The future of today social networks

I have just read a very interesting article in economist.com about the social networks.

"Social networking will become a ubiquitous feature of online life. That does not mean it is a business"

According to the author "The problem with today's social networks is that they are often closed to the outside web. The big networks have decided to be “open” toward independent programmers, to encourage them to write fun new software for them. But they are reluctant to become equally open towards their users, because the networks' lofty valuations depend on maximising their page views—so they maintain a tight grip on their users' information, to ensure that they keep coming back. As a result, avid Internet users often maintain separate accounts on several social networks, instant-messaging services, photo-sharing and blogging sites, and usually cannot even send simple messages from one to the other. They must invite the same friends to each service separately. It is a drag."

Our vision , in Copenda , is that Copenda will become the platform that will bridge the gap between the social networks.
We started it by enabling cross site people search and will go even further in the upcoming version with a new contact me feature that will allow you to contact any user from any social network without leaving Copenda.

Facebook IM service will debut soon

Facebook plans to launch an instant-messaging application for members to embed on their profiles as early as next week, TechCrunch reported Friday.
Details are sketchy, but it appears that this will be a Web-based IM service that would allow Facebook users to chat with other people on their friends lists without needing to go through a third-party program. Additionally, TechCrunch's Michael Arrington detailed, the service would likely be based on the Jabber open-source platform, which would mean that third-party "universal IM" clients like Pidgin, Trillian, and Adium would be able to implement it.
Facebook representatives were not immediately available for comment.

One of the things that we are currently evaluating is a web messenger platform to embed in our search results.
There are couple of good options : Live messenger, Yahoo messenger , Google talk and smaller third parties IMs.
I don't think that Facebook IM can currently compete with these IMs but personaly I will use it in Facebook if it will be embedded like gtalk in Gmail.

Source: Webware.com

A sneak peak to the upcoming new version of Copenda - 2

On my last post I exposed the new "Filter by site" search option , today I want to expose one of the coolest feature of the upcoming version : "Contact me".
The new "Contact me" feature will enable you to contact social networks profiles directly from Copenda without leaving Copenda.
The massage will be sent via Copenda from your social network account. Any response from the user who got the massage will be delivered to your social network inbox.