Communicating with communities
And with many people now having multiple social networking accounts, it's easy to see demand for such a thing. The future world we see evolving as we watch is one in which people regurgitate a constant stream-of-consciousness torrent of anything that happens to occur to them at a given moment.
The vision is that we no longer wait until we meet up with our mates to tell them what we've been up to, or recommend things to do, or ask their advice. We don't even pick up the phone. The concept of dialogue seems to have been rendered obsolete by the concept of the community.
"Communities are becoming key," declared Le Meur. "Ning already has over a million communities. Companies are investing more on communicating with communities."
Ning is a website designed by Mark Andreessen, the whizz-kid behind Netscape (remember that?). It allows you to create or join communities and interact with them. For example, a search under ‘technology' reveals over 3,000 communities, any of which you are able to join and participate in.
To be honest, there are already so many online communities that it's a nightmare trying to keep track of which ones you're a member of, let alone interact with all of them. That's where companies like Seesmic come in as well as Tweetdeck, Friendfeed and a presumably ever-growing list of others. They allow you to interact with your Twitter, Facebook and other communities through one interface.
