Chris Messina argues that identity is the platform for the future of the web. He discusses how currently, people's identities online are "brand mediated" and controlled by companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google. If these companies go away, people's online identities are also at risk. Messina advocates for a more decentralized approach using open standards like OpenID that allow people to own and control their own identity across different websites and services on the internet.

1. IDENTITY IS THE PLATFORM
Chris Messina • Netflix • Los Gatos, CA • October 26, 2009

2. W H O I THIN K I AM

3. My name is Chris Messina. I am a technologist, designer, and consultant from San Francisco.

4. @chrismessina
you can find me on twitter as @chrismessina.

5. i’ve been involved in several communities and efforts online... microformats, barcamp...
helped to create hashtags in 2007.

6. Since 2004, I have worked in the open source and social web communities, beginning with
helping to lead the community marketing of Firefox in 2004, launching the Flock browser in
2005, and then subsequently working on a number of open, social web technologies
including OAuth, OpenID, and more recently, activity streams.

7. etc.
and so on. i’m still figuring this all out, actually.
so i have a question for all of you, and one that i think is of utmost important, and is the
subject of this talk today... i told you about who i am, but who are you? and how do you
present yourself to the world online?

8. WH O D O Y O U TH IN K YOU AR E?
a profile is a collection of attributes that we present to the world that represents us. but
identity is really also about who each us believes ourselves to be, and which collections of
attributes we want to present to the world.

9. but here’s the thing about these online profiles: these profiles — how we present ourselves to
the online world — aren’t actually under our control.
this, for example, is how Facebook thinks I should look to the world. I can’t change who’s
listed here — I can’t add more information to my profile.

12. What’s so similar between these three? (CLICK) All three have brands that come BEFORE my
name. (CLICK)
these are what I call “brand mediated identities”. They exist at the whim of these companies.
If the companies go away or get acquired, so do I.

13. What’s so similar between these three? (CLICK) All three have brands that come BEFORE my
name. (CLICK)
these are what I call “brand mediated identities”. They exist at the whim of these companies.
If the companies go away or get acquired, so do I.

14. What’s so similar between these three? (CLICK) All three have brands that come BEFORE my
name. (CLICK)
these are what I call “brand mediated identities”. They exist at the whim of these companies.
If the companies go away or get acquired, so do I.

15. In contrast, this is MY homepage. I own factoryjoe.com. Thus, I own my identity.
how do we get to the point where MY identity is as widely accepted as my facebook, google
or Twitter identities?

16. it’s worth keeping in mind how you present yourself to the world, and if you’re be presented
within the context of someone else’s brand.

17. “ D A TA C AP IT AL”

18. Death of a Web App
To illustrate the concept of data capital, I want to tell the story of the death of a web app

19. i want to tell you the story of Pownce. It’s a tale of loss, and of unhappy endings.
And it illustrates a broader story about the fragility of the web.

20. Photo by Mathieu Thouvenin
Now, Pownce is a special case in some ways, since I know the people who created it: Leah,
Daniel, and Kevin. All friends, all good people.
This wasn’t a malicious, evil startup.

21. Kevin Rose
Daniel Burka
Leah Culver
Photo by Mathieu Thouvenin
Now, Pownce is a special case in some ways, since I know the people who created it: Leah,
Daniel, and Kevin. All friends, all good people.
This wasn’t a malicious, evil startup.

22. The site itself was kind of a Twitter-like service, but it gave you the ability to share links,
files, and events — and post status messages.

23. It had also had its own personality and spunk.

24. And get this: unlike most valley startups — it actually had some semblance of a business
model, trying its hand at the “freemium model”.
The service was well loved. But, it ultimately wasn’t independently sustainable.

25. And then, it happened.
In December 2008, Six Apart announced that it had acquired Pownce and that it was going to
shut it down.

26. And then, it happened.
In December 2008, Six Apart announced that it had acquired Pownce and that it was going to
shut it down.

27. Writing on the Pownce blog, Leah gave people two weeks to export their data for importing to
other services like Vox, TypePad and WordPress.

28. We’ll be closing down the main Pownce website two weeks from today,
December 15th. Since we’d like for you to have access to all your Pownce
messages, we’ve added an export function. Visit pownce.com/settings/
export/ to generate your export file. You can then import your posts to other
blogging services such as Vox, TypePad, or WordPress.
Writing on the Pownce blog, Leah gave people two weeks to export their data for importing to
other services like Vox, TypePad and WordPress.

29. The problem with Pownce’s shutdown, however, was not so much the data and the loss of
status updates.
Of course that was to be lamented, but there were two bigger problems.

30. 1. No export of relationships
2. No way to leave a forwarding address
No export of relationships
No way to tell my friends where to find me

31. in many ways this was a betrayal — but one that i don’t think a lot of people had counted on.
here they’d come to this space to connect with friends and when that space went away, it
took their friends with them.
and pownce hasn’t been the only one.

32. In recent time, we’ve seen many more sites fail and shutter.
Perhaps you recall Geocities?

33. Here’s a photosharing community called BubbleShare. Maybe you never heard of it, but in its
time, it had plenty of active members sharing their memories and experiences online.

34. Here’s a photosharing community called BubbleShare. Maybe you never heard of it, but in its
time, it had plenty of active members sharing their memories and experiences online.

37. Logo collage by Stabilo Boss
but we know that most startups fail. that’s just the nature of the game.
this map of web 2.0 company logos was assembled in 2007.

38. Logo collage by Meg Pickard
here’re the ones that are still around, I believe as of May. Not only is all that data gone, but,
more importantly, the record of people’s relationships and activities — the things that help
define who they are — have vanished into the ether.

39. S O C I A L OB JECT S

40. this is a social object. don’t worry about what it is. i’m using it to illustrate a point. ;)

41. add notes, tags, comments, favorite, add to galleries, add contact, interact with other
members...

42. add notes, tags, comments, favorite, add to galleries, add contact, interact with other
members...

43. rating, add to playlist, favorite, share, copy the URL, flag, play, comment, reply by video

44. rating, add to playlist, favorite, share, copy the URL, flag, play, comment, reply by video

47. Now the value of this data grows over time — after you’ve saved it up for a long time.

48. Now the value of this data grows over time — after you’ve saved it up for a long time.

49. you can see that i’ve uploaded nearly 20,000 photos. but it’s not just the photos that are
valuable.

50. you can see that i’ve uploaded nearly 20,000 photos. but it’s not just the photos that are
valuable.

51. instead it’s the comments and the views and all the meta data that flickr has collected on my
photos that determines the real value of these photos that would be lost if i simply moved my
photos elsewhere.
this is aggregate intelligence data that can be used to help filter what’s interesting.

52. instead it’s the comments and the views and all the meta data that flickr has collected on my
photos that determines the real value of these photos that would be lost if i simply moved my
photos elsewhere.
this is aggregate intelligence data that can be used to help filter what’s interesting.

53. All this data that we’re creating has value!
All this data that we’re creating has value! But it’s social value — because these data objects
are social objects that combine to create what I call “data capital”.

54. A C TI V I TY S T R EAMS
and where else are we seeing this? In the real-time activity streams — which chronicle up to
the minute records of the things that you do.

55. all of this content, regardless of its type, came in the form of RSS feeds

56. so no matter what, they all look the same.

57. icons by Fast Icon
but people do more than just post blog posts on the web.

58. which leads to what we call “the friendfeed problem” — how do you differentiate all these
different feeds when you only have one basic format?
here are the 58 services that friendfeed supports. but surely more services will exist that
produce similar content... how do they end up in friendfeed’s list of “supported” types?

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Inspired by Jyri Engeström
in the open social web, i believe that we should follow people, not services. and that we
should follow the activities that we’re interested in, not just the ones that facebook thinks
we’re interested in.

60. activitystrea.ms

61. Identity and data capital matter
icon by Seedling Design
In the cloud, it’s identity and data capital that matter. Activity streams are a great way to
represent both — and something that I believe will change the way that we use social
websites.

62. A NE W P L A TFOR M WAR
and the it’s identity and data that are leading us into a new platform war.

63. from 2004-2007, the battle was largely between internet explorer and firefox.
that battle is now largely over. firefox didn’t “win” in the traditional sense, but forced the
market to respond to microsoft’s dominance over the web. (CLICK)
now, we are in the early days of the battle between facebook and openid.

64. VS
Facebook Connect OpenID
from 2004-2007, the battle was largely between internet explorer and firefox.
that battle is now largely over. firefox didn’t “win” in the traditional sense, but forced the
market to respond to microsoft’s dominance over the web. (CLICK)
now, we are in the early days of the battle between facebook and openid.

65. “The Internet was built without a way to know who and what
you are connecting to.”
—Kim Cameron, Problem Statement, The Laws of Identity
the fundamental reason why we’re seeing this new battle emerge is because, as Kim Cameron
said, “The Internet was built without a way to know who and what you are connecting to.”

66. in a blog post published yesterday, facebook is endeavoring to make it easier for you to add
facebook connect to your site using a simple wizard.
in many ways, this is great. it’s getting easier and easier to add “the social” to your website.
but at what cost to cut corners? what are we losing in favor of this kind of centralized service?

67. The Power of Facebook Connect
Establishing a presence on the social Web requires fundamental building
blocks. Facebook provides these essential tools, including identity for a great
registration system, and immediate access to 300 million active global users.
in a blog post published yesterday, facebook is endeavoring to make it easier for you to add
facebook connect to your site using a simple wizard.
in many ways, this is great. it’s getting easier and easier to add “the social” to your website.
but at what cost to cut corners? what are we losing in favor of this kind of centralized service?

68. Photo by Mike Wooldridge
as my buddy John McCrea likes to say, we’ve seen this movie before. And it doesn’t end well.

69. The problem with Facebook Connect is that it
eliminates choice and restricts your digital freedom
let me break it down for you: The problem with Facebook Connect is that it eliminates choice
and restricts your digital freedom

70. O P E N ID
The answer — as far as I’m concerned, is widespread adoption of a technology called OpenID.

71. Photo by Teresa Stanton
OpenID is like a personal skeleton key for all your web accounts.
By using an account that you already have to sign up for another website, not only is it more
convenient, but you are able to start developing your own universal web identity — that, if
you CHOOSE TO, you can own.

72. So, who thinks they have an OpenID?

73. Usual suspects
• Google
• Yahoo!
• AOL
• MySpace
• WordPress
• etc

75. Estonia, Japan, france telecom
as one might expect — govt is a great identity provider... one of your neighbors is one of the
first... estonia.
other countries people don’t trust the gov’t... beauty of openid is that anyone can be a
provider, so here’s what the US G is doing.

76. Where can you use your OpenID?

77. *Source: Janrain
OpenID adoption across the web continues to grow
as it turns out, there are at least over 50K sites that support openid, - almost doubled since
the beginning of the year. of course it’s nearly impossible to count openid relying parties
since it’s a decentralized technology. that said, one argument for openid is the diversity of
user accounts used with openid.

78. UserVoice Identity Providers
Source: Janrain - Why Websites Should Accept Multiple Third Party Identity Account Logins
diversity of identity providers on sites that have adopted OpenID... lesson is that you don’t
want to NOT support these different users! facebook connect is not enough!

79. Interscope Identity Providers
Source: Janrain - Why Websites Should Accept Multiple Third Party Identity Account Logins

80. sulit.com.ph Identity Providers
Source: Janrain - Why Websites Should Accept Multiple Third Party Identity Account Logins

81. “We launched OpenID in March 2008 with Highrise.
About 15% of the logins are now using OpenID.”
— David Heinemeier Hansson, 37Signals

82. “Deployments for their customers – Twitter and
Songbird – are seeing OpenID utilization of 20% or
more.”
— Eric Eldon, VentureBeat

83. And it’s not just private industry. The US Government launched a pilot last month that will
enable citizens to use their existing accounts to sign in to government websites — a huge
boon to citizen-centric identity.

84. YOU A R E THE P LAT FOR M

86. the reason why obama won the election last year was because he understood the power of
this new platform. he knew that by putting his brand and his name in the hands of his
supporters (with proper leadership of course), that they would be much more effective at
carrying his message forward, IN THEIR OWN WORDS.

87. and it would seem that obama’s not the only one to see this.
Yahoo recently unveiled their new advertising campaign — and it’s all about YOU.

88. Mozilla is also talking about this. Of course, they’re taking the perspective of the browser —
which, you’ll note is the original “user agent”.

89. These traits make the browser the logical tool for a user -centric
(“you-centric” ??) world.
Mozilla is also talking about this. Of course, they’re taking the perspective of the browser —
which, you’ll note is the original “user agent”.

90. I DE N TI TY I S TH E P LAT FOR M
all this leads me to believe that identity is the platform for the future of the web — and that it
is the central building block of the social web.
so, what do i mean by platform? well... to start...

91. Overview
I. Me at the center
II. Smarter user agents & filters
III. Faceted identity
IV. Data is capital

92. I.
Me at the center
i am at the center of my experience on the social web.

93. we’re building these profiles all across the web — fragmenting our identities — putting the
services at the center, rather than me.

94. Photo by miss:anthrope
these profiles are also used to express themselves.

95. Photo by amanda kelso
sometimes these profiles leak over into the real world and affect your real identity. this is
increasingly true as people find themselves connecting with friends on twitter and facebook.

96. Mazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs
morality,
creativity,
spontaneity,
problem solving,
lack of prejudice,
Self-actualization acceptance of facts
self-esteem, confidence,
achievement, respect of others,
Esteem respect by others
friendship, family, sexual intimacy
Love/belonging
security of: body, employment, resources,
Safety morality, the family, health, property
breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion
Physiological
increasingly we see that people are experiencing mazlow’s hiearchy of needs on the social
web — that is — they’re finding friends, connecting, and sharing experiences that are
important to them.
the difference between the real world and the digital is rapidly fading
they are at the center of their own experiences in these cases, except are essentially using
leased identities.

97. Growing comfort with real identity
even places like MySpace, where pseudonymity reigns is moving in this direction...

98. Growing comfort with real identity
even places like MySpace, where pseudonymity reigns is moving in this direction...

99. even to the point where sites are allowing you to VERIFY your identity. this is huge.

100. even to the point where sites are allowing you to VERIFY your identity. this is huge.

101. Identity

105. “My account has now been held hostage for a week,” another reader wrote.
“Some of my friends think that I have deleted (my profile) or even blocked
them... None of my friends or family can see my profile or even find it in
search. It’s as if I simply deleted my account or blocked all of them from
seeing it without even a word.”

106. Mazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs
morality,
creativity,
spontaneity,
problem solving,
lack of prejudice,
Self-actualization acceptance of facts
self-esteem, confidence,
achievement, respect of others,
Esteem respect by others
friendship, family, sexual intimacy
Love/belonging
security of: body, employment, resources,
Safety morality, the family, health, property
breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion
Physiological
and so, as more people are finding real meaning on the web and expressing themselves
through these profiles, it becomes much more important for people to be able to reuse these
accounts and profiles in their everyday experiences online.

107. II.
Smarter user agents & filters

108. Like Tim O'Reilly's Web 2.0, identity agents get better and smarter the mire people use them,
together. Indeed, even Clippy was a kind of half-retarded identity agent that simply existed
before the network era. As a result, it often suggested inane and stupid things because 1) it's
algorithm for understanding what you wanted to do was extremely limited but 2) it didn't
benefit from learning from all the other users of Clippy. So it made the same mistakes for
*everyone* and never got smarte

109. iTunes Genius is aided by the sales of music from iTunes -- Apple's "music graph" -- where certain artists are bought by the same people--in
aggregate this points to similiarity in taste bettter than genre alone.

110. spotify is in the same business, but they’re already online and connected — and are doing the
same thing that pandora and last.fm are doing.

111. Firefox 3’s “awesome bar” operates on a similar principle buts lacks in one important way: it
really only learns from MY behavior — even though it could, theoretically learn from my
friends, or other people that I trust.

112. Firefox 3’s “awesome bar” operates on a similar principle buts lacks in one important way: it
really only learns from MY behavior — even though it could, theoretically learn from my
friends, or other people that I trust.

113. Image credit: Mashable
yelp augmented reality app... brings my friends, my tastes into an augmented view of
reality... using my friends’ reviews as filters for where I might eat... And who else is doing
this now?

114. Well, just announced TODAY — Google has a new experimental feature that they previewed at
Web 2.0 Expo called “Social Search”...

115. And it works by looking through the data capital that you and your friends have built up on
these social websites to provide you with more personalized results.

116. More easily find relevant blogs, reviews and other public content from your social circle.
What is your social circle? It's a combination of your Gmail chat buddies, your Gmail
contacts friends, family and co-worker groups, and people you're publicly connected to
on other social sites (such as Twitter and FriendFeed).
And it works by looking through the data capital that you and your friends have built up on
these social websites to provide you with more personalized results.

117. III.
Faceted identity

118. Attributes, activities, and connections
a facet of my identity is essentially a collection of attributes or traits. combined with activities
(the things I do when expressing a facet) and connections (the people, services, and social
objects with whom I share a relationship), I am able to maintain several personae.

119. Photo by Johanna MacDonald
It’s important to understand that identity is dynamic — and not static. Therefore it is
important to understand that I “perform” with several different personalities — each with his
own set of attributes, activities, and connections.

120. 1. what makes me who I am is based on evidence over time. it’s my activities, it’s aging, it’s
who I know and my friends.
2. It’s my connections to the world...

121. 1. what makes me who I am is based on evidence over time. it’s my activities, it’s aging, it’s
who I know and my friends.
2. It’s my connections to the world...

122. 1. what makes me who I am is based on evidence over time. it’s my activities, it’s aging, it’s
who I know and my friends.
2. It’s my connections to the world...

123. 1. what makes me who I am is based on evidence over time. it’s my activities, it’s aging, it’s
who I know and my friends.
2. It’s my connections to the world...

124. Here is my Facebook social graph. Up the in top right (click) are my high school friends.
Down here — this big clump — these are all my tech friends and everyone I’ve connected with
AFTER high school. This is as unique as a my fingerprint.
And yet this graph will continue to change over my life.

125. High school
Here is my Facebook social graph. Up the in top right (click) are my high school friends.
Down here — this big clump — these are all my tech friends and everyone I’ve connected with
AFTER high school. This is as unique as a my fingerprint.
And yet this graph will continue to change over my life.

126. High school
After high school
Here is my Facebook social graph. Up the in top right (click) are my high school friends.
Down here — this big clump — these are all my tech friends and everyone I’ve connected with
AFTER high school. This is as unique as a my fingerprint.
And yet this graph will continue to change over my life.

127. Photo by Brian Herzog
this isn’t like the yellow pages or phone books of yesteryear.
these books are directories, plain and simple.

128. the social graph, in contrast, is all about the connections between people — and the intensity
of those connections.

129. the social graph, in contrast, is all about the connections between people — and the intensity
of those connections.

130. IV.
Data is capital

131. Photo by Ben Ward
here’s a photo of my friend matt biddulph. i’m sure he didn’t realize that this photo would
come to have new meaning, but it seems to fit this point perfectly.

132. of course i’m referring to the acquisition of dopplr by nokia last week.

133. once again, we have a blog post explaining the acquisition and that friendly reminder that
you can always get your data out if you want — something they’ve always offered fortunately.
but once again, something that doesn’t reflect where the value is for me as an individual in
the connections and friendships I’ve made.

134. the problem with this picture is that i connected to my friends THROUGH Dopplr, and if I just
export my data, I lose the value of this — of being able to know where my friends are going
next... and because our connections are mediated through dopplr, as with pownce, I can’t
just “leave”.

135. Overview
I. Me at the center
II. Smarter user agents & filters
III. Faceted identity
IV. Data is capital

136. The end.
chris@citizenagency.com • @chrismessina • factoryjoe.com
Typeface: FTF Flama™ by Mario Feliciano
now, let’s open it up for questions / discussions.