Social networking sites have made it easy for all of us to have an online identity. The big 4 popular networks (Google, Facebook, Twitter and Friendfeed) also now use OpenId which lets you take that identity with you around the web. It’s more than just a social network now, they are providing your with your identity.
This kind of convenience is fantastic because it lets you share common profile information between sites and sign up for new services in a flash. However, you should be aware of how the big 4 are vying for the title of your primary identity provider… your Slash Daddy.
We are all becoming a “/”
Find me at
- facebook.com/christendybenko
- twitter.com/x10
- friendfeed.com/x10
- google.com/profiles/cdybenko
Any of these big four would love to be my slash daddy. In their best case scenario, my entire online identity will rest and depend on their namespace (not to mention my contact list and all my photos). To their benefit, they can monitor my preferences and make a lot of money serving up ads to suit my taste. This kind of personal information is gold.
I’m not saying this is entirely a bad thing. I love connecting with my friends in these spaces. But the more I read about the competition to be the next big identity provider, I’m learning even more about how to take that control back. Every time I’m presented with an open ID login, I hover between all my options – which is best?
I’m starting to look for ways to just be my own identity with my website and that’s how I found the DiSo Project.
How to stop outsourcing your identity: Diso Project
It is possible to partake in all the social networking fun, and still be in charge of your own online identity thanks to the DiSo Project (dee soh). DiSo stands for the “decentralized social web”. The open source project is lead by open web visionaries Chris Messina, Stephen Paul Weber, Steve Ivy and Will Norris. Together, they push for open web standards like microformats, activity streams and OpenId all while making it possible for you to own your identity online.
Diso allows you to put open source code on your own blog or domain so it functions as an OpenId provider.
Diso has published a plugin for WordPress which allows you to make any WP installation your OpenId provider. (I’m going to try this week with my blog.) They are also busy working on the same for Moveable Type and Drupal.
While I think, at this time, most people prefer the convenience of having a slash daddy, it’s still pretty cool to have your own domain and your own identity outside of the big 4. I hope to keep learning more about this exciting technology.
Who’s your slash daddy? (Mine is still Google).
Further reading:
- The Great Wall of Facebook: The Social Network’s Plan to Dominate the Internet – and Keep Google Out by Fred Vogelstein of Wired Magazine.
- Facebook usernames and the battle over your digital identity by Chris Messina (founder of Diso project)
- Social Network Supermarkets and how to defeat them by Chris Messina (founder of Diso project)
