In light of the article in Wired and its’ call to action for a “Open Social Net” and the long discussion on this topic that Laurel, Mike and I had on our latest podcast, this quote by Doc Searls over on the Project VRM blog is very timely.
Earth to walled-garden builders: You can’t own customers for the same reason you can’t own slaves: they’re human beings, and they want to be free.
Prediction: in Web 3.0, the best wall-less gardens will win.
Dave
Image from Flickr by tarotastic
[tags]doc searls, mike seyfang, laurel papworth, web 3.0, walled gardens, social net, vrm, wired, openness[/tags]
life tools 
For those who don’t want to listen through 2 hours 😛 my summary was thus: Build a community with only a few walls (walls speak to PURPOSE and some are necessary.) Then allow the MEMBER to construct their walls around what is private, for friends only, for larger network, and for groups. Not the host blocking access through a walled garden but members creating Gates where they check who gets access to their content and who doesnt.
You’ll have to sit through 2 hours to get Dave’s and MikeyMikes points. heh.
My summary be thus: what Laurel said + DEFAULT = OPEN.
My summary is shorter than hers!!
Guys! My favourite:
Extendable Cones Of Silence.
Mike – you struck a chord with me when you said something to the effect of “when thinking about this my geek side and social side are intimately involved”. This is a good think…it means we’re getting to the real nitty gritty, not just “why am I sick of Facebook?” but rather “there’s something undefinable about this gap between human nature and human need that could be solved if I could just put my damn finger on it!”
“I feel compelled to make the world a better place using these things” – exactly! They are THAT important.
When we all wake up one day in the future and realise that Web 3.0 has snook up on us without anyone noticing, I hope that there’s a stronger sense of what good social networks can do for us as humans, not just social beings or empowered consumers.
Good work!
~biff~