From the user’s prospective, it’s much like a typical interactive web page, but you have downloaded and installed a program on your computer. Once you do that, and open your browser, you enter the OpenSoNet setup which leads you through the steps of choosing your username. Because the name, unlike a domain name, is not necessarily unique, there are several other fields for you to associate with your name. Location would be suggested for the 2nd, but it could be anything in that and the other fields. For example, your name might be “John Doe”, and there may be a number of other people in the world with the same name. But you could also include middle name or initial. “John Smith Doe”or even “The John Smith Doe”. It should have your name but however you want to display it for others to find.
In the 2nd field you might add “New York, NY” or “Brooklyn, NY” to be more specific. Or you could use something else if you don’t want your location known, but keep in mind it might make it harder for friends to find you. The 3rd field is similar, you put whatever you lie to identify yourself among others that might have the same name, perhaps an age.
For the web, the DNS inquiry happens when you type in a domain. Your computer sends a query to your DNS server asking for the IP address of whatever name you typed. If you enter “xyz.com” then the query asks the DNS server for the IP address of xyz.com. It’s a bit more complicated than this, but basically the DNS responds back with the IP address and then the computer goes to that IP address to retrieve the web page for xyz.com. So the DNS server really has little more information than a long list of domain names and their associated IP addresses.
For OpenSoNet it’s just as simple a query, but the answer has another question. It returns the list of all matching names (even if a partial match for at least two words) but including the other two fields, the list is then displayed by the browser. You can then click on one of them and since it is a perfect match only for that one, the 2nd query return the IP address to the browser, which then calls up the user’s “wall” data.
This three field name system is designed to work well for social media, and solves a problem that domain names still have to this day when there are multiple people or businesses with similar names but only one domain name can be used. But frankly, it would be cumbersome for domain names anyway, but social media names, it’s far more functional because it takes into account the non-unique nature of personal names.
Once you have selected your username, You select your hosting option. At first, you can choose your own computer. You can move your “wall” anytime you wish. Now you add your profile, whatever information you wish to share with others. Enter what you want and add whatever photos or videos (or audios) you like and you are done with the setup.
Now anyone using OpenSoNet can find you and see your “wall”, and leave comments on your cat photo of tell you they like or hate your pineapple pizza. If they know you and search for “John Doe”, yours will be listed among the list of people with that name followed by whatever you put in the other fields. Unless you chose only to be visible to friends, they can see your “wall”, but either way they can send add you as their friend and or send you a friend request so you can add them as your friend, or decline.
Posts that tag you will be sent to your page, as well posts of those on your friends list.
If you only have a few friends who only occasionally post, then that wont be a problem. But if you, like some people in current social media, have hundreds on your list, some whom post in large volumes, then you have to manage it rather that be flooded with thousands of posts every day. So you have a priority list for friends and topics. You can set some people as a higher priority, putting their posts first. And the same with a list of topics that if mentioned raise the priority of display on your wall. Any topics or people you don’t want to see posted can simply be given a zero priority. You can also set the maximum number of posts from any specific person to be displayed, and chose them in time order or randomly, or choose only the shortest of their posts.
On your “wall”, you will also find a chat function, and able to select someone else or add many to a conference chat. And you can message anyone on your friend list or anyone who who allows strangers to message them. If you ever used IRC it should look familiar to you.
Also on the page are links to interface your facebook and or youtube or other media accounts. If you sign in to your facebook account and interface it, then your facebook content will also be displayed on your OpenSoNet “Wall”. You can add your youtube and other accounts as well. Your friends who access your OpenSoNet “wall” will see your content from the other media as well, whatever you choose to share on your “wall”.
Eventually Facebook might take the option to allow OpenSoNet users to share their content on their facebook page, but if they don’t it wont be a problem. People can still access both and eventually there will be no need to use both Facebook and OpenSoNet since only one contains all the content and isn’t censored or otherwise controlled by anyone other than the users.
Another great thing about this is that it is open sourced and public. Anybody who thinks they can write a better browser, or copy and modify code to improve this one, can do so as they see fit. Businesses can even write their own commercially and if people choose to use it rather than the public free ones, go for it! No problem.
William R. James
