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The next frontier for social media and networks, data portability, is right around the corner. However, the big question here is: “What about the quality of data?”

Google has just added a new dimension by adding an API for linking social networks including MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress and a host of others. The “Social Graph API”, as it is called, is supposed to hook all these sites together.

Digg has also announced that they are joining the Data Portability Project signaling their intent to take Digg mobile. The new trend is fairly obvious in that these networks want to expand.

The big question is, do they have anything to offer worthy of such heavy inter-connectivity and integration? Come on, this is tantamount to inventing the telephone and sending telegraph messages over it. There have to be data applications waiting in the wings somewhere to put a spark into social networks.

Digg And Other Unearthly Data

I am trying to imagine every person with a cell phone trying to answer shouts about their favorite video at Digg as I write this. Linking all these websites does not bode well if we consider what it is people will be transferring between them. Some contacts, a few favorites and some gibberish from Twitter does not constitute Web 2.0 state of the art technological advance to me.

Perhaps these developers are just preparing the platforms for the “end all” features we are all waiting for, but I doubt it. If these social platforms don’t start serving up something good soon, these veritable superhighways of interconnection could end up connecting ghost towns.

Goofed Socializations

If goofing off ever becomes a profession, then what we currently do at these social networks might just pass as meaningful. Think about every community you are a member of and see if you can recall anything beautiful about it. Outside of StumbleUpon, where some sharing of worthwhile content does take place still, there is not a single other community that engages the user properly. What is the proper way to engage a user you might ask?

• Provide a rich environment to exhibit self and community via a variety of data types
• Give users advanced tools for communication, sharing, media, organization and other interactions
• Promote community via an interface conducive of collaboration and discussion
• Create a “canvas” where an individual as well as a collective “portrait” of community can be displayed.
• Suggest or interject high value content and media onto the community platform

There are doubtless a dozen more headings for what these communities should be doing, but if we look at just these it is easy to see that most are falling way short of even mediocre expectations. Many of the terms in this list are rather subjective, in example – “rich environment” could be viewed as being the profile pages of Digg. A truly rich Web 3.0 environment would essentially allow the user to exhibit anything they want. I hope you can all see the distinction here. Another example could be “advanced tools”, which would be a way to message on Facebook as opposed to and instant messenger or a Skype interface (which MySpace is working on of course). It is about time we recognized what we are doing. About three fourths of all socialization going on at these sites is either goofing off or pure PR.

The Big Question?

I don’t know about you, but when we began to see all these innovative and interactive networks arise, I thought it was the advent of a paradigm shift in the way people connected. Most of what we are seeing now is just a derivation of the cell phone or text messaging. Sites offer some of the most worthless features imaginable and people just rave about them.

Twitter for example, is a textual derivation of the Truman show, where you get to read how one of your 100 friends is putting on toenail polish. Come on , just because people learn how to use these cute services to their benefit does not make them great. Data portability is a good thing, but if the inherent data is worthless, what do you have? You may be better off calling for a pizza, now that is data portability that delivers.

Image courtesy- seattlepi.com