Social Networks and hCards
26. November 2006 – 15:27 byEverytime I sign up to a new social network I can add friends. That is cool, it is called social network after all, isn’t it? But adding friends is boring: real name, nickname, address, email, instant messenger id,… you name it. It is routine. But weren’t computers particularly designed to process routine work? Why do I have to add my friends time and again?
Jeremy Keith has written an excellent article on what he calls portable social networks. And indeed it was cool if you signed up to Flickr and you just had to provide a link to your Last.FM contacts and those contacts were imported.
Though Jeremy is not just dreaming. He has identified microformats and especially hCards as an easy and already tested way to accomplish this. Social networks just have to support hCards. During the sign up process they would ask for your contacts on other networks and import it. A quick way to add contacts.
Jeremy is spot on when arguing that the main task is importing contacts, not describing relationships. That can be done later via XFN.
I think the article is describing pretty good how it could be done. Some people might argue that social networks are just a hype at the moment and will vanish into thin air in a few years. That is wrong. In one form or another social networks have always existed on the web: AOL groups, instant messengers and now web based email clients like GMail. I also think that hCards are not just another geeky tool. Normal users would just recognise the ease of importing contacts while they do not know and do not care about the technology behind it. And they do not have to. What matters is the function, not the technology. Hopefully some social networks will approach the idea.
Maybe hCards could be used not just on social networks but also on forums and other sites as well. For example Discogs have implemented a rudimentary Friends feature now.
2 Responses to “Social Networks and hCards”
Yes I think that you and Jeremy and others have hit onto something very real here. As people acquire profiles on more and more social networks they will find it increasingly tedious and unprofitable to continue to invite all the same people over again. An easier and seamless way to “carry your friends with you” seems ideal. Though it seems like social networks might be resistant to this since it makes it easier to leave them and start somewhere new with minimal effort. It’s definitely something worth watching.
By cheralyn on Nov 28, 2006
Cheralyn, you might have a point here. Why should social networks approach this? Well, I think a single social network cannot cover all interests of its users. It has to focus on one or two interests. If it tried to cover everything it would be too big for most people because it offered features hardly anyone used. You have Flickr for photos and Last.FM for music. That’s simple and you know why you have signed up. People would leave for other services if the companies tried to combine those interests, I guess.
So only networks which don’t offer much value would fear hCards. At least that’s what I believe.
By Carsten Pötter on Nov 28, 2006