1/05/2005 01:59:00 PM

January 5th: The Twelfth Day of Christmas
Just the beginning - The Future: Part II

Christmas is over. The twelfth day has arrived. Things are changing rapidly as 2005 dawns. As promised on the tenth day, I want to go out thinking more about the future of SmartCommons.

To recap: SmartCommons is about social ownership. This initial release is a first sketch of an ownership operating system that has been brewing in my head for some time. The rough edges of the project still make it feel somewhat academic, but the intent is decidedly commercial. The main point is filling out the Total Product Lifecycle that is currently being ignored by major retailers. SmartCommons steps in after the initial transaction and before the resale or disposal of the asset providing management and sharing services to consumers and a platform for a new kind of contextual instant commerce, life-context targeted advertising and brand sponsored loyalty programs.

All of that aside (unless you know one of the people who run the Best Buy Reward Zone program... in which case you should call me), these are some of the areas being developed around the SmartCommons vision:

• A Trusted Peer-to-Peer (TP2P) Network: Imagine a P2P network seeded only by your friends and family and segmented for privacy using your SmartCommons Personas, Private Communities and Projects. Suddenly everything on the network is relevant.


• An organizationally sponsored co-branded SmartCommons offering: Imagine your Church rolling out a SmartCommons-powered small group program that emphasizes belonging through the tools it supplies not just the ideas.


• Brick and mortar partners who automatically tie into the SmartCommons system: Imagine going to Best Buy and having the DVDs, vacuum and memory stick you buy automatically added to your Best Buy Reward Zone sponsored SmartCommons Collection.


• SmartCommons social software API: The public SmartCommons API is on its way.


• Desktop integration: Desktop notification and RSS feeds of your Blog.Note comments, System Messages, Event Calendar and Watch List updates.

All of these things are being created to fulfill the vision articulated on the first day of this Share Something Christmas:

Social software is at its best when it is about sharing life with the people you are already in community with.

So one final time, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

This is just the beginning.

::Added Bonus::
SmartCommons Tip #4
There are situations where sharing beyond your direct circle of friends and family may be useful. If you are a member of a club or religious group you may be open to sharing with a fellow member even if they are not in your direct circle of friends. You can do this in SmartCommons by establishing a Community (I suggest a Private or Secret community) and whenever someone joins in they have the option of sharing their Collection with all of the members of the Community. St. Mark in France and The Bridge in Oregon are both testing out this capability right now.


-------The Twelve Days of SmartCommons Christmas-------
The First Day of Christmas: A Share Something Christmas
The Second Day of Christmas: Cataloging the Christmas Sh*tstorm
The Third Day of Christmas: Social Ownership
The Fourth Day of Christmas: Compatriots
The Fifth Day of Christmas: Selective Disclosure
The Sixth Day of Christmas: Doing Stuff Together
The Seventh Day of Christmas: Happy New Year
The Eighth Day of Christmas: Resolutions
The Ninth Day of Christmas: Presenting Oneself
The Tenth Day of Christmas: The Future: Part I
The Eleventh Day of Christmas: Watch Lists and The Future Deferred
The Twelfth Day of Christmas: Just the beginning - The Future: Part II





Finally, if any of you want to spread the word discretely there is a page out there that sells buttons and magnets at cost. No one makes any money on these (except the manufacturer). They'll be all the rage at ET.