Scoble's view on Social Network sites rings true to me
"Why can’t I add tags to each contact? Tags I pick. Not that are forced on me by some 22-year-old developer who has no idea about what a 42-year-old’s social network looks like."
One of a number of good shots from Social networks as “friend” Nazi (design flaws in Facebook, Jaiku, Twitter).
And I concur. The vast majority of social software (LinkedIn the obvious outlier) does appear to be designed by 22-year-olds for 15-year-olds. I understand why -- simple observation demonstrates them to be the early adopters. But social networking is, as I've all but screamed, just another take on the oldest trick in the species survival handbook -- working together, community, teaming, associating, whatever, to solve problems of common concern. Adults, professionals, can have needs other than identity production and the maintenance of intimate relationships.
BTW, in my new role in MSDN/TechNet, it looks like I might be able to help us take a step or two in that direction. Wouldn't that be something.
