Dave Winer - Social networking - meatspace

Social networks in meatspace

I just had a wacky idea.

We know what social network software is, right.

Now suppose we turned a conference into a social network.

Ask everyone who’s coming to sign up with LinkedIn or Friendster, or maybe Ted Leonsis’s new system.

Then we ask people to check off people they’d like to talk with at the conference, and make a brief note about what they want to talk about, and whether or not it must be private, and how long it will take, and if it can be part of a group discussion.

The person you want to meet with can say yes or no or no response.

Then, a week before the conference, we publish a schedule, with meeting places.

The people who a hundred people want to talk with in public get meeting rooms.

People who no one wants to meet with can sign up for dinners and lunches, or post on their blog about how fucked up the A-List is.

What do you think?

Comments

[craig]

This is a great idea. You could also use a system called Onmycity.com to create social networks for each of these conferences so communication can continue long after the conference.