Scoping SNS 1.0
There has been a growing pile of coverage on the current crop of social networking systems and software. Recently, BusinessWeek did a write up on the growing privacy concerns with these systems. As noted:
Indeed, social-networking sites find themselves in a Goldilocks-style dilemma: If they share too much information, the services become a spammers' paradise. Share too little, and they defeat the power of social networking, where you can discover and communicate with people you may not know but with whom you share something in common. The amount of information shared has to be just right.
Further, the discussion turns to the use of Peer-To-Peer networks as a potentially more secure system of networking. I am going to address some of those concerns in a future entry, but thought I would start to collate some data here now. One of the avenues that are being explored currently in the privacy realm is the value of n degree relationships and their "stickiness". In addition, many people are questioning the widespread availability of their identities via their n degree networks and the implications for manging their own identies and reputations.
I thought it might be good to start to build up an index of the scope or reach of the various networks people are "buying" in to. This is just a few quick ones off the top of my head but it would be nice to get any feedback on how to make it bigger / better.
| Network | Network Methodology | Precision | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ZeroDegrees | n Degrees | n degrees of separation | Secures links in the connections |
| n Degrees | n degrees of separation | Requires an invitation | |
| Friendster | n Degrees | 4 degrees of separation | Requires confirmation from friends |
| Tribe.net | n Degrees | 3 degrees of separation | |
| Ryze | n Degrees | 2 degrees of separation |
I'll start to update this over the weekend and get a more formalized list in place soon. Drop me a line or comment if any other data should be represented.