Sam, I really like your branding for Cheddar, and you have a consistency about your personal brand as well. And you're stirring the pot dude! That counts for something.
Personally, I think the $1000/hr isn't too much, especially if someone is getting branding advice from you.
I'm going to go ahead and answer your first question with the obvious question: "what is the longest anyone has ever been imprisoned for recording a police officer?"
Gladwell has managed to combine the best parts of reading a book about Vietnam and watching Rambo: First Blood Part II. You get the virtuous smart-person feeling of the former and the escapist fantasy of the latter.
I think you nailed it here. This is why I enjoy reading Gladwell - his writing inspires me, and without the fist pumping bravado of motivational speakers.
Without the plugin people won't be findable in Google (which is/was one of the major drivers of adoption for Facebook). Also there'd be no way to look people up that you haven't been in contact with (a la finger).
But do we really need an open source social network? Do we need more/different online social networks when there is so much out there already?
Why don't people just use preexisting technologies like email? What's the obsession with social networks anyway? Let's rethink this and come up with something radically different.
There is a alternative, all inclusive solution right under our noses...
Well, the very first of these social networks is, I would say, the Internet itself. Facebook, MySpace and co., are/were basically trying to bring all that traffic to a single place where they could take advantage of the sharing.
I agree, there should be something created completely different. However, I don't think that can really be achieved. I think it can be made to look different but in the end it will just be a different implementation of the same thing.
I think the next big thing won't be necessarily social networking. Social is basically an expected feature of all new software. There is nothing new to be had there. People like to share things and talk with friends, meet new people, etc. That won't change.
The appearance will change and the technology that becomes big will have all of that stuff in it. I just hope it's free software and disconnected from a centralized source.
Personally, I think the next big thing will be accidentally created by the "the people" and not some corporation.
Well, in the context of making a new Facebook that is as successful, no I don't think it can be achieved. I go on to explain what can be achieved, though.
It's not a low goal if you're just starting out, it's a realistic goal.
It takes time and triangulating over a lot of ideas before one gets good at coming up with passive income winners. I think the author is right on track and he has a great giver mcgiver attitude.
Also, the marriage proposal app is a pretty good idea FWIW.
Personally, I think the $1000/hr isn't too much, especially if someone is getting branding advice from you.
Good luck!