[chrismatheson]

Federation isn’t a feature, but the promise (although not explicitly guaranteed) of data portability and service inter-op is definitely a feature. For me at least. I’m not too fussed about a federated Facebook, but I’d be very interested in a data platform that allows me to use Facebook if it’s the best social network tool and then instantly switch to twitter or some other system if I want, taking my data (graph & content) with me easily

[chrismatheson]

Interesting also, data portability also comes with individual responsibility, however I don’t believe most people would want that responsilibilty. Most SMEs outsource IT for this reason.

I don’t think that’s a sustainable model at the individual level.