Social Network software with a purpose

43 People is about to launch. By the same guys who’ve already delivered the great 43Things and 43Places (The Robot Co-op), this is one of the best applications of the “web 2.0″, because it connects people to people, and allows them to share little intimate details to the public, while not being “weird” about it.

Sometimes I wonder how many of the entrepreneurs working on the “next killer app” realize how much of the web 2.0 is about connecting people who are on the “edge” (of the “content publishing” world, that is) and allowing them to interact. This ability to connect people through services, transparently, is amazing, and something I personally think about a lot – and now even more, since the work I’ve been doing is all about this sort of stuff.

One concern of mine is how much social software out there packs no meaningful “social object” – you know, what connects two or more people (like photos on Flickr, podcasts on Odeo or videos on YouTube). The result is usually the same all the time – people get tired, they stop visiting or they leave. Plus, there’s the problem of not being connected to the social network all the time (you are not on, say, hi5 all the time – hopefully), eventually leading people to forget or ignore the software. The meaningfulness of the social object around which the social network revolves is extremely important. Too important to forget.