Social networks think that the members’ data is what differentiates them from other social networks. The data using which they draw social graphs or find contexts for advertising is gold and there is no way that can be shared. While there was a small project called DataPortability.org aimed at making data portable and networks interoperable, social network members used unusual ways of extracting their own data. [Continue]

Google and Yahoo! want to build a social network out of your email contacts. Ignore Orkut, OpenSocial, Yahoo Mash and Yahoo 360. [Continue]

MySpace, Bebo and SixApart have joined the OpenSocial group, which I think is a big boost. I still do not feel it right to call it alliance, the agenda is still not completely in place. But I think it is good news, better for developers, and I think in the long run it will be better for the users as well. [Continue]

What happened when Facebook hit the scene? In hopes of becoming Internet on Internet, it did exactly the opposite - it centralized all the services and locked its users within the walled gardens. It was good for members in a way, providing a do-all one-stop. [Continue]

Facebook plans to be a platform that has the potential to give birth to industries. Already one of the fastest growing sites with a rich profile of users, Facebook could go anywhere. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder, explained that it intended to become an operating system to support full applications. [Continue]