Monthly Archives: December 2007

WordPress suits the purpose because it provides a person-centric way of coming online, offers an extensible architecture, and already has some features — such as an OpenID and a blogroll plugin — that can be pressed into social networking service. And its users represent exactly the sort of audience that might appreciate the permanent, public identity.

-Anne Zelenka

In the wake of Facebook’s impressive implosion, social media experts are publicly announcing their search for the Next Big Thing. The “walled-garden” business model of the Facebooks and MySpaces of the world have been exposed, and the technological elite will no longer be happy to play along as they once were.

This leaves the field open to a new generation of contenders that pride themselves on Openness and easy access to personal data. Like Ning.

Even they are but a waypoint on the road to a…