Joseph Smarr
A Practical Vision for Friends-List Portability
Joseph SmarrIIW 2007b, 12/5/2007
Joseph Smarr
The problem
Social networks keep friends-list data trapped Social apps don’t have access to who I know Little control over who I can share my data with Have to re-establish my friendships on each site
Too hard to stay on top of what the people I know are doing online
Joseph Smarr
The fallout
Limited friends-list on most social apps Missing a lot of content from my friends
Social apps desperate to get some friends-list Re-implementing webmail scrapers Building apps inside facebook’s platform
Sometimes I’m too easy to find on sites e.g. hard to opt-out of being findable by email
Sometimes I’m too hard to find on sites Generally can’t look up by homepage / URL
Joseph Smarr
The vision
A “facebook-like” platform for the Open Social Web Friends list = people you know from any site(s) you use User IDs = email / URLs from all services you know Social apps = running anywhere with same richness
Services can still run their own external web sites Activity streams and profile badges show up in social networks Apps connect users and data across multiple services
Manage relationships across multiple sites Meet someone new choose where to connect Try new services find out when your friends join Social app developers can “outsource” who you know
Joseph Smarr
The building blocks
Who am I? OpenID: prove that I own a URL / profile rel=me: these URLs describe the same person
Who do I know? OAuth: securely share my (private) friends-list SixApart’s (public) relationship update stream
How can I use my data? OpenSocial: cross-platform social applications FOAF, XFN, vCard: standard data interchanges
Joseph Smarr
Building blocks: Who am I?
Basic unit: “identifier”mailto:[email protected]://josephsmarr.comhttp://twitter.com/jsmarraim:josephsmarr=josephsmarr
User’s role: managing their set of identifiersWhich identifier(s) can reveal which othersWhich identifier(s) can I be found by per app
Joseph Smarr
Building blocks: Who do I know?
Friends list = Set of identifiers I knowNeed portable list aggregated identifiersOften private data (need auth)
Proposal: social sites should provide a persistent URL to your friends-listURL can contain OAuth token for private dataLists all identifiers you knowCan be hashed for lookup-only uses
Joseph Smarr
Building blocks: How can I use my data?
Bring my list of identifiers to a new siteCan be expanded by following rel=me linksPersistent URL can keep data in sync
Match my known identifiers against the site’s list of “findable identifiers” per userUsers need control over how they’re findable
Find all people I know on new siteChoose who to connect with and how per-site
Add new site as source of friends-list dataSite publishes MicroIDs for findable identifiers
Joseph Smarr
A practical vision
Clarity on roles and responsibilities Users = manage your identifiers (rel=me, findability) Social networks / applications
Give users access to their friends-list data Let users control how they’re findable Provide lookup for findable identifiers
Not revealing any new private information Just using existing info more effectively
Built on existing, open technology standards OpenID, OAuth, XFN, MicroID, URIs
Bridges lookup by e-mail address vs. URL
Joseph Smarr
Room for everybody to win
Social networks become more powerful and relevant as they extend their reache.g. facebook platform, Plaxo Pulse
Social apps are easier to build and scaleCan outsource “who you know”Better friends list more compelling app
Users can find and share more contentEnhanced discovery, lower friction
Joseph Smarr
Next steps
Clarify / propose basic specs for interop Get early adopters to implement it Watch for early results (usage, privacy)
Feedback?
Joseph Smarr
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