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An Open Letter To The Web, regarding all this "Social Graph" buzzword bingo
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE WEB, regarding all this "Social Graph" buzzword bingo:
My connections are not yet another resource to be strip-mined; my relationships are not intended to be the impetus for your next Bre-X adventure. Facebook and now, allegedly, Google are finding more and more ways to give unfettered access to the "connections" I've acknowledged publicly.
On a pragmatic note, I'm far from the least-connected person out there. I've had the good fortune to connect with many people at a more-than-superficial level over the past couple of decades in the Real World. As such, I am happy to accept the LinkedIn and Facebook bacn as it comes across the wire from those with whom I've had interactions. I see accepting these requests as a form of social grooming. It's as much reciprocal validation as anything.
But it needs to be an individual decision to share this information. (Ross is trying to find a way to get IP protection on his information, for example.)
The thing that's missing from the majority of the social networking conversations I've seen and been involved in over the past few years is that the importance of context is almost never mentioned. My connections all have a context to them (and the others to whom I'm connected my have a different context from their perspectives).
My attributes also have a context; you may not care about what I had for dinner last night, but a cardiologist (or officemate!) might place a great deal of importance on that information.
So we need to be thinking about the context in all of these conversations.
Developers, designers, futurists, users...I pose you a question. When you look out ten years, do you want to be in Minority Report or the Global Village?
Make your decision.
Then make it happen.
CHRISTOPHER CARFI
Half Moon Bay, California
September 21, 2007
September 21, 2007 | Permalink
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Comments
I agree—my connections should be mine to share or not. I'm the one that knows the context and should make the decision with my contact's approval. I know it's not hip as some networks, but LinkedIn does this pretty well. To get to one of my LinkedIn contacts, you have to go through me first.
I notice that WordPress has an XFN relationship feature for any links and bookmarks you add. While interesting, the categories are not perfect (must a muse be romantic?). Also, a public, private, or "limited" option, similar to a Creative Commons license might be a good addition. Something like a "share|noshare|limited" tag.
Posted by: Len Gilbert | Sep 24, 2007 10:24:14 AM
I agree with you as well, these social graphs are exploiting the internet. Just like you can't emulate a physical or emotional connection through a drawing or graph, you can't make and track a web of your contacts without the context (as Len mentioned above).
I have Myspace and Facebook friends who I have never met before in my life, and probably never will. I also have friends who I see everyday. They still share the same type of connection in these graphs.
Posted by: Piotr Jakubowski | Oct 2, 2007 9:51:24 AM
