You make a fair point about “friends”, but I guess I’m not convinced that’s what makes software inherently social. I personally believe social software is delivers value to both the individual and their network at the same time, and in order to do the latter you have to do the former.

It’s true that a site like Del.icio.us is useful even without others, and that helped it avoid the cold-start problem.

But the ones I mentioned as examples are ones that truly are no fun without friends (as currently structured). I’ve discussed Facebook with some of my 40-something contemporaries who bemoan the lack of ‘anything to do’ on Facebook. They don’t get it, and in some cases they’re right. But what they mean is there’s no one to play with (that they know of), or they’re not interested in the time-spending/wasting, flirty type stuff the teens and 20-somethings will participate in. The sites like Facebook will have to grow in usefulness for them in order to be of value, and that means either apps for the individual, or friend/relationship management becomes easier.

For that matter, and since you focus on Enterprise 2.0, CRM seems to be an application you can look at in 2 ways. If you don’t have contacts, you don’t need to manage them, so it is not ’social.’ If you do, does it become social software? No, if you’re not sharing the contacts? Or yes, because it lets you manage relationships and adds value to your business? I’m still thinking about it.
Thanks for commenting.