Mobile Networking SMS 2.0 vs. Web 3.0

The public social networks are already scrambling to retain their hit numbers in the wake of tons of competition but will Web 3.0 really be the future of networking? 

The buzz being generated by the industry is that Web 3.0 will accommodate the changes in the landscape from Web 2.0’s “join me” environment to the new “follow me” environment.  I wrote about industry plans to create open id’s to help their users stay connected over a number of sites, but is this really what their users are looking for and how will the current rule based social networks handle the data? 

Open ID’s and Web 3.0 in theory would allow your connections to follow you as you travel from site to site.  The hole in the Open ID platform is each of these sites operates on a different platform, allows for different information, and most importantly they all have different limits.  For example I currently can add only 9 new connections on LinkedIn, if I were to invite my 250 members from Facebook to join does LinkedIn now waive their limit?  On Linked in I have slightly over 800 connections; I have an additional 1000 on MySpace so forget trying to invite them over.  If LinkedIn does decide to toss out the limits in the wake of Web 3.0, Facebook’s and MySpace’s platform isn’t even close to LinkedIn’s so the user would be forced to enter a lot of information anyway.  This is a large piece of the sale for Open ID’s.

If I owned one of these giant social websites I would be asking my users why they are looking else where and why are they are trying to bring their network with them? 

I believe the reason people are shifting from site to site isn’t because they have a prettier background.  It is because someone else is driving the ship and they don’t really care about our experience they care about our assisting them in generating a profit.  All of these sites have arbitrary rules that keep changing to meet the needs of the corporation.  At the same time advertising space expands and workspace shrinks in almost direct relation to the size of the user base and hit counts.  More people and more hits equal more advertising potential.  MySpace for example has simply turned into one big advertisement and the site is basically a free-for-all regarding spam.  Facebook shifted to a multipage profile format, which drastically expands their hit count and advertising space.  It is almost like there is a competition for who can figure out how to get the most advertising space on a page and all their user base is trying to do is communicate with their network.

The level of concern about their users experience is very apparent.  Try to file a complaint with any of these sites when you have an issue with its operation or another member.  If you do get a response it is the automated – thank you for contacting us greeting.  Facebook’s solution to a violation report regarding their terms of use is to automatically block your access to the person – problem solved...  I guess that would be more profitable than removing a member who is helping generate a profit. 

I see the social networking company’s biggest problem being the very noticeable shift away from web based communications.  Users are creating their own personal texting networks through mobile communications where there are no corporate rules, no controls, and no advertising blocks cluttering their networks.

Only time will tell if Web 3.0 will save the beast or we are entering the new era of mobile networking through SMS (Short Message Service) 2.0.  My money is on the later.  One plus with Open Id is it will definitely help users transition away from public social networking sites by helping them take their network to the mobile networking SMS  2.0 platform.  Using sites like Twitter and new mobile phones we can have the best of both worlds a SMS text network on our cell phone without the Advertising clutter …  Maybe that is why Twitters member count is growing at lightening speed.

What do you think?