Attended an interesting meeting held by Unltd today about a social networking platform for social entrepreneurs. Their proposal is very much around involving existing organisations web-presences, and combining content/expertise/memberships through judicious use of web 2.0 technologies (RSS, XML etc). This seems a very sensible approach, given that it is likely only through this ‘open’ and collaborative approach that critical mass could be reached, and the cross-cutting nature of social entrepreneur networks be represented.

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There was an interesting discussion after their presentation, including everything from the near-apocalyptic (this will do away with business support agencies and revolutionise the internet) to the more prosaic (how would this work, what would it look like). I made my traditional Luddite point that we should be wary of assuming access, and be aware of the digital divide. It’s an issue that I’ve become particularly aware of whilst running introductory sessions with SSE students to our extranet: the IT literacy and confidence with the kind of applications we were discussing today is far from ubiquitous. As Cliff Prior (UnLtd CEO) rightly said to me, those disenfranchised or missing out well may be decided by age, more than, say, race or background (though figures still show that there is a working-class/middle-class divide as well).

It’s a key point, though: if this movement is about reducing inequality, we need to be wary of things that may reinforce that inequality, or add to it in different ways. I’m not suggesting we don’t go ahead with this kind of project (which SSE are keen to be involved in), and that these issues should hold us back, but that we need to address them alongside: embedded in our support programmes, for example.

My main other point was that this will be complementary and add to offline support (and provide channels to it), rather than replace it or do away with it. This will benefit those organisations with the best content and who understand this area best (and who, crucially, understand that you have to “socialise” what you create). But offline stuff will remain: democratising the tools of production for social entrepreneurs (to apply long tail terminology) can’t be done solely through the net. Networking can be facilitated but trusted relationships (of commissioning, trading, referring, support) are built face-to-face and in physical spaces.

Aside from that, I think it could potentially be very interesting, as many of the tools are out there already (which makes it relatively cheap, and swift to develop). The point one person raised (“this is like EMI building MySpace”) carries a note of warning, but we should encourage intrapreneurship as well as entrepreneurship….and everyone agreed that it will need to be shaped and owned by the users as soon as is practicable. Watch this (my) space.

Incidentally, it got me thinking about some of the tools out there, and what my kind of personalised page might look like, so I’ve started creating one on NetVibes. You can check it out here (you’ll have to set up a Netvibes page to add my tab):