Where is this social thing going?

I have often wondered where this whole social thing on the web is taking us - if anywhere? Om Malik of GigaOM wonders too and asks for a deeper meaning in a post entitled “The Social Map To Where”. His conclusion: The overwhelming majority of todays social apps and services wouldn’t be missed, if they disappeared from the face of the planet tomorrow.

Fundamentally, I share Om’s view. I think a lot of these apps live on little more than the initial buzz alone. But I do not for a second doubt that what we’re seeing is essentially a shift in paradigms for how technology can be of assistance to people.

So when will we see the real impact and fulfillment of potential? When the first true digital natives - people born in the age of the internet - get out there and start building apps. They will have a fundamentally different understanding of whats useful and why and how to apply new ways of doing things. Furthermore they will be adopting new technology a lot faster and more broadly than previous generations. In their case being outside will be a less common sight than being on the inside.

So it will be a couple of years before we will start to see truly new social tools that makes a difference above and beyond fulfilling entertainment needs. But its worth to remember that it will still be adoption among digital natives and the most adaptive older generations only. Sadly, I have little doubt that some of the present generations - perhaps even the majority of current web users - will end up feeling lost.

Is there a way to solve that - or take advantage, if seen from a business perspective? Definately. As new usefull tools arive the big opportunity will be in the ease-of-use and simplicity of the UI. I personally think that that will be more important than a rich featureset in securing broad adoption. And entrepreneurs figuring that out will be the heroes of tomorrow.