layout: post title: Finding Andrew Jones created: 1053466620 categories:

• Web 2.0

Hi. My name is Boris Mann. You're in my "network chain" at LinkedIn, which passes somewhere through Evan Wise and Brendon Wilson (as far as I can tell).

I sent off a "request" through the network, mainly to test it. I had seen your name and was intrigued by your profile enough to do some Google searches for your company, Concursion. Typing in "concursion.com" worked...albeit the page forwarded to a 404 error when I last looked (it's fixed now).

So, I guess LinkedIn failed (someone somewhere along the chain didn't pass on the message? you didn't feel like responding?) although it did prompt me to do some more digging...

Zerendipity seems remarkably similar to some of the design goals of LinkedIn. It's great to see a "grown in BC" web application like this. I wonder if you've considered some sort of open federation/trustweb/API with other systems? A lot of the initial discussion in the blogging community about LinkedIn mused about the possibilities of info being locked into "islands", with various social networks encouraging people to invite only into their closed playground.

I would suggest this has some parallels with current instant messaging systems -- people are trapped on different systems, and only projects like Jabber seek to provide bridges or gateways between them. I believe that it is in the best interest of these social networks to be open, to interoperate, to facilitate the flow of information and connections.

Some resources and concepts I find interesting:

• Comments on LinkedIn launch (lots of good ideas and links in the comments)
• Marc Canter's blog in general, plus a particular post
• FOAF

P.S. This is how I found your email address: http://www.easywhois.com/ Check out the MyPrivacy link if you want to make it harder for people like me to look up your email.

This is an email that I never sent. Call it an experiment in social connections. What do you all think about social networks? Trust? Making connections?

This makes me think about blogs and the self-publishing phenomenon on the web. The links and inter-links here are old hat, but kind of boring, too, because it is an elite group linking amongst each other.

Many small businesses could benefit from a web presence, but an entire website is overkill. BUT, having a website means they are more likely to be found by people like me who type in "knife sharpening ottawa".

That's the end of that thought for now. It needs more percolating.