Jason Schwartz, the founder of matchbook, says that we’re moving from the social network era into the social circle era. I agree, but I might be a bit biased as I’ve never been a big social network user. I didn’t use them much because I didn’t feel the need to share with “everyone” I added as a friend. Facebook is more of a phonebook for me, a way to connect with everyone I ever met but not a tool to share. If I’m going to share on Facebook I would just as likely share on Twitter so the whole world could see. If I’m going to share with friends I do what I’ve always done and email local friends, college friends, etc. This is also what’s at the heart of Schwartz’s argument and I’m sold on his concept of social circles. I could really use something like that, however I don’t exactly agree with his theory that such circles will be built automatically.

Facebook has quite a few tools for managing groups of friends.  These fail because they rely on the user to manually curate these groups. Users won’t do the manual work necessary to make a Social Circle work, just like they won’t be selective with whom they friend on a check-in service.

One of the reasons I don’t share is I don’t know who will see it. For me to safely share I need to know exactly who will see my message. I’ve already lost track of who are my friends on Facebook, but let’s say Facebook gives me a way to automatically filter my friends. My question then would be can I trust it?

But could Google manage to make one automatically?

I can understand the appeal that algorithms will magically create and administer social circles, but then again there’s always algorithms arguments floating around Silicon Valley. They also don’t usually pan out. If anyone can make it work I would think it would be Google – they’re known for algorithms. Maybe they could create a social circle using Gmail. Would I use it? I couldn’t trust it completely as in theory the algorithm would constantly be adjusting who’s in my social circle and who isn’t. But maybe I would use it some of the time, perhaps to invite people to a parade or something. I doubt that would be enough for me to feel like it is anything other than a feature of Gmail and I think social circles have more potential – to be services in themselves.

Betting the battle for social circles will be more about positioning

All this reminds me of classic positioning marketing. Of all the brands in the world we identify them with something – Heinz is ketchup,  Porsche is sports cars, Cadillac is premium but not as premium as BMW. Facebook is a phonebook to me. To many it might be something different but I doubt it will be difficult for them to morph into a social circle.

Schwartz thinks the leader in social circles will be whoever can crack the nut on how to create social circles automatically.

Solving this problem is going to be very tricky. If you want to know why Path and Color were able to raise so much money, it’s because they are tackling this problem, not because they solved it.  The investors were placing a bet that if anyone can solve something as difficult as this, it will be those teams.

I’m betting it will end up being more of a battle of marketing. I’m waiting for such services, now one just needs to click for me. Maybe it will be a friends recommendation or one that catches fire on mobile. I’m not against having to manually create my circle, but I have to be sure who and who isn’t in my network at all times.

Apple’s new social network Ping had Facebook Connect one minute and not the next. It’s a bit odd for a feature like that to disappear in less than 24 hours, but what I found intriguing was some people’s reactions across the blogosphere. Om Malik was severely disappointed:

As a long-time customer of Apple and its iTunes store, I’m severely disappointed that I can’t bring my pre-configured social graph to Ping. I hope Apple and Facebook both come to an agreement and kiss and make-up.

Maybe it’s just me but I don’t want my social graph to follow me. I like having different graphs at different services. Having Facebook Connect would help me pull those that I might want over, but at the same time I’m kind of hoping the cool ones will move on their own and we’ll create a new social graph. I think it’s the same way with dive bars or clubs – you always keep moving.

Facebook Connect will most likely not return to Ping

Some speculate that this just part of corporate one-upmanship.

Otherwise, Ping would really suck and the big losers in this game of corporate one-upmanship are the consumers, who probably — like me–  just want recommendations from our friends, then buy those tunes.

Some believe that once it’s worked out, Facebook Connect will return. I highly doubt that, simply because Facebook charges for access.

According to AllThingsD, Facebook was responsible for turning off Apple’s access to its Facebook  Connect API. Typically this API is open to just about any application developer. However, with higher-volume apps (think social games and services with lots and lots of users), Facebook apparently requires a special agreement for these kinds of connections.

Apple is huge, they’re the product company everyone wants to emulate, their fans are rabid. Why would they need to pay for access? I’m sure what Apple asked itself is what’s the value add for Facebook Connect? Given who they are and that there are people like me out in the world who actively want to recreate social graphs they couldn’t justify the expense.

When I asked Jobs about that, he said Apple had indeed held talks with Facebook about a variety of unspecified partnerships related to Ping, but the discussions had gone nowhere. The reason, according to Jobs: Facebook wanted “onerous terms that we could not agree to.”

Ping is directly challenging Facebook’s place as the de facto social graph

We would be surprised if this feature didn’t make a reappearance at some point. That’s a good thing, because Facebook is becoming the de facto social graph for many users and makes the friend discovery process much easier.

I would agree that it is the de facto social graph today, but that is what Apple is challenging directly with Ping. My money isn’t so much on Ping, but more on the fact that Facebook’s lock on the de facto social graph is fading. I can still remember when there was only one place to build a personal homepage – GeoCities. Eventually people discovered other places, then entirely new ways to establish a home on the Internet.

Facebook seems unstoppable as of late, but this encounter with Apple could open up some cracks in the walls.