Snetiquette
With the rise of SNS, we've also seen the parallel development of its evil twin, SNAM. Clay Shirky points to an article over at Trendsetter.com:
Social networks have spawned a new form of spam that uses the FOAF (Friend of a Friend) message feature frequently found in this new genre of networks. Google’s Orkut, a network of some 200,000 members, offers the ability to send messages to FOAFs. FOAF messages often contain conference promotions or job postings that, while low in volume, will one day require action on the part of network managers.
At the same time, Stowe Boyd mentions his latest Darwin article, "The Ethics and Etiquette of Social Networks" where he discusses some of the ins and outs of maneuvering within the system, and the consequences of those movements:
Some have started to call the spate of e-mails that get created by public social networking applications "social spam." I reserve that term for those who subvert social networking systems to attempt bald-faced selling of laser cartridges, Viagra or click-throughs to XXX porn sites. But I am certain that my conservative use of the term will not parallel general use in the media, which will lump together all sorts of SNA-generated messages into that all-embracing and negative category.
There is a real conflict between the Darwinian need to attract participants into a network of users — which increases a network's value for all users — and the desire of individuals to minimize the number of requests coming their way — which represent an implicit cost of being a network member. The public SNA companies have strong incentives to drive up their numbers, while each individual user in principal would like to avoid that at all personal cost. (Note: this is based on today's economic model, where the individual is not directly or indirectly compensated for brokering introductions. We can imagine other models, but I haven't seen them in use. Yet.)
Source: Stowe Boyd, "The Ethics and Etiquette of Social Networks"