I would argue that this is exactly why social networks of today cannot be the end all, be all. Each of us has such a variety of different interests and opinions that niche social networks will be more likely to be frequented and more usable than say a myspace is today.

What I want, however, is if I am ’subscribed’ to these niche networks that I want a way to go to one place to interact with them all in a easy way.

Keep those APIs a coming!

Interesting post. I don’t think there is any application like this yet. The application category that comes closest to mind is some form of advanced CRM for personal use.

On the other side of the equation you have the problem that if you introduce lots of more complexity in how social networking sites work and what the user needs to do the whole idea might fail. I would say that people in general simply want to connect and stay in touch (or remain anonymous under some conditions), not use any specific site or API or categorize their network connections at any length. The work involved in keeping a personal CRM up-to-date is probably over whelming. On the other hand perhaps it can be done simple to the end user…

As an example, I remember seeing a presentation somewhere about social networking for dog owners (perhaps from MIT?). The idea was to use a special dog collars collecting information about other dogs they meet on their daily walks. After that the information stored would let the owner look at who the dog was, and learn about the dog. Problem with this approach is that you need a specific dog collar on your dog that you may not wish to buy or use.

Yes I do agree with fitting of “People Like Us”(PLU),because with the reach of blogs and web domains there are thousands of people like us for example readers of a blog or article who every time agree with something that is said .

But shouldn’t we have something like our “Anti-self” or “People Not Like Us” with whom we do interact as frequently as others.

Once again, sociology is far more complex then what you try to make it, but it doesn’t mean you have to reduce it to graphs that are completely false: the idea of social “distance” is not universal, neither it is practical; context is even more tricky.

I hate to say this, but: please, read Durkheim.

Bertil…I’m taking the optimistic route here. I think we *can* model relatively complex relationships online…in fact I know we can. We’re already doing it.

We won’t ever replace face-to-face relationships, nor should we try to, but we can build better software that allows us the complexity we need as complex beings.

Anders – Although I think complexity on the backend is good, I agree that complexity for the user on the frontend, is not. The point is not to add complexity for the user, but to simplify. Thinking about each of the people we know individually, and recognizing that each relationship is unique, actually mirrors the real world more and adds less work than asking the user to categorize the people they know by “friends,” “family,” “colleagues,” etc.

I thought it might be neat instead to be able to provide a rating of how similar you think you are to that person – because you probably know this best. Over time though, the system would learn more about you and the people in your network through ratings/purchases/etc., and be able to adjust that similarity index. Then again, maybe the system can just tell us how similar we are – for example when I look at my friend on Netflix, it tells me that I have 74% similarity to him when it comes to movies. I think that information is interesting, and I think users will find it interesting as well.

The more I research this topic, the more I’m convinced that there is not one social networking solution for all, though Facebook and MySpace would have you think that.

Niche social networks are springing up..MyRagan for communications professionals, MyVault (ScotiaBank’s network for customers and people interested in banking) are just two.

So what does your selection of social network(s) have to say about you? I have a relationship with Joe (your good friend) through Facebook, but Joe doesn’t think MyVault is any good, and that weakens our relationship.

What impressions do you project by your selection of a social media / relationship site?

And how do you select the social media site that’s right for you and your ‘friends’?

Using that excellent concept of ‘People Like Us’ to work with, how do you define ‘People Like Us’ when the selection of a different social network changes your ‘People Like Us’ affiliation?

There is obviously more to be discussed on this, and I’m looking forward to the conversation.

Sorry i pinged the wrong post the older one ;-(
My service is using collaborative micro fitering on tags for entertainment. The details are on my blog.
Great post. I will use your graphics.

I never thought about a “people like us” ring, but it is a great idea!

These rings are inextricably linked and there is overlap. Does this leave no room for friends who are also colleagues?

I’m pleased to see this discussion about circles of relationship. Of course any four level hierarchy is too simple to capture the richness of human relationships. My goal was a simple understandable structure that was based on the degree of shared knowledge, trust, and likelihood of future encounters.