IMHO this should be a case for regulation (although you'll probably disagree, with that username :-). Basically, if you run a service with more than, say, a mil

IMHO this should be a case for regulation (although you'll probably disagree, with that username :-). Basically, if you run a service with more than, say, a million users, you should be required (or strongly incentivized) to provide federation to your competitors. So as a user you'd be able to connect from GTalk/Hangouts to Skype or Facebook chat. Going further, as a Facebook account owner you could follow people on twitter, and post to friends' walls if they use diaspora. I guess this would break many "Silo" business models (after all, that's the purpose of such a regulation). But it would be good for competition, it would give smaller competitors a chance. And it would give the large players a strong incentive to be great "account providers". I wouldn't use Facebook (G+, Google Talk, ...) just because all my friends are there, but maybe because of their great privacy policy :-D or because they offer the best UI or some innovative features.