NY TIMES — Mar 2 — Next week Cisco Systems plans to announce one of its most unusual deals: it is buying the technology assets of Tribe.net (8 employees). The deal will give Cisco the technology to help large corporate clients create services resembling MySpace or YouTube. A multitude of start-ups like Ning say that social networks will soon be as ubiquitous as regular Web sites. Those setting up Ning communities can pay $20 a month if they want the site free of ads. FULL ARTICLE @ NYTIMES
Mark Brooks: Ultimately, our profiles will be ubiquitous and social networks will be more personalised. We will each be members of many social networks. LinkedIn for business, MyChurch for our church group, Zaadz for our group of do-gooders, Facebook for college buddies (although that could change now that Facebook is open to the world) and Nuzizo for culture/fun. The internet world will more closely resemble the real world. However, our reputations and credibility will be more visible and readily apparent from the social networks we reside on/in, the company we keep and the testimonials our friends, work associates, and ex-work associates leave for us.