I wanted to start a discussion on how people think social networks can be practically applied and used for human advancement and as tools, rather than just entertainment.
I'm currently developing a social networking project primarily geared towards business, professional, and entrepreneurial networking and cross-cultural exchange. One goal I have in mind is to attempt leveling the playing field for big and small players. Pretend you are just out of college and have a fantastic idea that you know there will be demand for. There's a few problems though, you have no startup capital -you might never have startup capital after you consider the amount of student loans you will be paying off, you dont know anyone that could help you with business administration and all of your college friends that could potentially help out in that area are going to work for large firms, and you dont even have any idea how you would manufacture the darn thing.
The idea of the network is you could place an attribute in your profile that labels you as an entrepreneur, and for our fictitous college friend a mechanical engineer. He also opts to select an option that gives him the attribute 'seeking business partner(s)'. Now, other people can create networks for their profession, business, professional interests, educational interests, etc. So the system would then look at your attributes, postings, etc. and select networks that you may be interested in.
So for Bob (I'm calling our college grad Bob now) the system identifies his attribute 'Entrepreneur' and matches it with the network 'small business network.' It also looks at his profession and matches another network 'Professional Engineers.' This process then continues to match him with other networks he may be interested in.
I've developed an idea involving what I've dubbed as 'semantic flow lines' to determine how closely networks and people are interrelated. The result I think is very interesting, a network where all the nodes are in constant motion. Anyways, the next time Bob logs in (now I think Bob is just too old to be a college grad...new name John)....So next time John logs into the network - not to be confused with the smaller networks individuals, groups, and businesses can create - he gets several suggestions for networks he may be interested in joining:
- Small Business Network
- Washington Small Business Network (the state John has selected he lives in)
- Professional Engineers
- Mechanical Engineers
- Washington Mechanical Engineering Collaborative
- Etc.
He decides to join the Washington Small Business Network and begins to write and post different things he is looking for: financing, startup capital, business partners, etc. As he posts, words and phrases are matched with similar words and phrases on other networks. Numbers are added to his semantic flow line to other users and networks.
Now he returns to the home page and a few different networks are suggested that may interest him:
- Angel Financing
- Washington Venture Capitalists
- Etc.
So in one respect the project is about connecting emerging entrepreneurs with those that are willing and able to help.
-But the system is designed to do more-
- Connect businesses with businesses (find a new supply channel, distribution channel, outsource you IT needs, etc
- Connect professionals with other professionals
- Connect researchers
- Connect students and individuals with mentors who have tagged themselves as willing to mentor
- Assist businesses seeking interns or fill job positions
- Connect non-profits, political, and other organizations with resources they need.
- Connect people cross culturally and attempt to reduce language barriers. As an example a person can tag themselves as speaking english and wanting to learn spanish. Another person in Ecuador speaks spanish and a bit of english - He is also interested in learning more english and cross cultural interaction. These users may be paired and hopefully learn about each others culture and enhance or learn a new language facilitated with collaboration tools
- Provide a suite of tools designed specifically to enhance collaboration amoung businesses, groups, and individuals. This would include support for web camera confrencing, voice over ip, common chat room interfaces, message boards, task scheduling, and the ability to check files in/out, read, and modify.
- Provide a suite of tools designed for business, group, and personal management. Including but not limited to CRM, managing finances, tasks, schedules, have certain items sent as a text message to your phone, etc
One behavoir that I hope would emerge is collaboration between groups in third world countries and the first world nations. It would be my sincere hope that people in third world countries would be able to connect with others that could assist them in areas of entrepreneurship, agriculture, simple ways to generate electricity, purify water, etc. In a nutshell people with limited resources (both physical and intellectual) could network with others capable of informing them on how they can better grow and succeed in specific areas.
In a lot of ways a major goal of the network is not only collaboration and networking, but putting a friendlier and hopefully even fun face on capitalism by leveling the playing field for all members of global society.
The reason the title contains the word Web 3.0 is because the project will make extensive use of semantic networks, which is an idea rooted in the concept of web 3.0. Also, wanted to place emphasis on a few questions, "What is the next step? Where do we go from here? How can we connect people not just for interaction on the web but in the real world as well?"
Ok, well I have definitely typed way too much now and I dont even know if anyone is interested in this thread. If you are please feel free to post replys and if you have ideas in regards to what social networks need to advance and become useful, by all means, lets start a discussion about it.
