Social networks

The number of social networks on the net has exploded. LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, Pownes, Plaxo and a million other. I remember the first network I joined was Six Degrees (I think...). The internet was kind of new and social networks were definitely new at least for me. Now I have a:

• MySpace account, to find new exiting music. MySpace feels to mainstream and tired now.
• Flickr account, to publish my photos. I really like Flickr.
• LinkedIn, to find and to keep my contacts. LinkedIn really feels like an old dinosaur.
• Facebook. I like the idea that you can build applications etc.
• Pownes. I had to try it.
• MSN account. To send files and chat. Don't use it so often.
• Skype account. Never use it anymore.

It's too many networks and ways for communication. So what will the future bring us? I have three thoughts about that.

• First of all. A community mash up. I think that Facebook has a point in the application idea. The companies and home developers could write there own add-ins and add the wanted functionality. Then the users will get the best from many networks. Today every network has a couple of good features but all together they all isn't good enough. Then the users could get music from one network, photos from one etc. Facebook has a good start for this.
• I think that the new networks will be forced (by the users) to be more open. As Robert Scoble write about Plaxo "Plaxo will come out with a social network that lets me own my own data and take it out of Plaxo and put it on other social networks". I think that Plaxo will be the first (that I heard about) but not the last. I don't think that Plaxo will be the next big thing because the timing, with Facebook and Pownes all media exposure right now, is not so good. It's so many users that just changed networks to one of "the new" ones.
• I think smaller networks with a base in your community could be the next thing. I think many users are fed up with the giant communities. I found this post from Julia Lerman that talk about an existing network that has a good idea. She writes "I realized I was losing touch with my personal friends because of my many new virtual friends". I can recornize this. She talks about Front Porch Forum. Julia describes the network like this "What FrontPorchForum focuses on is your very local community. It creates an online forum, also distributed every few days in an email, that allows you to connect to your neighbors. So the people in my town of Huntington are the only people who's posts I read and who see my posts (and my email address)".

What will the future bring us in the social networking over the Internet? Who knows....