Plaxo introduced "dynamic profiles" to Pulse

In a major expansion of functionality, Plaxo introduced "dynamic profiles" to Pulse, its next-generation open social network. The new feature dramatically expands the flexibility and functionality of social network profiles. Pulse users can now create distinct professional and personal profiles, with different photos, contact info, content, and privacy settings for each. Users can also now identify their current and previous employers and the schools they attended, making it easier to use Pulse to re-connect with lost contacts. The new dynamic profiles feature also allows users to embed any of a large and rapidly growing number of applications written to Google's new OpenSocial APIs.

"Dynamic profiles redefine what users should expect in terms of how they can represent themselves in a social or business network," said Todd Masonis, Co-Founder and VP of Products for Plaxo. "We believe that users should have full control over what they share with whom — and that the catalog of widgets that they can choose from should be as open and diverse as the web itself. We are excited to support in dynamic profiles any application written to Google's just-launched OpenSocial APIs."

This can be seen in the context of Plaxo's broader strategy in support of the open social web, and follows several related moves, including: implementing and endorsing important open standards; open source release of its Online Identity Consolidator code; co-authoring and supporting the "Bill of Rights for Users of the Social Web"; and offering various new ways for users to export their personal info and content from Pulse, including RSS and via a recently-launched Lifestreaming Widget.