What strikes me as interesting, having written web-based software (not social software per se) is that most social webware is built on very simple concepts. It is the interactions of the users that make the site worthwhile.
Take 43things for example. The concept is simple. You create a list of goals by naming them. You don’t have to have a goal approved or anything like that. Name it and BAM! it’s a goal. Other people can find your goal and add it to their list. Each goal has a series of comments attached to it, and there are two basic relationships between a person and a goal – Doing it or Done it.
Devilishly simple, but the power comes from people using the software to collaborate almost directly with other people, by posting entries like this with little tidbits of information. A link to a website here. A small anecdote pretaining to the goal. Some advice found useful.
Compare the simplicity-to-usefulness of something as simple as 43things to a complicated web content management system and its absolutely outrageous. Most of the work in the latter is done by the system, whereas the social web takes a hands-off approach and merely facilitates the users and helps them to interact to do amazing and interesting things.
Just thought that was interesting.
