Yes, at first glance Twine may seem like nothing more than a social bookmarking site that doesn’t require tagging, or a Yahoo Group or Google Group. In fact, this is where Twine shines now. Let’s face it, the real world will never tag; it’s too time consuming, too painful. Twine’s semtagging (i.e., auto-tagging using the Semantic Web) takes care of this. You have to admit, this saves a lot of time. And compared to an online threaded discussions platform, can you think of anything that Twine can’t do relative to Yahoo Groups or Google Groups? I can’t — and I moderate a fairly popular Yahoo Group (although I no longer update the list; I do very little work in that sector these days).

So, a combination better social bookmarking site + online threaded discussions platform isn’t a bad thing.

As a wiki, Twine has some advantages over existing wikis by automatically linking data. This is not a trivial advantage. However, Twine isn’t Socialtext … but you’re not paying Socialtext user fees, either. Compared to something like Basecamp, Twine is pretty good. And let’s remember two things: It’s free, so it’s more appropriate to compare Twine to something like Wetpaint; and, it’s still in private beta, so give it some time. As you may know, I’m in the “Power Users” twine along with Hrafn, Nova, Jim and Chris. Just five of us. As such, I’m privy to some things that other Twinerians are not. Trust Nova when he says that a lot more is coming. I’m counting on Q4, but we’ll see gradual improvements between now and then. So far the Radarians have been pretty good at meeting their release schedules.

Expanding on this last topic, I’ve mentioned Twine as a blogging platform and RSS reader in other public posts. You might be pleasantly surprised by what Radar Networks has in the pipeline.

As a purely social network, Twine will supplement existing social networks, not replace them. But you have to admit that the recommended connections feature is pretty cool. Facebook, LinkedIn are great for managing your existing connections; Twine is better at recommending new connections. I call it one-click networking & discovery. See http://www.oneclicknetworking.com. So far, Twine has done a great job recommending Twines, does an admirable job recommending content. As far as recommending connections, the jury is still out. But since the other two (Twines and content) work at a B+/A- level, I suspect that the recommended connections feature will also work. I admit, it’s too early to verify this, but since Twine creates a social semantic graph (or, as Nova says, a semantic social graph — but Nova is wrong about this; social semantic graph is more accurate … and more important) for each Twinerian, and since it’s already doing a great job recommending Twines and content, I’ve got to believe that it will do a great job recommending human connections. And just think of the possibilities for finding business partners, job opportunities, life partners. It’s pushed matching using semweb. The possibilities are mind-boggling.

Nova is right when he stated that the media has blown semweb all out of proportion. Semweb is more than a generational advance from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0, which is one reason I don’t like Web 3.0 equated with semweb; it’s an understatement as to what semweb can/will do. But it’s not going to put an end to world hunger or war, either.

I tell my newbie friends that the web is like a book depository: Lots of books, often little organization. A search engine can help find what you’re looking for — assuming you use the exact keywords describing what you’re seeking. But semweb brings organization and order to the web, a web which is disorganized and chaotic. With semweb, the web becomes a library organized by the Dewey Decimal classification or Library of Congress Call Numbers. With semweb you can browse — and do so very efficiently. This is nearly impossible to do with the web.

Final point. Although my entire response has been about semweb, Nova’s true brilliance was that he realized that semweb isn’t enough. Enter knowledge management, collaboration technologies, intelligent agents, information retrieval interfaces, things like this. So Twine is semweb at its core, but combined with a good dose of related technologies.

I noticed that you’re already a member of my “Apps: On Semantic Web & Related Applications” twine, but I’d like to invite you to join my “Twine Technologies” twine. The “Twine Technologies” twine covers all the technologies underneath Twine’s hood. Matter of fact, I’ll just send you an invite when I’m done typing this comment.

Cheers,

- David Scott Lewis
Moderator, “Rising Stars of the Semantic Web” keynote/panel, Semantic Technology Conference 2008
& Contributing Author, SemanticReport.com