So Clay just wrote an essay based in part on a class of his I took called "Social Weather."
I'm very cheered, mostly because I hope that this means fewer people (you know who you are) will ask me in the future to explain what exactly I did to get a master's in "interactive telecommunications."
Even though Clay doesn't use this phrase as such, he's pointing towards a phenomenon I hadn't really thought as such before: software as gifting. That is, as the costs in time and money of setting up simple interactive applications drop, it becomes practical and possible to give them away as a way to affirm and establish close relationships. I'm thinking of the revolution in personal publishing made possible by cheap printing/copying, when suddenly families began to send "holiday newsletters" in bulk to friends and relatives.* One example these days is hosting and blog setup -- an easy and quick favor from a web-literate person to a less technical friend. Or a quick promo website done as a Christmas present.
I don't think that these minor favors will replace design-for-hire. But both of those represent a significant departure from the way online gifting (ie, sending a premade e-card or forwarding lists of dumb jokes) has been happening.
*I will ignore for the moment the question of whether this was actually a good thing.
