Here are some interesting things I have read about recently. I am a huge advocate of open source, and have been frustrated with the so called “Walled Gardens” of social networks. I am not by any means an expert on these concepts, so here are a few other people’s blogs, and what they have to say on social networking, open source, and some plans Google has to change all that.

A very through analysis of the state of social networking, and the possible trend towards open api

Life hacker’s opinion on opening up the social network communities.

Interesting article by IT Manager’s Journal on open source business strategies. They are able to be competitive, and profitable, it just requires work to understand where a companies real value is, and give away the rest (one open source business model I find interesting).
Here are several social networking sites I use personally
Linkedin
Facebook
Plaxo

Here is an article talking about the possibility of Google doing a 3 dimensional social network

And more big announcements by Google, the giant choosing to open up their platform even more, to allow third party software to interface with all of Googles online goodies.

I like using some of these websites/tools/take-over-your-digital-life, but I wonder how many of these I will be using in a few years. Sure I am single, carry my laptop with me everywhere, and feel lost if I have not gone online in a day, but I don’t really have a life now, what if I ever get one? One day we may find a balance between the things we do online, and how those affect our real world experiences. I hope my digital life can enrich my real life, and not take it over. (and I am not talking about second life here, just in case you caught an unintentional reference)