Connect-ing social networks to the rest of web: Who owns those data?

As the web grows exponentially in scale and complexity, an issue that becomes increasingly pressing is data ownership. There has been a lot of noise lately about how Facebook Connect, Google Friend Connect, and even MySpace’s Data Availability.

Each does essentially the same thing: allow a flow of data between those social networks and external sites. This accomplishes three major things:

While I think each of these are good ideas, I think that the first two already exist, but have been largely ignored by the masses. The third is totally brilliant and game-changing and I can’t wait to see it fully implemented. More on that later.

OpenID has been, well, open for a while now: open to any developer who wants to add the feature, thus opening those sites up to anyone who has an OpenID. Google has already been providing OpenID support via Blogger for some time. Facebook has also tackled the activity stream problem. Twice, actually. Once, with Beacon, the invasive little advertising ploy which got nothing but bad press. And now, more succesfully, with the ability to import certain feeds (delicious, pandora, flickr, pure rss, etc.) into your news feed. Neither has done particularly well.

These previous attempts I think make obvious that these “connect” campaigns represent two things: firstly, Google’s and Facebook’s desires to rule the world (JK, well, maybe) and, secondly, a centralization and simplification of the issue of online identity.

The issue, however, goes far deeper than letting your friends know just how many hours you spent fooling around on ICHC. The real issue is: who owns that data. Is it you, the creator? The external site, the service provider? The social network, the facilitator? Or, does it fall between the gaps and is just open to the network and whatever Estonion crackers happen to be drifting by?

The significance of this came to my mind when Robert Scoble scraped his social graph off of Facebook to add to another site and had his account disabled for violating the Terms Of Use.

Excuse me? A site which allows me to import my email contact last and establish my network and communicate freely with those people doesn’t allow me to take those connections with me? It seems completely unreasonable but, has become the legal standard practice for the social network industry. Now, Facebook eventually let Scoble back on and networks like Plaxo now specialize in such import/export features, but the flaw has hardly been resolved.

The Data Portability Project is trying very, very hard to solve these serious issues. They’re seeking to unite the socio-rhetorico-legal precedent with the growing list of open technologies and specifications (OpenID, OAuth, RSS, OPML, MicroFormats, Creative Commons, to name a few) and make sure that these proprietary bits, bytes, friends, enemies, birthdays, activies, pictures, videos, lifestyles, etc. are made open to the content creators (read: YOU, not Mark Zuckerberg).

They’ve got a lot of information on their site, links out to their open, interoperable technology homies, and ways for users, developers, and entrepreneurs to get involved. Please do!

I’m also a big fan of The Social Web TV, a weekly-esque vodcast featuring John McCrea and Joseph Smarr from Plaxo, David Recordon from SixApart, Chris Messina aka Factory Joe, as well as new panelists almost every episode. They’re really dorky, sweet guys, with a real passion for the cause. Their most recent episode, comparing Facebook Connect with OpenID, touches on a lot of these issues.

If you hadn’t noticed, this is a cause quite close to my heart. Anything you can do to help, either by implementing these open technologies on your own site, showing this post some linklove, or even just adding the DPP to your Facebook Causes: it will all be appreciated.

This post is entirely speculative. I’m very excited about these new connections (McCrea thinks this is the “birth of the social web”) but am also worried that the desire for growth and monetization will cloud developers’ minds from what ought to be obvious facts about the nature of the ‘net. Social networking only works because it is empowering; no one would tweet or poke or post if it made them feel as though they were dispossessed.

So, social networks, here is a message: run your ads, reach 6 billion eyeballs, do what you need to do. But your work, your content, ends there. The rest of it belongs to us, the users, the creators.

As always, digg this up, check out my website, follow me on twitter, leave comments below, and fight on.

December 9, 2008 | Filed Under Sam Roth 

Comments

4 Responses to “Connect-ing social networks to the rest of web: Who owns those data?”

  1. JustinSMV on December 13th, 2008 7:30 pm

    A centralization of online identity is a great end result but there are many facets like mybloglog, facebook and myspace trying to achieve this. OpenID had a great headstart and Google friend connect is making an impact aswell, im excited for these new changes.

  2. SamLRoth on December 14th, 2008 12:41 am

    @ungerik has been showing some cool, smaller initiatives, both for centralizing logins and contacts, but also for some open-source social networks. Do you have any favorites?

  3. The Godfather on December 16th, 2008 10:32 am

    I must admit this is making me think. I am working a project right now and deliberating this.. need to ponder some more.

  4. SamLRoth on December 16th, 2008 6:18 pm

    Very sensitive issues indeed! Enough to qualify another post on the topic, methinks.

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