Interesting blog post on social networking over at c|net.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt: Social networks are still too closed | Outside the Lines - CNET News.com

This quote struck me as odd: "If it's not searchable by Google, it's not open, and open is best for the consumer"

What is good for me? NOT HAVING MY SOCIAL NETWORK INDEXED for the world to see.

It is easy to tell when content is public or not, but relationships are very different beasts:

• Are you amicable to announcing at a party that you are friends with Bob? Sure.
• What about loudly in a crowded restaurant? not so much.
• How about to the billions of people and computers that make up the internet? DO NOT WANT.

I think linkedIn has an interesting approach. They publish a profile view of the individual to the public web (for search engines to index, analyse and rank), but not the connections.