It was only yesterday that Hyder mentioned BuddyPress to me, which is a set of plugins that turns WordPress into a fully fledged social networking website. Today, I’ve just read that Andy Peatling, the person behind BuddyPress has just joined Automattic, the company behind WordPress, WordPress MU,? bbPress? and Akismet. It signals that WordPress will probably have these social networking tools built into it in the future (as speculated by Om Malik), turning everyone’s blog into a potential social network.
I suppose there are positives and negatives behind this. On the plus side, setting up your own social networking website will be a doddle and everyone can have their own Facebook! However, it will promote an even greater fragmentation of social bases around the Web. People will start “living” within their own clusters, dedicated to fast cars, psoriasis treatment or things to do with chocolate,? I suppose? really limits the scope for reaching out and making new friends. Meeting new people is a great way to expand your ideas and learn new things, but if you inhabit a number of different ecosystems, each focusing on people with your tastes and preferences, isn’t this making the world a bit more boring.
Time will tell, it will be interesting to watch this develop, though Mashable is hoping for this to happen imminently. One thing is sure, if this takes off, I’m going to hate having to remember more and more different login details for each of these little worlds. Luckily the plan is for data to be interchanged rather than walled in.