FindMeOn.com Blog

We’re really incredibly flattered by the advanced info on Google’s Open Social - there is considerable overlap with the FindMeOn platform and OpenSN (open social networking) project, both of which launched last year and compromise considerable IP filings.

When FindMeOn.com launched in 2006, we were hailed as a step in the right direction - yet too futuristic and forward-thinking for the marketplace. It’s amazing to know that within two years, our vision of social network and identity portability has been accepted by the mainstream.

FindMeOn, Inc. is currently investigating the situation. Unfortunately, we can not comment any further on this matter.

FindMeOn turned One Year Old just this month!

The site went into private beta on August 8th - a group of friends were given invites, badges started appearing , and you know how that stuff goes!

Its really crazy what has happened in the past year. When we first launched last August , people looked at us like we were crazy for the concept. By November people were cloning our identity aggregation and syndication services, in March we started to hear internet icons scream about privacy issues, and now in August we’re seeing people pushing forward for user profile and relationship portability. Its kind of neat knowing how spot-on we’ve been in our predictions of the internet.

FindMeOn is getting the first pass of a 3part update.

Unfortunately, that means a bit of downtime. The system is usually only down for 2 hours between 2am and 4am EST — which is much shorter than the Flickr massages. We’re still working out an issue with the badges , that should be fixed soon

API Changes

The API was reorganized this weekend. All the functions have been renamed / moved to different places. Exisiting URLs will still work indefinitely — however they will not be advertised. Anyone in possession of an api_key already accessing the affected functions should have received a message about the changes, as well as a reccommendation/request to migrate to the new namespace.

New Badge Testing

We’ve taken preliminary steps to offer a ’stacked’ version of our interactive badge 3 levels deep. This was a frequent request among users in our feedback system. The new badge works, but will undergo constant updates.

FindMeOn.com is pleased to announce several new updates.

RapidRegister:

The RapidRegister spec is now public, and we’ll soon be rolling out the live code (fixing a few bugs right now , but people like previews). RapidRegister is a simple concept with an elegant execution - FindMeOn.com users can pre-generate an anonymous OpenID url to use when registering with a new website. The RapidRegister URL supports OpenID’s Simple Registration protocol to maximize efficiency of online registration. FindMeOn.com users can turn a RapidRegister URL into a valid FindMeOn account listing manually, or can approve the foreign website to do so using our QuickList functionality.

By using FindMeOn.coms RapidRegister, QuickList, and API services — along with the standard OpenID protocol — websites can quickly convert FindMeOn.com users onto their own systems. FindMeOn.com essentially manages online profiles , not just for users, but for websites as well. FindMeOn’s proprietary systems differentiate from OpenID-exclusive offerings, in that FindMeOn offers websites and users the opportunity for a ’subscription’ based profile syndication service that does not require constant authentication , along with FindMeOn’s systems designed to offer internet users unparalleled user privacy and identity isolation .

Updated Gif Badges:

FindMeOn.com users now have the option to syndicate their links using our first dynamic gif badge. The dynamic gif badge shows as-many-as the top 3 alternate identities for each account , in the form of a clickable image map. While the dynamic gif badge is not as robust as FindMeOn.com’s flash offerings, it works on all web services — even those that ’strip’ flash media on profiles.

SWF Badge Updates Coming soon:

We’re working on pushing user connection info to display directly within Flash widgets. There’s a bit of issues with it so its not live yet– but we’re getting close. Expect to see these all over the internet soon!

SWF Badge FAQ:

Many people have been writing in since our public launch, asking us to feature comments and messaging in the flash badge.

The definitive answer is this: Sadly, FindMeOn will not be releasing a badge that does those things. While we’d love to do it ( we really would — we even had a test badge that did it pre-launch ), there’s a large problem in that social networks simply don’t like badges that do those things. Our goal is to work with Users and Social Networks alike — so right from the beta launch we’ve been restraining ourselves to not infringe on network services. If the climate changes, we’d be happy to introduce that functionality — but networks today dislike widgets that infringe on their offerings.

OpenID:

Just as a reminder, every FindMeOn.com user has multiple OpenID urls:
1 url for their public FindMeOn.com account ( http://findmeon.com/users/abc )
1 url for their user chosen FindMeOn.com account ( http://findmeon.com/users/myfindmeonaccount )
1 url for EACH online identity registered with FindMeOn.com ( http://findmeon.com/findmeon/123 )

I am pleased to announce that as of February 1st key features to both SyndiClick properties, FindMeOn and RoadSound, are patent pending.

In regards to FindMeOn, a lot of intellectual property is being protected — and a lot isn’t.

First, we should note what is not being covered by current patent applications:

The findmeon spec is now, and always will be, free and open.

FindMeOn is not protecting anything about listing all of your profile identities on a single page, list your RSS feeds etc. Everyone is doing this now, and we neither don’t know who thought of it first , nor care. We’re not looking do to this style of aggregation at all — and see little difference between it and existing social networking sites with a ‘list your accounts here’ box. If you only want that sort of functionality, the best implementation we’ve seen of it has been Claim ID, and we strongly suggest looking there. There are also a ton of new sites every day that kind of do that, and toss on misc bells and whistles , but its all the same and Claim ID shows the most utility by far.

In terms of our current patent applications, we are are seeking protections for: ( please note, this is generalized. Because there’s so much activity in this field right now I don’t want to get into the exact claims until they’re made public by the USPTO ):
How we isolate accounts and identities from one another with privacy
How we syndicate identities and links to other networks via clickable badges ( the webring-ish feature of our badges )
How we handle profile management , permissions, and syndication
How we handle cross-network friendships
a bunch of other stuff that isn’t public yet

The RapidRegister system and developer toolset will be launching within the week, and a host of new user searching tools will as well.

FindMeOn QuickList is an exciting new feature that we’ve been eager to launch for the past few months — and have finally decided to unveil in a series of consecutive Phases at the start of the new year.

QuickList “Phase 1″ lets 3rd party websites redirect their users to FindMeOn.com using specially formated links. These links contain specific information to rapidly create new entries on FindMeOn.com for the accounts, then redirect users back to their originating website along with the unique FindMeOn resource id.

Using this resource id, 3rd party websites can seamlessly integrate syndicated user content and up-to-date profile information from the user’s aggregate identity via the FindMeOn API.

FindMeOn.com will shortly unveil QuickList “Phase 2″ , a toolset aimed at startup developers, which is still undergoing QA testing.

FindMeOn.com is commited to enriching the online experience for end-users and developers alike. FindmeOn’s initial product - a user profile management suite and streamlined developer API is designed to 1) help the average internet user effectively manage their online personas and pool the resources of their various online accounts together and 2) help online webservices keep up-to-date with their user base, always showing the most timely and relevant user information in their social networking operations.

Phase 1 of our OpenID integration is about to launch…

All public records on FindMeOn.com ( the /user/ and /findmeon/ directories ) are now ususable as OpenID ‘Urls’. They also all point to the http://openid.findmeon.com server.

The OpenID server is used to handle all logins and simple-registration. Right now, it requires a seperate login — but it does use the same email/password as your FindMeOn.com login, as well as account information from your FindMeOn.com profile.

The service also uses abstracted FindMeOn.com identitifiers — so each account you list with FindMeOn.com has its own identity URL. Everything uses the same login/password and profile description — but this approach keeps your identitiy urls shielded from one another.

Within the next week Phase2 will launch - which is mostly our own extensions to the OpenID protocol.

FindMeOn.com plans on offering mulitiple login/identity services for its users. OpenID is just the first implementation.

FindMeOn went live on Wed Oct 25.

Thanks to everyone who was providing feedback during the private beta and ever since.

There are a slew of usability updates that are scheduled go live by Monday — though they might start appearing on Saturday.

Keep sending your questions and concerns to feedback@findmeon.com !