News Release: Social Networking Challenges Identified by Industry Leaders in W3C Workshop

Social Networking Challenges Identified by Industry Leaders in W3C Workshop

Report Highlights Need for Interoperable Distributed Social Web Framework

Web Resources:
--------------
This press release:
   - in English:
     http://www.w3.org/2009/02/socialnetworks-pressrelease.html.en
   - in French:
     http://www.w3.org/2009/02/socialnetworks-pressrelease.html.fr

W3C Social Networks Workshop Report:
     http://www.w3.org/2008/09/msnws/report.html


http://www.w3.org/ -- 3 February 2009 -- Participants in W3C's Workshop 
on the Future of Social Networking announced a number of important 
observations in a report issued today:

     * By enabling users to share profiles and data across networks, 
social networking sites can grow further and open possibilities for a 
decentralized architecture for the Social Web.
     * Contextual information, especially for mobile device users, can 
significantly enrich the social networking user experience.
     * Many users remain unaware of the impact of social networking on 
their privacy.
     * Though growing rapidly, social networking sites (especially their 
business models) are hampered by lack of interoperability and could 
benefit from micropayment solutions.
     * Many social networking sites have yet to take into account the 
special requirements of users with disabilities, and users on mobile 
devices.

The report, issued by the fifty-five organizations that participated in 
the 2-day Workshop, also suggested as next steps for W3C to create an 
Incubator Group for further discussion on this topic.

"Now is the time for the diverse social network actors out there to work 
together and resolve barriers to industry growth and stability," said 
Dominique Hazaël-Massieux, W3C's Mobile Web Initiative Activity Lead. 
"All social networks users, and especially young people, expect the 
richest possible social experience, but with full mobility, 
accessibility, and privacy."

W3C welcomes interest in discussions about how W3C can build community 
around social networking interoperability. Interested parties can use 
the public mailing list or contact Dominique Hazaël-Massieux <dom@w3.org>.

About the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where 
Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to 
develop Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth 
for the Web. Over 400 organizations are Members of the Consortium. W3C 
is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence 
Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for 
Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio 
University in Japan, and has seventeen outreach offices worldwide. For 
more information see http://www.w3.org

Press Contacts:
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Americas, Australia -- Ian Jacobs, <ij@w3.org>, +1.718.260.9447
Europe, Africa and the Middle East -- Marie-Claire Forgue, <mcf@w3.org>, 
+33.492.38.75.94

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Received on Tuesday, 3 February 2009 16:09:34 UTC