Do you hear the rumble… far off in the distance? It’s the sound of the next shift in the social media sphere – it’s the end of ‘friending’ in social media.
Jeremiah Owyang wrote about this last week and it’s taken me a few day to catch up with him on the idea, but I think I get it. The required process of signing up on a site and then deciding who you want to link to is a model that, while very prevalent today, will likely become a passing phase of the more open, social networks that will make up the underpinnings of the paradigm of social search.
Facebook just jumped in with their announcement today of an ‘EVERYONE’ setting for your profile. Now you can set your profile to an EVERYONE setting and your Profile, Status Updates, Links, Wall Posts, Basic Info, Personal Info, Education Info, Work Info, your Photos and your Videos will be available to anyone who happens to come across your profile on Facebook.
I get several friend requests a week and for the most part accept friend request on Facebook, though many get a partial profile approval vs. a full profile. As I think about it I’m not sure what I adopted the distinction – I do not post incriminating pics or stay embarrassingly stupid things (I’ve got my blog for that I suppose). I’ve set my to an Everyone setting – ask me about it in a few weeks.
