frustrating exercise. Especially frustrating has been how unyielding one of the providers has been about making this an easy task.
Fortunately, the client is significant enough that they have been able to force the issue, but it just seems like it should never have been this hard. Considering that this client is simply doing something that many other companies will want to do as well, it highlights the importance of OpenID2, and how not having this is truly holding up the pace of innovation in ways that most people don’t seem to imagine.
I wish more of the companies in the space tried to understand how important the OpenID2 Attribute Exchange really is and what it’s holding up. A large computer company who is a client to a company I’m involved with is deploying a significant community forum area. As part of this deployment, they want to integrate 6 or 7 different vendor apps and need these to have a traveling profile so that end-users cam move seemlessly between these apps w/o having to login each time. They’re starting with three of these apps including a white-label social networking platform being branded to the client, a discussion forums provider to enable reviews to take place, and a CRM system that will track and offer user info on their rewards/loyalty points balance as users move through the apps and perform various activities. Each of these platforms handles logging in differently. Fortunately, one of these is more open than the others and is dealing w/the tough task of normalizing the login function, but it’s been a frustrating exercise. Especially frustrating has been how unyielding one of the providers has been about making this an easy task.
Fortunately, the client is significant enough that they have been able to force the issue, but it just seems like it should never have been this hard. Considering that this client is simply doing something that many other companies will want to do as well, it highlights the importance of OpenID2, and how not having this is truly holding up the pace of innovation in ways that most people don’t seem to imagine.
I wish more of the companies in the space tried to understand how important the OpenID2 Attribute Exchange really is and what it’s holding up. A large computer company who is a client to a company I’m involved with is deploying a significant community forum area. As part of this deployment, they want to integrate 6 or 7 different vendor apps and need these to have a traveling profile so that end-users cam move seemlessly between these apps w/o having to login each time. They’re starting with three of these apps including a white-label social networking platform being branded to the client, a discussion forums provider to enable reviews to take place, and a CRM system that will track and offer user info on their rewards/loyalty points balance as users move through the apps and perform various activities. Each of these platforms handles logging in differently. Fortunately, one of these is more open than the others and is dealing w/the tough task of normalizing the login function, but it’s been a frustrating exercise. Especially frustrating has been how unyielding one of the providers has been about making this an easy task.
Fortunately, the client is significant enough that they have been able to force the issue, but it just seems like it should never have been this hard. Considering that this client is simply doing something that many other companies will want to do as well, it highlights the importance of OpenID2, and how not having this is truly holding up the pace of innovation in ways that most people don’t seem to imagine.
Hi Marc!
Thanks for the posts! I wanted to say that we take interoperability very seriously. I will look in more detail at the OpenID AX stuff and get back on that (I need to think about namespace and privacy issues), but let me note something in the meantime.
Today provide top-to-bottom Atom APIs that let users and developers export their data if they want. Here’s a post that talks about our APIs and why they’re *really* top to bottom.
http://developer.ning.com/2007/07/07/one_small_rest_call_for_man2c_one_giant_api_for_mankind/
As an example of this in action, consider this: http://developer.ning.com/2007/04/29/how_to_add_foaf_feeds_to_your_social_network/ which is a FOAF export done entirely in PHP without any special platform features. That post includes links to the sources that provide access to the data.
Thanks again!
d
Hi Marc!
Thanks for the posts! I wanted to say that we take interoperability very seriously. I will look in more detail at the OpenID AX stuff and get back on that (I need to think about namespace and privacy issues), but let me note something in the meantime.
Today provide top-to-bottom Atom APIs that let users and developers export their data if they want. Here’s a post that talks about our APIs and why they’re *really* top to bottom.
http://developer.ning.com/2007/07/07/one_small_rest_call_for_man2c_one_giant_api_for_mankind/
As an example of this in action, consider this: http://developer.ning.com/2007/04/29/how_to_add_foaf_feeds_to_your_social_network/ which is a FOAF export done entirely in PHP without any special platform features. That post includes links to the sources that provide access to the data.
Thanks again!
d
Hi Marc!
Thanks for the posts! I wanted to say that we take interoperability very seriously. I will look in more detail at the OpenID AX stuff and get back on that (I need to think about namespace and privacy issues), but let me note something in the meantime.
Today provide top-to-bottom Atom APIs that let users and developers export their data if they want. Here’s a post that talks about our APIs and why they’re *really* top to bottom.
http://developer.ning.com/2007/07/07/one_small_rest_call_for_man2c_one_giant_api_for_mankind/
As an example of this in action, consider this: http://developer.ning.com/2007/04/29/how_to_add_foaf_feeds_to_your_social_network/ which is a FOAF export done entirely in PHP without any special platform features. That post includes links to the sources that provide access to the data.
Thanks again!
d
Hello, Marc,
While I agree that it would be *great* to see Ning do the right thing, they will only do the “right thing” if it aligns with their business plan — the open standards you describe (like OpenID 2.0’s attribute exchange) will become increasingly important in how people use the web, and companies that don’t use them will become increasingly irrelevant.
As innovation within open source communities fuel the type of data portability/identity portability many of us have described (along with functions currently absent in Ning, etc,) the real question investors will be asking is, what have I bought for my 44 Mill?
Cheers,
Bill
Hello, Marc,
While I agree that it would be *great* to see Ning do the right thing, they will only do the “right thing” if it aligns with their business plan — the open standards you describe (like OpenID 2.0’s attribute exchange) will become increasingly important in how people use the web, and companies that don’t use them will become increasingly irrelevant.
As innovation within open source communities fuel the type of data portability/identity portability many of us have described (along with functions currently absent in Ning, etc,) the real question investors will be asking is, what have I bought for my 44 Mill?
Cheers,
Bill
Hello, Marc,
While I agree that it would be *great* to see Ning do the right thing, they will only do the “right thing” if it aligns with their business plan — the open standards you describe (like OpenID 2.0’s attribute exchange) will become increasingly important in how people use the web, and companies that don’t use them will become increasingly irrelevant.
As innovation within open source communities fuel the type of data portability/identity portability many of us have described (along with functions currently absent in Ning, etc,) the real question investors will be asking is, what have I bought for my 44 Mill?
Cheers,
Bill
Heres betting that venture-funded SN companies won’t open up their platforms unless its in ways that try to capture user data. I just don’t see how they can afford to not try and create roach hotels. Because truly open standards makes it pretty hard to justify the valuations.
Heres betting that venture-funded SN companies won’t open up their platforms unless its in ways that try to capture user data. I just don’t see how they can afford to not try and create roach hotels. Because truly open standards makes it pretty hard to justify the valuations.
Heres betting that venture-funded SN companies won’t open up their platforms unless its in ways that try to capture user data. I just don’t see how they can afford to not try and create roach hotels. Because truly open standards makes it pretty hard to justify the valuations.
Hello Marc, is there any reason why you haven’t yet approved my previous comment? Other commenters have been approved and I think that my comments would have been useful in that context.
Thanks!
Hello Marc, is there any reason why you haven’t yet approved my previous comment? Other commenters have been approved and I think that my comments would have been useful in that context.
Thanks!
Hello Marc, is there any reason why you haven’t yet approved my previous comment? Other commenters have been approved and I think that my comments would have been useful in that context.
Thanks!