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Your social network relationships have become a kind of data which can be carried and peeped.

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[+] social networks will become personal profile centers

 

So far we have seen social network sites' plans to open up their users' profiles, such as Facebook Connect, MySpace Data Availability and Google Friend Connect. One common idea behind all these plans is to allow users to decide which websites they can bring their profiles to. We can call it "portability of personal profiles."

 

Users of Facebook and MySpace can decide if they want to carry their personal data - name, phone number and address - and social network profiles - friend list or user group - with them to other websites. For example, you may access your Facebook friends from other websites you are using, of course with your authorization.

 

Through this strategy of opening up, social network is moving towards its next stage to play the role of personal profile center. Quite a few online users prefer to store their personal profiles in one central place, so that they will not need to fill in the same data repeatedly no matter where they go, and moreover, they only need to make changes to their profiles at one place - data at other websites will all be automatically updated. As such, we can see the value of such personal profile centers.

 

One thing calling for our attention is that, the idea of "portable profile" may not be a new one, but what is portable this time is your "relationship". In the past, your data or your tracks online do not include your social network relationships, which now become a kind of data that can be carried about and, of course, peeped.

 

[+] Personal profiles become tangible

 

You may have no idea about what websites your friends regularly visit, not to mention when they do. With the portability of personal profiles, you, when browsing some small website, may unexpectedly find your friends there, too. It is because you both are Facebook users and you carry your personal social network profiles with you to this site.

 

The society is thus turning into a gigantic tangible net where you may bump into someone you know at some corner. The impact of this development on people's social life is yet to be understood, but this is the first time we are able to transform our social relationships into tangible data, which can be stored in one place, carried about and, maybe, traded?

 

Social network websites, as places where personal profiles are stored, will have to bear social and even legal responsibility more than before. Who is after all the legal owner of the profiles - the users or the social network websites? Do social network sites merely provide data hosting service? What kind of responsibility they may have if the data gets stolen by hackers/ Can the government intervene in the management of personal profiles for the sake of social security?

 

In addition to legal aspects, there are business aspects, too. Thanks to the rapid flow of news content on the Internet, traditional media have almost got wiped out by portals. Now with open platforms and open user profiles, we see personal profiles flow rapidly on the Internet, and we wonder which traditional industries will be clawed down this time.

 

[+] Standard of personal profile portability

 

There is no standard so far for portable personal profiles. At least MySpace, Facebook and Google use three different methods. Users are bound to meet difficulties if they want to carry their profiles to another social network websites. Such portability benefits competitors, which will not be allowed.

 

However, if the ownership of these profiles belongs to users, there is no reason to obstruct the free and convenient flow of personal profiles among major social network websites? In this case, there may be a reason for the government to step in to break down the barrier set up by competing websites. Such intervention has a precedent in the telecommunications industry - telephone number portability, which allows users to carry their telephone numbers with them when switching service providers.

 

Furthermore, we can see this issue at as high as the national level. Imagine a scenario in which American companies such as MySpace and Facebook providing services in other countries. These American companies may accumulate an enormous amount of personal data and social network profiles of the citizens of another country. In that case, who owns these profiles? Is the government of that country entitled to intervene in the usage and management of these profiles?

 

It is possible that the data exchange standard for personal profile portability may become an international issue because a country may want to prevent foreign companies from controlling the profiles of its citizens. In the case of terrestrial TV standards, the result was that we have three standards: American, European and Japanese. So far the government seems to be slow in response because it sort of lags behind the fast development of technology.

 

Openness is an intrinsic feature of the Internet, and after a decade, we see a new exciting development of openness - open platforms and open user profiles related to social network. Business competition happens very fast, and it may take us another decade to manage to solve the legal and international issues it has incurred. ( 2008/12/07 - By Digitalwall.com - Way to China Internet/Telecom )

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Prev : Openness, where is it going to take us? (4)

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- Today in History

Openness, where is it going to take us? (5) - 2008/12/07

Mobile TV Market (3) Terminal Manufacturers & Content Providers - 2007/12/02

Great Future of Wireless Broadband (4) WiMax, 3G and 4G - 2006/12/03

Internet and Books (1) Dilemma of Online Publishing - 2005/12/04

VoIP (2) Who Depends on Whom - 2004/12/05

VoIP Gives out the First Cry - 2003/12/07

Last weekend I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Sanjiv Kumar from India's (and perhaps Asia's) largest university -- Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). We discused the idea of settingup some organised activities to promote the usage of Scilab in India. there were lots of ideas and lots of suggestions and of course the feeling of having a lot of work to do.

Scilab is an amazingly rich software for doing mathematics. Comes from INRIA, Europe's most respected institute for research in computer science. Scilab (and FOSS) is the answer to the prayers of teachers and students of developing countries like India.

I wish IGNOU's initiative will be realised during my lifetime. I would be proud to have been a  part of that vision. If you are interested in joining in, just send me an email. Together, let us build a great India !

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It is more possible to become a stable, low-growth market. Therefore, it's no use being hasty.

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[+] Will the advent of 3G lead to a reshuffle of WAP market?

 

Despite continuous setbacks since 2000, telecom operators have never stopped efforts in the mobile Internet market. Theoretically, Moternet, the WAP portal of the largest mobile operator in the world, China Mobile should have the heaviest traffic volume in the world. After all, it has such a huge subscriber base. This, however, is not the reality.

 

From an iResearch report, Handset-enabled Internet Activities in China in 2008, we can see that Sina, Baidu and Tencent are among the most visited WAP sites in China. There are even a few independent 3G WAP portals. Thanks to their huge PC-based user bases, traditional Internet players seem to have a chance to challenge telecom operators.

 

Will the advent of 3G lead to a reshuffle of the market? Despite the fierce battle for subscribers, New China Mobile, New China Telecom and New China Unicom have not changed their visions of transforming from "communication service providers" into "information service providers". Key to this effort will be WAP. Will other WAP sites score another goal along with the promotion of 3G?

 

What we might not have understood correctly is the fact that, with the advent of 3G, the WAP market might have a stable and slow growth, instead of a sweeping revolution. Therefore, it's no use being hasty. It seems that, at the present time, the conditions for a sweeping revolution are not yet in place.

 

[+] The development of the WAP user base is a long-term process

 

First, if the 3 new operators do not offer substantially lower WAP rates, there would be no momentum for WAP users to upgrade to 3G, as no major change is expected to the contents offered by WAP sites. There might be more video and mobile TV services, but the key to the acceptance of users is still the fee rate.

 

The problem is that only telecom operators could decide the fee rates. Other Internet players have no say in it. In view of the current competition picture, the operators are expected to cut 3G WAP fee rates to some extent. But as I said, only substantial cut in voice fee rates could significantly increase the 3G user base, which is essential for a sharp increase in 3G WAP user base.

 

Secondly, does a substantial increase of 3G user base mean the same for WAP user base? Experience of telecom operators indicates that a large portion of the first 3G mobile phone subscribers would be WAP users of the 2G time. In other words, as a 2G WAP user becomes 3G WAP user, there would be no increase in the total WAP user number in the market.

 

In the long term, with intensive 3G promotion efforts of operators, all users will eventually give up 2G (whether voluntarily or forced to do so). The process, however, might not be as fast as you and I have thought. Considering the WAP service, which might be offered as an accessory service, the development of the WAP market could be even slower. The key to the speed of growth is the fee rate, not the number of Gs.

 

[+] The pain in business models

 

Why have telecom operators not been able to make good WAP sites? Based on my 5 years of experience in an operator, I could see that the root of the problem is their business models. For telecom operators, there's no free service. Every service should generate revenue, which ideally should be collected from end-users with phone bills. One dollar from each user would add up to an amazingly large amount for the hundreds of millions of income.

 

WAP services are duplicates of those of the Internet, whose basic business model is to offer free service and gain revenue from advertising. Sharp conflicts are expected for the business model transformation, not to mention the difficulty of changing the mindset of staff in a short time. Telecom operators need to regard themselves as media players before establishing ad departments to gain ad revenue. For them, that's too much.

 

This business model would have nothing to do with the number of Gs. For WAP, if the business model were transformed to that of media in the 2G time, Monternet could have done it very well even without 3G. Now we are back to the basic question: which is scored "better", higher ARPU or advertising income? If the former, there will not be any change.

 

It does not mean that telecom operators have to give up fee-based music or image download services, which are, in fact, the revenue sources of the traditional Internet companies, too. Yet, if operators cannot think of anything else, their business growth would be limited. For example, Nokia is seeking cooperation with telecom operators even as it has its own advertising network.

 

Why didn't operators make the proposal first? Because they are still using the old mindsets. Any business you don't do, somebody else in the business chain would do. Nokia Advertising Network is a manifestation of the company's resolution to transit from the manufacturing industry to the service (particularly the Internet service) industry. Do New China Mobile, New China Unicom and New China Telecom have the same resolution? ( 2008/08/10 - By Digitalwall.com - Way to China Internet/Telecom )

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Prev : New Landscape in China's Telecom Market (7) The Pricing of 3G Value-added Services

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- Today in History

New Landscape in China's Telecom Market (8) WAP Sector Is Slowing Down - 2008/08/10

PDA in Siege (1) The Attack of Notebooks - 2004/08/15