Some of the most popular social networks seem to be taking a step backward to move forward. Twitter is, of course, the most prominent example. 140 characters, no photo albums, no music, just communication – and it works. It is for twitter, all about the content. Twitter’s success relies heavily on the network of people using twitter – no matter what you are interested in, you can find a network of experts and thought leaders twittering aways, or at least linking to great content.

Then there’s facebook, which seems to be attempting to devolve into a sort of twitter with heavier content. It seems that all you really need to create the perfect social networking app is a status message, photos, shared content, and an api for outside developers to do the heavy lifting… and, the hard part, a huge network of people relevant to the audience of your app.

So, where does lopico play in? I could have passed on recreating lopico, and just tapped into some apis to create an app on top of an existing network. Could have built a facebook app, an iphone app, or done a twitter mash-up, but that’s not my style. There’s something about creating an app from scratch that is a little more exciting, and sadly becoming less common. That’s not to say that lopico won’t integrate in some way with some sites… but the content is going to be real, and the content is going to come from lopico users on lopico – the same way it always has. What I will do, is devolve and evolve a little. Lopico is going to be easier to use and really will stick to the basics + a handful of twists and things I’ve picked up over the past year. The key is to not let anything get in the way of you and the content you want.