New Delhi Times - Gaurav Bhatnagar reporting from New Delhi, India

We are constantly getting asked what is PeopleAggregator and what problems does it solve. So I will summarize my thoughts here.

What is PeopleAggregator?

PeopleAggregator is a term that is used to describe many things:

1. It is a social networking application that runs at http://www.peopleaggregator.net. Yes, it appears like yet another social networking application like Orkut or MySpace. Yes, the UI has issues. Yes, we will be constantly updating it. Yes, you must immediately visit it and create an account there. :)

2. PeopleAggregator is also a do-it-yourself social networking system. Which means, if you want to build your own community, you could create it there at the click of a button. For example, one could create a network for Soccer enthusiasts at http://soccer.peopleaggregator.net. No coding required! Cool, huh? (Everything beyond this point on is geek speak. So you can directly skip down to the "Why I should care as a user" section at the bottom of this post)

3. PeopleAggregator is a development platform. This is a key differntiation that is not apparent when you visit the website. What this means is that the entire source code is available for download (Free for charities, non-profits and developers). So anybody can download the code, and host it else where. They can also modify it, extend the functionality, create a new user interface etc.

4. PeopleAggregator exposes open APIs and supports open standards. So all web applications that support these APIs can seamlessly share data between themselves. We also support open standards like microformats, structured blogging and identity systems like OpenID.

Why I should care?

1. As a developer: PeopleAggregator is a sophisticated yet easy to program to application development platform. It is built using open source technology so it is easy and cheap to deploy. It supports easy UI customizations. Upgrades are easy and automatic! So as a developer of social software, you would find PeopleAggregator saves you a lot of the grunt work involved in developing such applications. That leaves you plenty of time to focus on the specifics of your business logic.

2. As a site owner of another social software: PeopleAggregator exposes data thru open APIs. Which means, you can use our API to build compelling mashups that gel with your exisiting application. For example, a photo sharing site can allow its users to also pull in their photos stored in People Aggregator. And if your software also exposes APIs, then it allows us to integrate with it. That provides better experience to users and also drives traffic and visibility both ways.

3. As a USER! If you are a user of social software, nothing I have written so far would make sense to you. Then why should you care? PeopleAggregator puts forward several radical ideas. For example, the idea of allowing you to use your flickr ID to sign up means you have one password less to remember. By allowing you to export your profile data and content and move it to another application, we do not lock down users. So if tomorrow you move on to using another social networking application, you dont lose your data. By exposing "APIs" we allow you to use your data outside of PeopleAggregator as well. BUT all this starts to make sense only when others are willing to play along with us. Sure, we support a single login system, but what good is it if we are the only ones? Yes, we allow you to take your data with you. But that requires other applications to allow consumption of that data. We want to allows users to aggregate all their data in one place, doesnt matter if it is your photos on Yahoo, mail on Hotmail, or list of favorites on delicious. But we can't do that if Yahoo or Hotmail dont let you take your data with you. This notion of the application owning user data is often termed as a "Walled Garden". Today most web applications are walled gardens. They own your data and lock you in. PeopleAggregator is an attempt to change that. It is all about empowering the user and providing them the choice to do what with their content. This, obvious though it may sound, is radical by today's standards. That needs to change. Business models need to emerge that show that you don't have to be a Walled Garden to succeed. Users have to demand better online experience. And that is why you, as a user, should care! Become part of the effort!

Footnote: Tekriti's role in development of PeopleAggregator. This is another question we get asked a lot. Tekriti is the development partner of Broadband Mechanics (actually BBM was our very first client!) and bulk of the core engine and the application was built by our team in Gurgaon. Phil, Martin, Paolo, MarcS and a host of people across the world work with us on this project. Frankly, the vision is Marc Canter's and it took me months to just "grok" it. But once I got it I realized how important and far reaching it is.