Hueniverse

Relationships Change Everywhere but Online

I have been a lot thinking about social networks and the online relationships people create. For the most part, creating an online relationship merely means that one side or both added a record to their profile with someone else’s identity. Some networks require confirmation (all relationships are mutual) such as Facebook, while others don’t such as Twitter. Some are binary where you are either connected or disconnected, and some let you define the type and quality of the relationship.

In theory, the more complex the social graph capabilities, the closer the network is to offline human interaction. But what is missing is something very fundamental about relationships and that is maintenance and secrecy.

Playing Tag(s)

With Twitter and other microblogging sites becoming more mainstream, the need to deal with noise volume becomes more and more critical. One of the unique components of Nouncer is the ability to slice and dice live data streams with very elaborate subscriptions.

While Twitter success is driven mostly by casual chatter, Nouncer as a platform is focused more on content than its social networking aspect. The distinction is important because it sets the tone for the way message metadata is created, added and managed. It is part of the difference building a platform rather than a service.

In the Works

It has been a busy couple of weeks.

I've been focused on implementing the Nouncer API. As luck would have it, exactly when I was looking for an API session authentication solution, a bunch of smart people were busy working on exactly that. Initiated by Twitter’s Blaine Cook and Citizen Agency’s Chris Messina, the group have been working on the OAuth protocol (site coming soon) for almost a year and it is due for release next week.

OAuth (pronounced “Oh Auth”) is an API authority delegation protocol – it allows you to grant access to your private resources (such as your Twitter status, Flickr photos, etc.) to 3rd party applications (i.e. Twittervision) without sharing your password with them. OAuth builds on existing protocols (Google AuthSub, Yahoo BBAuth, AOL OpenAuth, etc.) and attempts to create a single open standard that will be able to replace all the proprietary stuff out there and establish a common language for developers to implement.

While you wait for Nouncer, here is something to keep you busy.

In the next two weeks Hueniverse is going to release a new Facebook Application called JabAbout. It is a new social game that came about while working on the Nouncer platform. Once you start playing with the idea of micro-blogging and what can be done with the tool, it is hard to stop.

JabAbout is a byproduct of Nouncer, but one that does not fit with the framework itself. Instead of making it another service, I decide it would fit right in as a Facebook application. It is wickedly simple and I think can be a really fun game to play. My plan is to add it to my profile on Facebook and invite my friends (I will also mention it here when its ready). I want to see how fast it will spread just from one source. If you want to be included in the initial launch request to add me to your Facebook profile. More on JabAbout soon.

Family Hot Line

Of the endless microblogging usage possibilities, one of the more practical ideas is a Family Hot Line. It is really simple – you and your family or friends all sign-up with a microblogging account from any of the services currently available. You create a private channel or a private identity and make sure everyone follows / subscribe to it. In case of emergency, a single message to that channel will be distributed in real-time to everyone else, on their cell phone, IM, web, or email.

Today when you need to get hold of someone for help, you need to have all their information with you. You then go through the list of people and try to reach them one at the time. You also don’t know where they are or what they are doing. Should you call or text them? The technology behind microblogging makes it trivial to link up with your family and friends, and reach out. People are using Twitter it to send out news and information, but in a private settings this can become an everyday tool.

Its Openness Everywhere You Look

Well it least everywhere I look. The parts of the blogosphere I frequent daily have been busy lately talking about open social networks. Marc Canter has been leading the charge for a while now with insightful posts to his blog and his company, Broadband Mechanics' philosophy. Dare Obasanjo, Microsoft social networking guru posted a great overview of what social network openness is all about and some perspective on where it might be useful.

All this is happening at just the right time as I am working on the Nouncer API and making decisions about how open to make the service. Should it take a Facebook direction creating a closed community with open API, or an Amazon Web Services direction of an API open for integration into other existing and new systems. And of course there the everything in between.

Taking Inventory

Most people never heard of micro-blogging. Some heard about Dodgeball, Twitter, and Pownce, and maybe even Jaiku. Major social networks such as Facebook and Bebo have been trying to catch up with the growing popularity of micro-blogging services, adding their own flavor to the mix. But in fact, there are over 20 sites either dedicated to micro-blogging or have significant support for the format. This is not aimed to be an authoritative list of the current state of things, but it is a pretty impressive list of sites.

Microblogging will Save Network TV

Advertisement-supported television is in a crisis. Between lower ratings, increased production costs, and DVR’s ability to skip commercials, people are watching less and less commercials every year. And the solutions are problematic. Adding banners at the bottom of the screen works for sports but not for dramas. “Commercial-consideration”, the new euphemism for product-placement is limited and can create problems with the writing staff. After all, what can you insert into an episode of ‘Deadwood’, and Philips medical equipment in ‘House’ doesn’t really translate into sales.

Next stop, Elastic Architecture

Elastic computing has changed the way I think about server-side web development. The idea that an application can scale itself automatically as more resources are needed is extremely powerful. Nouncer uses its own proprietary elastic technologies to allow every component to fork into multiple instances in order to accommodate the need for more computing power. This technology is at the core of what makes Nouncer a great platform for the volume and frequency of user interaction associated with micro-blogging.

A bit of an introduction...

The Gray Shades of White-Labels

Companies love white-label services. It is the easiest way to offer customers more products without the need to develop them, but look as if they did. The idea behind white-label services is simple. You use a well established product under your own corporate identity, keep all the users, and based on the service agreement with the white-label vendor, can have greater control over the generated revenue streams. Nouncer is initially adopting a semi-while-label model in which developers can fully customize their product to the point where it is actually a unique offering. What it doesn’t offer is complete control over user identities and content segregation.