Did the open source community predict how social networking would work?
Do you think that people work on open source software projects for the same reason they participate in social networks? I think there are some interesting correlations and some important differences.
They both do it to get recognition from peers. Neither really do it to make money. However, open source software developers are also looking to fix a problem or solve an issue – that piece is missing from social networking.
From The Growing Influence of Online Social Shoppers – eMarketer:
What do you think? 
3 Responses »
Very interesting. But, of course, and no, this never dawned on me. Good thinking!
I think social networks produce something: community. (And, frankly, I think a startling proportion of Open Source participants are after that same product, not primarily the tangible, overt one.)
What is different, I think, is that open-source networkers are aware of their objective, and all the dynamics of the community lead them to contribute to the project, to consider how to contribute. Social networkers, on the other hand, may contribute without thought or awareness of the network dynamics.
There are people who work earnestly to create community, even in the open source world (like, oh, say, you, Stormy!), and this is a very high-leverage form of contribution. I think I see some of them at work in social networks as well. But the social network’s dependency on unconscious contribution to the goal is quite different from the open source dynamic.