Future of the Web is Personal, not Social; now eat this!

Just read Doc Searls' post on VRM is personal. You know what? He's right! I hear so much "social, social" this, social that, etc. etc. that I am about to regurgitate it all. I hope I'm not going to walk you into a philosophical (individualist v. collectivist cultures a la Hofstede) debate because it's not my intention, but: I believe the future of the web is individual (with the social component still being subsumed under "individual" because if I enjoy sociality, it's ME that enjoys and therefore allows it, not the other way around). I don't believe in social per se, just as much as I don't believe in individual per se. I guess you can call me a true relativist or practical guy, in that I don't really believe in any regimenting new golden rules. If I let my friends (and invite them to my thousand LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. accounts) is because I am the one in control of who am I exposing my sociality to, with whom, and when. I sometimes feel like being social, I sometimes don't.

And another point where Doc makes complete sense: all the conversation and Power Point decks I hear around "social network marketing" from agencies is still about "owning" the user/customer/consumer albeit in a different channel, with different methods. But the mindset is the same. So to me keeping the "social" rhetoric ongoing is a fad. Unless of course we come up with a truly consumer-friendly model that also happens to make money for the biz without "owning" the social consumer.

This is why I believe the next web will be personal, not social (but pray include "social" in the "personal" denotation). At least that's until someone comes up with a better explanation of "social" than the standard PPT as seen on projectors. I almost feel like the "Che" of data, lol.