The idea behind the Web 2.0 Address Book concept is to facilitate greater interconnectivity across the communication and social networking landscapes. In essence, technologies and techniques that would bring together the various ways of connecting with people (phone, email, IM, smoke signals, etc… [well okay, not smoke signals]).

Demand would drive adoption of this paradigm, but would people want this? If they do, en masse, that would mean that social networking has legs long-term. However, I believe that there is a critical mass of social networking that will be reached by most people who don’t want to, or don’t have time to, spend hours looking at friend’s photos or listening to a someone else’s favorite new song. My guess is that the single digital identity will become a reality, but it will be less integrated than advocates hope for. Visit OpenID for more information on the progress of this effort and a list of websites that already support it.

Share This