What is "data portability" and why do I need it?

There has been some buzz about data portability lately in the social media world amongst us geeky types, but very few people outside the industry have heard about it. And this is definitely something that affects everyone. Think of all that time we have spent on Facebook posting photos, sending messages to friends, building out your list of contacts, posting links, etc. It's like we have settled into this great apartment and taken the time to make it our own. We decorated, we met our neighbors, we bought a sweet couch that fits perfectly in the corner. And we have accumulated stuff. LOTS OF STUFF. Even if we are in a amazing apartment, we will most likely want to move at some point. Moving is a pain in the butt, but we could just hire some movers and they come in and grab everything, and probably break a few vases, but for the most part you get to start over with all your old stuff in a new home that may work even better for you.

Now imagine that you can't take your stuff with you. You have to throw it all away and buy new stuff. You are never going to move. EVER. The amount of time it takes go out and recreate what you had before is just plain prohibitive. That's what it's like on Facebook right now. Just imagine that they make a decision that violates your privacy so terribly (like tracking what you buy on Amazon and telling all your friends without you knowing about it... yes, it has happened) that you decide you never want to go back and that Facebook is dead to you. You are screwed. Facebook has you. You will live with the violation of privacy because there isn't much you can do about it.

Data portability gives you the ability to do something about it. It means that all your data is portable, you can go join a new site and take your data with you. Moving all your stuff and making new friends may be hard, but at least it will be POSSIBLE.

In short, data portability is freedom. We need it because we want to be free.

Right now a lot of your data is portable on Searchles, everything is accessible through RSS feeds that are open to the public. But that doesn't mean it's easy. There need to be a few standards created in the industry before it is truly easy. But we are working on it!