The Social Networking panel at the Web 2.0 Expo this afternoon was split on whether the social networking wars are over.

Gina Bianchini of Ning compared social networking to where the world wide web was in 1993 and 1994 when Prodigy and Compuserve were users' main connection with the Internet before millions of web sites launched in 1995. As the head of company that offers a platform for anyone to create their own social network, her comments could be construed as self-serving. More likely, she really believes in her product.

Yahoo's vice president of community, Mike Speiser, agreed it was early days. "Social networking today is where search was in 1997 or 1998." He noted that not everyone is a member of a social network now, just as back then, not everyone was using a search engine. Speiser, who sold Bix to Yahoo in November, agreed that with the exception of Facebook's stranglehold on the college community, there was a lot of room left to grow.

Fellow panelists Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, and Matt Cohler, vice president of Facebook, who help oversee the leading social networks in their respective verticals didn't weigh in on the maturity of the industry. Presumably, they believe the growth opportunities are huge... for the current leaders.

I came away thinking there are still voids in the marketplace that will be filled in the coming years. Whether it's a site focused on a specific interest or activity or a company offering a better technology to connect with others, focused social networks don't need to succeed at the expense of existing ones. There are plenty of opportunities by appealing to those that haven't yet found their network online.

For more on the the Web 2.0 Expo, see:
Marty Collins
Jeff Nolan

Tags: web2, web2expo, web+2.0+expo, facebook, linkedin, ning, yahoo, vc, venture+capital