Judith Meskill, 'by my count, there are more than 100 social networking services that I have been observing — cruising past my virtual radar gun — in the past few months. I have been tracking this burgeoning growth of services aspiring to help discover and connect my friends, potential partners, business cohorts, and various levels of acquaintances — and I have this scary feeling that I am only carving shavings off of the tip of an iceberg with this list. ... While I am inclined to agree with those who argue for weblogs as a more robust medium for active social networks ... I don't think this is just a matter of VCs with money burning a hole in their pockets. Nor is it simply a matter of too many programmers with free time on their hands and a copy of Linked nearby. We're social animals and were long before writing was invented. Connecting has always come before content. Failing to understand that was the downfall of many early online experiences. One way to think about what's going on now is that we're in the midst of making new and more interesting mistakes than we have in the past.'
Clay Shirky: 'Two Pieces on the Demise of YASNSs'.
