I’m with AG in asking that we try not to mistake our social networking apps with our social networks. Our social networks should be allowed to exist without the apps.

Social networking apps are like trendy nightclubs or stylish clothing or popular brand names. People go to them, hang out, make the scene, and move on. The frustration you feel when they die and new ones come up is the same frustration you feel when you realize that your shoes are out of fashion and you have to go shopping for new ones, or the bar you’ve been going to for years no longer draws an attractive or interesting crowd but you don’t know how to make the scene in a new bar.

Basically what I am saying is that the desire to make your social network data portable is a desire to make your social *life* completely automated. It’s like saying “I wish when I went to a new bar it would be automatically filled with all my friends whenever I go there”. Sorry, but you have to actually look around and find your friends, invite them, make plans with them, or walk up to strangers and introduce yourself.

Maybe the real trick would be to make a social networking tool that you never want to leave (the equivalent of getting a haircut you will feel comfortable with for years). One you can keep locally. Like, I dunno, in an address book?