Social Networking (the Shorter Version) Past, Present, Future

This blog post originally appeared in serialized form here on TechCrunch. This version is the shorter, ADHD version. If you came here via a direct link you might want to check out the more detailed full version on my blog, which is here.

Social Networks: Past, Present & Future

I recently spoke at Caltech at the Caltech / MIT Enterprise Forum on “the future of social networking,” the 30-minute video is here and the PowerPoint presentation is here on DocStoc).

What I want to answer with this post (long though it may be) is:

• Why did Web 2.0 emerge and are there any lessons to be gained about the future? [cheap accessible digital hardware]
• Why did Twitter emerge despite Facebook’s dominance? [asymmetry, real-time, curated RSS / link-sharing]
• Why did MySpace lose to Facebook & what can Twitter learn from this? [encouraging an open platform where 3rd parties can make lots of money]
• Does Facebook have a permanent dominance of the future given their 500m users? [chuckle. ask microsoft, aol/time warner & google]
• What are the big trends that will drive the next phase of social networks? [mobile, locations, layering of services, data management, portability & more]