Joi makes the case that the echo chamber effect in blogspace has a positive attribute and is not communal censorship. Essentially, creative and social networks deliberate to construct fit memes.

Related, Kevin Marks and Tantek Çelik developed Vote Links to reveal the bell curve of opinion.

It will be interesting to watch how deliberation in smaller groups can be augmented by Vote Links to accelerate new emergent patterns, as well as how the A-list uses them as new listening tools. [Ross Mayfield's Weblog]

What what what wha wh w

I I I I can't can't can ca ca c

Hear hear hear her her he

You You you you you you

There's there's there's ther ther

too much too much too much too much to mu to m

Echo echo echo echo ec ec ec

in here in here in here in here in here in he i h i h i h i h

Orkut put up a special Valentines Day feature yesterday - which I used to it's fullest capacity!

It a really simple messaging system - which enables folks to attach an image, a pre-canned statement and colorize the background of this 'virtual Valentine.  The nicest thing is that it appears on the top of your personal page - and is formatted perfectly!  And normal messaging is turned off.

What this shows is that Orkut is actually breaking out of the mold of YASNS.  Sure the spam feature is inane and may well 'cause it's demise, but at least he's willing to try something new!@ $%#^$%^%#$&%^#$#

As danah says - everything needs to be put into context and it's clear Orkut really DOES think of his system as a dating machine.  Right on!  Focus and context is key!@^%$&%^$

So what else makes up a NEXT generation social network?

Well make sure to check out Ludicorp's new Flickr system.  I've been trolling around it this morning and I've YET to find anything wrong!  Now I just need to get soem friends to exchange photos with and IM with. 

Flickr is the first social net to intergrate IM and to use the social net for something BESIDES just mating or buying classified ads.  Watch for a new generation of systems that treat social networking just as another crucial feature - just as Multimedia and the Internet are thought of today.  I mean - who WOULDN'T build a system today without media or on-line built into it?

That's where we're going with social nets!