Manage your online identity.

Here at claimID, we’re constantly trying to find ways to add small bits of technology and standards to our existing code. We’ve had XFN built into our links from the beginning, but that functionality has been hidden behind our “advanced” tab whenever you’re creating or editing a link for your claimID page.

Now - we’ve invoked some of the latent power in this XFN and have auto-added rel=”me” to any link that is verified in our system (via MicroID). As new verified claims are added to your accounts, they will also be marked with rel=”me” and be compatible with the recent discussions around the Open Social Web and microformats.

XFN and rel=”me”

Identity consolidation is something we’re only beginning to tap into. As the web becomes more programmable and mashable, XFN, along with other microformats and small building blocks like MicroID, begin to show their potential.

Here is a short section from the XFN pages at GMPG:

Identity
Me is used to indicate that the link points to a site for which you are responsible. This is useful when pointing to various profiles on social-networking sites, for example, or when pointing between two different blogs run by the same person. Note that use of this value is exclusive of all other XFN values; thus, you cannot declare rel="me co-resident" even though it is to be hoped that you are in fact co-resident with yourself.

This addition is only a small thing, in the grand scheme, but another solid piece of our commitment to education and advocacy with regard to online identity.

An example of how this is powerful

Plaxo’s open source Open Social Graph (e.g. Online Identity Consolidator). It spiders out from a source URL based on the XFN it finds. Then it builds the graph and reports back. Click on a few of the links below to see it in action - with the source URLs being our newly automated rel=”me” pages at claimID:

• habib - text, json, xml
• terrell - text, json, xml
• jsmarr - text, json, xml

More Discussion

Further reading around the idea of an open portable social network:

• http://blog.claimid.com/2007/09/claimid-supports-the-open-social-web/
• http://www.plaxo.com/info/opensocialgraph
• http://bradfitz.com/social-graph-problem/
• http://www.sixapart.com/about/news/2007/09/were_opening_th.html
• http://opensocialweb.org/

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 at 2:03 pm and is filed under MicroID, New Features, Tips and Tricks, claimID.