Abstract: Social networking sites have gained much popularity in the recent years, because of the opportunities they give people to connect to each other in an easy and timely manner, and to exchange and share various kinds of information. However, these sites are based on a centralized paradigm, which limits the mobility of their users, and ultimately, their chances for establishing new relationships and benefiting from diverse networking services. In this paper, we argue for a decentralized paradigm for social networking, in which users retain control of their profiles, and social networking sites focus on the delivery of innovative and competitive services. Our position is that only in this environment will both the social networking sites and their users be able to develop to their full potential.

Keywords: Semantic web, social network, friend-of-a-friend, FOAF