Aggregates and the Future of Social Networking

With the launch of yet another social networking aggregator, it's worth pondering whether one aggregator will emerge among the field, and what this will mean for the future of social networking.

Right now people are trying out a bunch of different setups for compiling and keeping track of social networking content. Profilefly, launched just a day ago, allows users to have a profile and link to all of their social networks and blogs. The service then notifies their friends whenever they update any of their networks.


In another approach, OtherEgo allows users to upload each of their personal webpages to their profile. This website sharing site was launched on Tuesday.


Launched two weeks ago, Zoolit may offer the most simplistic layout. It has a simple profile and links to all of your social networking and bookmarking sites. It is very similar to Profilefly, and similarly offers plenty of widgets and tags for users to place on their various webpages.


However, my favorite aggregator of the ones I have looked at is ProfileLinker. Not only does it offer what I believe to be the best layout for an aggregator, it also allows its users to create "portable profiles" that they can share on any of their webpages. It's more than just a widget, it's a creative tool that will make users want to promote their "profile."



Right now, it's obvious that aggregators are the hot commodity in the world of social networking. Everyone is trying to get into the game, but I think it won't be too long before one emerges from the pack. I think the winner will be determined based on who can generate the most buzz and viral, word-of-mouth popularity. I think it will also be important that the various aggregators not only support mainstream social networks, but niche networks as well. As aggregators gain popularity among users, I think we will begin to see increased traffic to social networks (as if there wasn't already a lot), and more advertising dollars being spent there.