So Firefox is going social. The idea is to integrate data streams from social networks directly in your browser. In concept, it sounds neat, but I doubt it will ever grow out of a tiny niche. In fact, I think the idea is dumb all together. I think these exact features belong on existing chat clients.
While consolidating social networking data is for the best, Firefox is not where we need to see this feature. I see a few problems.
- Bloat.
- Firefox is a minority browser. Users who will use this feature will be a minority of that subset, making the social aspect limited in its usefulness.
- Browsers are often used in work environments where social networking is not exactly encouraged.
Social network integration belongs in social applications such as AIM. It would be far more useful and obvious if a chat service piggy backed on the existing chat based social network with meta data from Myspace, Facebook, Del.icio.us, Flickr, etc. It makes no sense pushing social aspects in an application that is not always used for social purposes, especially at the added cost of bloat.
If anybody wants to move to consolidate social networks, Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, and AOL have their chance now by releasing a client that integrates with all of the top networks. Perhaps they could even build an API. If I had the time or money, I’d certainly invest in a chat client that supported this.
Just imagine if I could set up an away message and it changed my headline on Myspace or updated my status on Facebook. Or if sharing pictures with friends was as easy as telling them to right click on my username and select “See Flicker pictures.” Or what if when I try to send a message to somebody who is offline, it just sends the message through Facebook instead? The point is that the social networking features could be harnessed to do things not supported by regular chat clients.
The possibilities are endless and the field is wide open.
What’s the deal with AIM pages? I’ve been getting some invites for them.. but haven’t checked them out yet.