Social Design Efficiency

“I’ve been wondering for a while when it became socially acceptable to meet people from the online world in meat space. Way beyond the small likemind and coffee morning gatherings are 40 million Americans engaging in online dating. Ten years ago if I told someone I was going to meet an online friend they’d have thought I was nuts, now they only think I’m a bit mad. That’s progress folks.

But why? What’s caused this change?

His subsequent discussion is interesting, and he asks a tough question: when is an activity (like online dating) too efficient for comfort?

This reminds me of the Facebook controversy. Social software is getting so efficient in some cases that it’s too efficient…and finding the right balance becomes the new challenge.

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1. Nate Westheimer 12:03pm, Wed 13th, 2006

What’s changed, in my opinion, is that we’re now socializing with people we already know in online social networks, so the lines have been blurred.

And then came utility social networking (i.e. for business/industry groups) and we started meeting people whom we had “met” for the first time online, and then at a meeting, and the back online, and at another meeting, or mixer, and heck, who knows where first anymore…

the lines have been blurred.

2. jon 7:03am, Mon 25th, 2006

Adult Dating & Sex Personals Site

3. JeremyAnderson.com 9:25pm, Mon 1st, 2007

I think that your senstivity to noticing this is healthy and it’s just an indicator that this medium of virtual space is finally accepted enough to be now mainstream as a common baseline form of ‘putting yourself out there’ be it personally or professionally…

tifn

JeremyAnderson.com

4. bumble 7:26am, Tue 2nd, 2007

Hi Noah,

finding the right balance isn’t a new problem. I believe that the people out there will accustom to social software. And then we have to adjust the lines.

Thanks
bumble

5. Sami Abbado 11:30am, Mon 16th, 2007

This might sound a little nerdy, but more than 70% of the people I value today, i have met online. Friends, X-girlfriends, business partners. Jobs…etc.

So it is not surprising for me at all…Look at social virtual worlds like “Second Life”.

Bokardo is a blog about interface design for social web sites and applications. I write about recommendation systems, identity, ratings, privacy, comments, profiles, tags, reputation, sharing, as well as the social psychology underlying our motivation to use (or not use) these things. If this sounds interesting to you, grab my RSS Feed. If you want to know more about me, check out my about page.

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