xobni

In Paul Miller's Principles of Web 2.0, he describes the building of Web 2.0 virtual applications which "(draw) data and functionality from a number of sources as appropriate,... tend to be small, ...relatively rapid to deploy, ...and bring power that was previously the preserve of corporations within the reach of suitably motivated individuals."

This made me think about Xobni. Xobni offers a plug-in to Microsoft Outlook. It offers the utility of allowing you to quickly search through a giant in-box to find material related to a specific person or email address. But the way I saw it being used gave me pause. A Human Resources employee showed me how she used it to click on the email address submitted with a job-seeker's resume. It brings up every social networking or Linked-in profile associated with that address, including pictures, etc. Obviously, it can only access content which isn't restricted, but man-oh-man was I surprised when she used my email address as a demo. Be careful what you put out there when you're looking for work.

If you want to learn more about Xobni - which is free in its basic offering - here's the web site:

http://www.xobni.com