Interesting Josh. I've been thinking about this too from a bit of a different perspective - as in what would a coordinated effort look like to create a common infrastructure. This is a core problem for this emerging medium and something that might more easily be addressed like Visa did back in the 70's - having a bunch of independents coming together to solve a common problem. I've put up some initial thoughts up over at http://igniter.com/post428.

I think so too and wonder what @fredwilson and @howardlindzon's followers think. They have similar avatars and are both authentically themselves in their tweets - but I wonder what would happen if they subbed in good face pics. My guess is it would add to the experience if they were natural vs. posed pics - e.g. the pic matched how they tweet and who they are. So maybe it's really more about the authentic representation of the person/personality - and so it's not just about adding a picture - like a canned press shot but rather a real, authentic, in the wild shot of who you really are - just like your twitter stream.

Brad - great post and I think you nailed it... open-source + web are big this year and I'm betting that things that do open-source + web + social change are going to do some of the most innovative game-changing stuff of the decade.

Happy holidays to you and yours!

Karim, I love these round-ups... of course I'm biased but thanks again for taking the lead on creating socialfinance.ca. Great stuff!

Great post Jen... thanks for contributing!

I don't know that the goal should be to maximize social capital but it definitely should be intentionally nurtured in the process of venturing toward the organization's purpose. I think that is something that comes mostly from the values mindset of the people involved and can be aided by the communiction technologies we have today.

"Personal Business"
"Human-scale venture"

Very cool - we were just building a shortener and header bar for something similar. Have ideas on how to expand if you are interested in chatting about it.

Cheers!