Internet World show heralds evolution of social networking

User-generated tools may soon outstrip those generated by professional companies

Social networks will become increasingly imprtant to businesses, said Katz

The impact of social networks on corporate IT is set to accelerate, visitors to last week’s Internet World conference were told.

Travis Katz, managing director of MySpace International, said that user-developed tools would play an increasingly large role.

“We are going to start seeing people building features that may be better than the ones we develop ourselves,” he said.

In his presentation on the future of social networks, Katz told the London
audience that the recent boom in user-generated content was just the tip of the iceberg.

“We are at the beginning of a much larger social change,” he said.

Katz cited the high volumes of video traffic between MySpace and YouTube as an example of the way in which user-generated traffic will become ubiquitous.

The BBC, ITV and Nokia were among the other leading industry players convening at Earl’s Court for the three-day event, alongside 300 exhibitors from across the sector. Event organisers said they expected visitor numbers to be higher than last year.