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The World of Online Networking

Two different neighborhoods in cyberspace

Virtual worlds and social networks may intersect. Imagine if those two neighborhoods came together. Some Internet developers believe this blending of sites is thanks to a new wave of technological openness spreading across the Internet. Facebook is credited with sparking the change when it allowed outside programmers to develop new features for the wildly popular social networking site.

More openness is on the way, and with it that could include the possible linking of popular web destinations in ways that can only be imagined today, according to software executives and Internet entreprenueurs.

Possible benefits

For users, the benefits could be endless. Imagine sending online invitations to friends and directing them to a virtual movie theater for an old Spencer Tracy classic. Or what if a social network—where members develop networks of acquaintances—could permit users to display their virtual neighborhoods and online homes?

The new openness represents a dramatic turn for the Internet. Boosters say the potential for innovation and “mash-ups” – combinations that mix the features of two sites—will offer an exciting new dimension to Web 2.0 –the wave of innovation that has let users publish blogs, post videos on YouTube, friends on MySpace and even fire questions at presidential candidates.

They say this next step could lead to greater self-expression and new ways to communicate, in addition to offering more live events and creating spontaneity online that more closely resembles the real world.Since Facebook began permitting any company or software developer to build services, or applications, on its site, more than 1,700 have appeared. One popular application called iLike keeps track of favorite bands and musicians. Another, Slide, creates collaborative .

“If Facebook is successful, the social-network sites of today will be obsolete,” said Salil Deshpande, partner at the venture firm Bay Partners. “It is something quite monumental.”

Vocabulary Focus

spark (v) ---to cause the start of something

spontaneity (n) ---when something happens naturally and suddenly, without being planned

obsolete (adj) ---not in use any more, having been replaced by something newer or better

Specialized terms