for W3c validation

I woke up early and can’t go back to sleep, so I guess I’ll finish my thoughts on a very interesting subject- the possible blogging/social networking merger. Blogging and social networking certainly have similarities- they involve connecting people with each other in a large way. I’ve had this topic in a draft form for a couple days, but Fred Wilson’s “Adding Community to the Comments” post at A VC prompted me to finish my thoughts. The post talked about how mybloglog has enabled comment integration to your MBL community page so that a blogger can identify who is commenting on their blog. The MBL integration allows you to quickly go check that person’s own mbl community page and find out more about them. Check here to find out the sites that are already using the new functionality. In the comments of this post, Eric from MyBlogLog says the following- 

“We are not trying to be the center of your community — that’s what your blog is for. We’re trying to find ways to bring you and your readers closer together. Step one is making everyone aware of each other; step two can be any of the three services you mention — discovery, personaliztion or communication.”

I can certainly see blogs becoming online profiles for MANY, many people. I’m certain this blog will become mine with time. Ridding myself of my myspace account completely would be great (I’ve got a long way to go to convert all myspace friends to blog friends). I would much rather have someone find my blog than look me up on myspace. I can’t remember the last time I had a meaningful dialogue on a social networking site. Blogs actually incite conversation on relevant, meaningful, & interesting topics (see this blog or this blog or this blog). Social networking sites are just a directory lookup in a sense. Yes, there are wall comments and private messages, but how often do you get past the “How’s life questions” only to hear back “Same ol, same ol” or “Great, how are you doing?” reponse? That brings me to the final point– Why not merge the best of both worlds? Directory lookup AND great, intelligent conversation. It seems mybloglog is well on its way to doing just that and I’m looking forward to the transition!

Eric, if you’re reading this- I would love to use MBL’s new functionality too!