Apparently I’ve derailed Tripp from his baby and gaming duties, with my latest post “Damn you Jeremiah“. His mind (and others) are starting to realize the value of developing for existing communities like Google and Facebook.

I say this to my clients quiet frequently: “Consider joining existing communities before building your own”. Remember when Walmart created their own Myspace clone? Don’t remember? Well hardly anyone else does either, that’s my point. Imagine now if they built a widget that can drop into Facebook that let’s members select products for each other, and maybe even buy them, now we’re talking a truly social application.

Key transformations:

Central > Distributed
Closed > Open
One form > Amorphous
Messages > Conversations
Corporate > Community
Control > Letting go

It’s all in good fun between Tripp and I, congrats on the new family member, I’m gluing some ideas together for a similar analysis on Facebook, the concepts are pretty much identical.