Who will take the social networking trophy?

Steve Rubel raise a very interesting point in his latest blog post, which basically concludes that the portals such as Google, AOL, Yahoo and so forth will win the social netoworking battle. The winners. The losers. Who will reap the benefits/ money? I find this particularly interesting and would have to agree with Rubel's portal argument - it's based on sound judgement given the trends we have seen in this space over the past couple of years.

We are currently being bombarded with all things 'social media' and more and more social networking sites are launching each day. You have online networking groups for cats, dogs, the elite, movie lovers, music lovers, wine appreciaters and the list goes on. Some hit a lucky streak and experience huge spikes in popularity and others are only given 15 seconds of stardom.

How many people were obsessed with MySpace when it first launched but then ditched it when the cooler, more user-friendly Facebook launched? This is just one exaple of what we are seeing and what is to come. I'll allude the social networking war to that of a loan so each and every one of you understand it. Social networking sites such as the ones I have mentioned are the variable interests in this battle and the portals are the fixed interests. It is in fact the portals, that Rubel describes as owning the 'glue', that holds these networks together. We may not necessarily be loyal to only one social networking site, and there are certainly a few of us that are not monogamous, but the fixed interest is the portal/ the tools that will always allow you to manage/share/distribute content no matter where your interests are. This includes web-based email, RSS, IM and mobile tools. We are using these daily to communicate more effectively with one another on social networking sites of our preference. This remains our true constant.

There are likely to be more applications such as these that supercede or enhance the current qualities of even tools like IM and email - and each and everyone of us are generating income for these portals in our daily romps with these social sites. These interactions equite to $$$.

Rubel sums it up nicely, so i'll leave you with this: "...more social networking translates into more bacn, emails and IMs from contacts you want to follow, RSS feeds, voicemails, etc. This cascades into more ad clicks, searches and banner/rich media ad views. The result? Free money for the portals..."

Just another side of the coin folks! Feel free to add your 2 cents.