Facebook, Google, Plaxo open up to set users free
January 8 Mike Butcher
In a major move Facebook, Google and Plaxo are effectively ending their policy of keeping users locked-in to their social networks. As TechCrunch US reports, today Facebook, Google and Plaxo have joined the DataPortability Workgroup, implying that users will soon be allowed to export their contacts from one social network to another, leaving each to compete on their own merits. It’s hard not to agree that this will have a fundamental effect on the social networking business and the wider Web 2.0 movement. It will certainly affect every social network startup out there, as this will now be a baseline for doing business. The jury is out on whether it will affect Facebook adversely, since it is the most closed system. Some users may leave, but then some may stay because they “feel” they can leave by exporting their contacts. The pieces in this jigsaw puzzle are now the air, and how they fall remains to be seen.
January 8th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
January 9th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
January 9th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
January 14th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
February 3rd, 2008 at 2:09 am
Comments
January 8th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
This is crazy. Where is the force of law here?
January 8th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Great news. Will be interesting to see how this attitude filters down through the mainstream internet. Flickr is a great example of how to who people with trust, by giving users full ownership and the openness to leave, people are even more likely to stay. This itself should win users, but if everyone is doing it, like you say, the merits (features etc..) become even more of a factor. Then real with this and openSocial, real competition can start!
January 8th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
This makes sense, and it’s good to see these three key players taking this initiative - Facebook being the most surprising inclusion. I only hope they are not just paying lipservice to this.
By recognising that the ’social graph’ is owned by the individuals who create those graphs, and with portability built in, it means that we, as the subjects and owners of the data, will not have that data locked in to any single site or set of variable terms and conditions.
It does amaze me that it has taken so long for social networks to realise that, in order to ensure their long term survival, they all need to come out of the silos and have open standards of data exchange and portability.
However, now that they are dismantling the walled gardens, the issue of verifying identity online will be even more vital. Are you the real Mike Butcher? Am I the real Digital Biographer?
I can see a whole new opportunity for openID providers here…
January 8th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
I presume they’ll only export *contacts* though, and not the data they hold on you about your *interactions* between you and your network..
January 8th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Well well. Mr Scoble certainly knows how to shake a monkey out of a tree.
(Type “scoble facebook” into the search engine of your choice, if you need to know more).
January 8th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Firstly let me say this is good news but hold the champagne on ice just yet.
1. Plaxo have been planning to be a OpenID provider for several months so nothing new. They already consume openid and barely support microformats. Given their recent FB/Scoble fiasco they needed something to deflect the news and this is it.
2. Given their FB Beacon fiasco and their Scoble lockout, they too needed some good news.
3. As for Google no suprise given Brad invented openid and rcently joined them.
The thing with all three is to see it implemented because Kevin Rose promised openid support for Digg last year and has never delivered it.
The other question is will google replace their authorisation mechanism with Oauth and broaden their support for microformats.
Fogive me for being a little skeptical as in Web 1.0 we saw Microsoft do the same with the Java Forum and pretend to support Java before creating FUD and Fear and then breaking it up.
If I was FB, Google and Plaxo I would want to have someone on the inside just in case or to steer the standards their way commercially,.
But that said congrats to Chris Saad and Chris Messina, lets hope this works.
Lastly I have one other concern. If people I befriend can take my data in their social graph elsewhere, what is to stop them importing it to sites I do not want to give my data. What if Scoble took his 5000 friends and decided to join Hustler and import his social graph without my permission. Whose data is it then? his ir mine?
January 9th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
@Dennis - Indeed - it may sound fine for individual users, but corporate Data Protection / Transfer Laws in EU, UK & particularly Germany will be big hurdles to clear.
@Guy - Good point about people taking their data on you to other places. Guess it comes down to being careful who you befriend. Scoble may find himself losing a few friends…
I think we all have to recognise that the terms and conditions we agree to on web sites where we share our data is not just small print one can ignore - like most small print, it’s precisely that which should be big print, as it’s important. And remember, most of these terms can be changed at the whim of the site owner - ‘free’ hardly describes it - ‘over a barrel’ may be closer.
… now, what does it say in TechCrunch UK’s T&C - and where exactly is the server that holds this comment located… and why does it still say © 2006 at the bottom of the page?
January 11th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
evrytime facebook