Plays Well With Others

sr bna

Small pieces. Loosely joined.

Do one thing.

Do it well.

Write programs
to work together.

Axioms of Web Architecture
Simplicity
Modular Design
Decentralization

“One of my favorite business model
suggestions for entrepreneurs is, find
an old UNIX command that hasn't yet
been implemented on the web, and fix
that.”
Marc Hedlund

finger

pine

Why don’t our social apps work this way?

Control
Speed
Privacy
Clean Experience

Missing: the power of remixable data

Social networking fatigue

brian@brianoberkirch.com
photo by Lane Hartwell

brianoberkirch.com
photo by Lane Hartwell

twitter.com/brianoberkirch
photo by Lane Hartwell

flickr.com/people/brianoberkirch
photo by Lane Hartwell

http://upcoming.yahoo.com/user/40960/
photo by Lane Hartwell

last.fm/user/brianoberkirch
photo by Lane Hartwell

How can we make social networks more
hackable? Portable? Efficient?

Don’t make me repeat myself.
Profile information
Friend networks
Preferences

Could these sites work together?

We have the technology:

Does it work for users?

Identity

“OpenID is the game changer for
social networks, allowing for the
portability of the social graph &
preferences.”
Simon Willison

Profile Import

Friend Import

hCard + XFN

The Anti-Pattern

Identity Consolidation
rel = “me”

Authentication
Open Protocol for
API access delegation
“A valet key for your data”
Modeled on flickr token
workflow

Activity Streams

Using WordPress with:
OpenID
XFN Formatted Friend Lists
hCards
OAuth

Open Items
Jabber adding real-time updates
Education about URL-based identity
Privacy policies & workflows
Ease of use
Can we share/mine attention data?
How to apportion value?
What’s the killer app?

What You Can Do
Speed initial usage by reusing identity
Reuse profile information
Make your profiles portable
Import contact lists
Make your contact lists portable
Gate access where needed
Highlight privacy issues

Read More
OpenID.net
Microformats.org/wiki/social-network-portability
OAuth.net
Diso-project.org

Many thanks to:
http://fetching.net
http://www.flickr.com/photos/niznoz/5753993/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ario/20732186/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alaina/22277566/in/pool-webtard
http://flickr.com/photos/ethomsen/42547012/
http://flickr.com/photos/mohawk/13599814/
http://flickr.com/photos/peterjlambert/97671748/
http://flickr.com/photos/eti-eti/697542248/
http://flickr.com/photos/grantneufeld/249572562/
http://flickr.com/photos/nez/381560748/
http://flickr.com/photos/technicolorcavalry/96348192/
http://flickr.com/photos/freudianslip/129612709/
http://flickr.com/photos/oskay/265899784/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lantzilla/244589400/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/youngblog/904472102/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nic/506055341/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tcmhitchhiker/697631047/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bru/129437516/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sidehike/207826371/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/estherase/13553883/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eole/380316678/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/factoryjoe/26967479/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/beija-flor/194900377/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vj_pics/623553390/

brianoberkirch.com