Information Society Watch

December 11, 2007, Ujwal Tickoo, thebizofcoding.com

This article predicts that 2008 will herald the rise of applications that manage scattered online social lives on a variety of social networking sites. Observing the rise of startups in the category of 'Social Network Aggregation', the author predicts that even more investment, acquisitions and creative startups will emerge. The author uses Barry Wellman's concept of 'networked individualism' to describe how individuals are turning to multiple social networks to meet the needs of different situations rather than relying on a single community. This has created a need to manage the membership in sites ranging from online photo-sharing albums to professional networking sites and consolidate identities and profiles, instant messaging and means of tracking friends. In closing, the article presents some data that confirms that most people have a multiplicity of social network memberships.

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