This was exactly what i was about to discuss with you for my startup….

I am glad to see, people recognizing it now. My market is just getting ready.:)

You probably missed out one more point. The identity theft in the social networking websites. Search for Michael Arrington in facebook and you do not know which one is the real one. Have you searched for Vijay Anand in facebook?

@Prateek: You possibly can. I mean I wouldnt call it a feature or a need though. OpenID should be universal. ASAP

@Vivek: Interesting thoughts. I dont know how offline and online “communities” will mingle. I havent thought through that bit yet.

@Uohoa: Thanks. Here’s hoping that you are not a bot

@Paras: It possibly does, but the traffic gets diversified and diverted all over the place. If I want to create a community, its going to be tough if the interactions happen over a spread of ten sites – i’d possibly want them all under one site, so that the focus is there.

Perhaps, this could take a form of widget or a page where people could connect and discuss. But I have a feeling that widgets might be existing already.

The value of the “social network of the day”
appears to be linked to how easily it
enable you to be smothered by crowds. Or less
dramatically, how easy it makes others to find
and somehow link with you.

If niche communities like the Madras Club (or the
Gymkhana Club) start forming in response to
getting smothered on Facebook, Linkedin, then
the value of the tool itself diminishes. The focus
then shifts to the already established community.
We now have active involvement of existing members
to scrutinize new admissions to the group.

The group will already have a core and will easily
switch to a more obscure online presence to
make it harder for unwanted noise. They may even take
it offline (eg upcoming events on a cork notice board
in the Gymkahana club). They also have a
tendency to strongly resist advertising. I am member of Lions Club. These are my observations from
our meetings and activities.

What i mean is the following i think the value of the network to make it sustainable and of any value for the members it should lean towards a community rather than be a pure network of members .. i would never want to be in madras club just to exchange cards .. hopefully there is more to it. I do believe the stronger online communities have a larger purpose rather than just know each other.

The growth of these communities would be through gradual restrictive growth and include only serious members and could be through membership only charges.

There is a significant opportunity to be able to hand craft these communities with a number of stakeholders who can benefit by being able to offer products and services to these communities. This will automatically raise the stakes and bring in a need to keep the community experience pleasant and spam free.