The metacommunity concept as a framework for OPML based communities (part 3)
The web has its own desire.
That gravitational pull is towards pure conversation.
This blog is actually predicated (think about the title) on the fact that the web will one day disintermediate everything that does not add value.
Only those adding to the conversation will endure.
Some might ask, “Well, didn’t AOL chat rooms provide pure conversation?”
The answer is no.
Chat rooms were akin to a hundred people shouting in a room. Hardly a conversation.
I hate to use a bar analogy (I have been in a few), but a bar room is not a hundred people shouting, and hopefully the person at the other end of the bar is not talking so loud that they are disruptive.
In a real social environment of mass, we move in and out of conversations. We overhear something of interest, yes, and join that conversation, but our ability to do that is controlled by us, hopefully.
Chat rooms did not allow that.
Likewise, blogging doesn’t give us the real ability to target another individual, despite the link gesture, which is useful but not direct enough.
IM is pure, but lacks the community aspect.
In nature, this ability to move in and out of ecosystems is not only permissible, but necessary for sustenance.
The microblogging phenomenon has taken the first step toward this global community, with a dash of direct conversation. It may not be the end, but it is a means toward that end.
It takes the best of email, usenet, forums, blogging, and IM and rolls them into an easy to use format. ease of use is a key component. Blogging is too much work for some people.
Microblogging has one aspect missing. A distributed nature. Once it has that, it will take over.
Identity, VRM, RSS, and RPC (APIs) will allow us to achieve the next needed step toward “pure conversation.”
And microblogging will be at its core.