Walls of Jericho Are Coming Down

What does open social mean?

First, what is it? Gabriel, I mean Google, is breaking down the walls between web sites by creating a means for functionality to be seamlessly shared across the Internet. Of particular interest is the ability to share functionality across a series of social networks.

Notice I didn't say 'site' above. The concept of open social implies that the web site is no longer a destination per se; but rather one part of the entire vehicle for interaction. This is a very good thing. As I've noted before, the concept of the Internet as a series of destinations is ultimately doomed because people want content to come to them.

In the past I sometimes wondered if I was inside those walls (corporate site) or outside (consumer). Today, its clear -- the wall is gone.

As Jeremiah Owyang recently wrote on MarketingProfs: " Web marketing no longer is limited to your corporate site. Let go of the concept of "driving traffic to your Web site" as a sole measurement of success. The Web, its message, and your battles are now fought on the open and distributed Web."