DISQUS

There is also so much nuance to grasp from actually using the tools. The 'why' you think is going on may not the thing. Consider, for example, the fetish people have with the number of Twitter followers (or, back in the day, LinkedIn). To me, that's not really the game you're playing with that app, but that's my experience with using it. YMMV. Which brings up another point, all the 'expertise' people bandy about may not travel all that well. To me, a good deal of this is context sensitive. So, the locale and nature of the connection plays a big role.

Jason: this is an epic post. Awesome that you pulled all this together. I would also point people to a great book by Alex Wipperfurth, called _Brand Hijack_. Also, Rob Walker's blog called Murketing. Great stuff.

Yeah, you right. Thanks for sharing all this time. Good stuff, David.

My mancrush for you just torqued up a notch. Meet me at the train station, stud?

Alex: first off, you're too kind. Thanks for the words of encouragement. Second, hey, did I hit a nerve for you, or what? I'm not sure what it is, either, exactly. Somewhat like eating too many sweets. The whole thing just makes me a little upset in the tummy. But you've seen yourself just how wonderful it is to use these connections to do something like create a shared workspace for everyone. A home away from home. There is real stuff going on, but we need better ways to talk about it.

Word up. What Alex said. Good times, indeed. & this is an excellent write up.

'Being nice' v. asking tough questions is a false dichotomy. Violating social norms (and bugging the crap out of your supposed interlocutors) isn't going to score any points. I know people fancy themselves as swashbuckling rogues who speak truth to power, but that's not how it plays to the world at large. Trolling is desperate and boorish. Making valid, lapel-grabbing points is awesome. Bullying your way into discussion, not so much.

Don't feed the trolls is a great little rule to live by. Let them do their thing and attract their own kind. You needn't take the bait.

Pete: lots of people are working on this. I've been doing a series on portable social network design:

http://www.brianoberkirch.com/category/portable...

Once the money flows in, people get crazy. Here is the major unresolved issue in our building block ecosystem: the business rules for value creation. I know what you mean when you say 'parasitic', but it makes it seem as though Photobucket isn't adding value to the MS experience, which, obviously it is. Just as the other embeds and sidebar scripts we choose to run add value to the experiences we're trying to create. I view this as more of a longterm problem for MySpace (which will not be dominate forever) than for true ecosystem players.