It’s no secret that the social Web has exploded and is continuing to do so. As Joseph Smarr of Google puts it, “Almost anything on the Web can be better when it’s social.”

Unfortunately, there is one problem with this social explosion. When most social sites were built, the creators of them did not work together, which means that users have to set up the same information and profiles about themselves for each service.

Users want to be able to transfer their information from site-to-site and utilize their preferred tools in various places. As a result, many developers are working on producing an open set of standards to make this process easier. The downside is that these standards are not yet ready to allow richness to easily flow around the Web.

Some services such as Open ID and OAuth already exist that allow users to sign up for new services with one account. In addition, new technologies such as Activity Streams, PubSubHubbub, and Salmon allow users to express and share rich information about themselves.

“It’s really neat to see these all coming together and increasingly big companies jumping on board and wanting to support them…” says Smarr.

Webmasters can also receive benefits from using services such as Open ID and OAuth. These services allow them to get users immediately by eliminating the set-up process. Users can also share data out with activity streams, which could increase traffic to websites.

Smarr tells WebProNews that it is important to get the open standards right since they will impact the future of the social Web. He goes on to say that because the Internet began with the right open standards, it was able to develop into what it is today.