What will next-gen social networks look like?

I think they deserve better. I also think they need to be better. However, my idea of better isn't the same as yours. My idea of better involves taking tech that worked in 2000 (the open web, IRC, plain-text email with mailing lists) and improving upon it. My ideal internet is one where everybody who wants to can run their own web, gopher, IRC, XMPP, SMTP, IMAP, etc. daemons out of their own homes without fear of getting pwned and having their computers made part of some channer's botnet.

By all means work out the bugs and make it more accessible to people who aren't sysadmins and have no interest in becoming sysadmins. But we shouldn't throw power users under the bus just to cater to the ignorant. Instead, we should be gently encouraging the ignorant to learn how their tools work and become power users, if not developers/admins. If we aren't willing to help people run their own computers, we might as well just centralize everything, break out the cannabis, and become priests of the Temples of Syrinx.