Will the owner Of the 40-something three-kid married guy please come to customer service . . .

Over at Scobleizer the question is The real roadblocks to data portability on social networks. In fact, the real roadblock to data portability is Adam Smith. Once again, some of us innocent denizens of cyberspace have the misplaced notion that we actually own our own profile! Okay, maybe they do in Europe. But not here.

Sorry, Scoble-person, you are not a member of a dozen social networks (you mention Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, Upcoming.org, FriendFeed, SocialThing, Profilactic, FastCompany.com, Twitter, Pownce, WordPress.com, Disqus, etc). These are not social networks any more than “Friends” was a group of your friends. They are companies. Making money. Gaining value from your demographic. You don’t even get a theme song . . . !

Probably the greatest snow sales job on the web since Dr. Koop was investment-grade is that social networks are about you, your needs, and your profile. They are not. Facebook and MySpace and LinkedIn are no more altruistic than an Ayn Rand hero.

They are tools. Master them. Understand that social networking provides an incredibly flexible toolset you can use to connect to people who are interesting and share your values, engage your mind, supplement your skills, pique your interest, challenge your comfort zone, and make life more enjoyable. But remember (its not a geek blog without a star trek quote):

“If you can’t take a little bloody nose, maybe you oughtta go back home and crawl under your bed. It’s not safe out here. It’s wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it’s not for the timid.”

You don’t own your own profile - the website you give it to owns it. So lets be careful with it! Engage! But don’t be too honest too soon . . .