Mini-MySpaces: New phase

We've entered the phase of the social Web in which your child can have her very own social-networking site. Teachers can have their own classroom social-networking and media-sharing sites (private or public). So can your book club. As can bullies or gangs or porn collectors, too, for that matter, as unnerving as it is to think about that (post your thoughts in the BlogSafety forum).

I've written about personal social-networking sites before, but this CBS News focus on Ning, which hosts these homemade social sites itself, really got me thinking….

Phase 1 was Friendster for social-networking and personal blogs for self-expression.

Phase 2 was MySpace combining those two (for social producing, creative networking, or just collective self-expression) - as photo- and video-hosting sites like PhotoBucket and YouTube became social sites too. Call this the social-networking stew phase.

Phase 3: niche social networking (e.g. see ZDNET on the latest, Anheuser-Busch's MingleNow.com "to elevate and enhance the image of beer").

Now - Phase 4 - mini-MySpaces, or grassroots niche or general social networking (whichever anyone prefers).

For more on the implications of all this, please click to this week's issue of my newsletter.