K-Praxis - Topic: Social Networks - Social Networking Software I: Background-Print

Social Networking Software I: Background
June 8, 2004

Social Networking Software (SNS) and SN services, and providers, have been the center of much discussion, positive and negative. K-praxis takes an analytical look at social networking software in this series of articles.

What does social networking software do?

The answer is obvious: social networking software allows people to form ‘networks’ of virtual relationships of various kinds, which are often meant to be translated into real space-time relationships.

What is remarkable about social networking software/ services is that they offer services that are otherwise available separately. One can always join or form a group on Yahoo, or somewhere else, share photos, even music etc. By Judith Meskill’s count on the social software blog, there are about a hundred social networking services available. There is a detailed description of about a hundred SNS available here.

One Issue in ‘Networking’

The crucial issue is, strangely, one of privacy, or choice: one wants to make friends, but only with certain kinds of people. On Google’s Orkut, for example, membership is by invitation only (but one can always ‘buy’ an invitation!).

There seems to be a conflict between making friends, on a social network as wide as possible, and keeping to one’s choice of friends and contacts, and keeping one’s own privacy.

It is easy to make friends too: all you have to do is send a wink/ IM/ email to X, who looks up your profile, and then accepts the offer. The popularity and success of social networking software/ services will depend, to a very large extent, on how they manage this conflict: how ‘open’ they are, or how ‘closed’. A service that is too open could force users to spend time in managing contacts, and worry about choice and privacy but a service that’s too closed could make new-comers feel unwelcome, ignored.

As pointed out in an earlier article, Politics, the Internet and Social Networks, people tend to replicate their social behavior when they use these services. Once a group is formed, a stranger wanting to get in may not always feel welcome

Dating, Blogs, IM, Email, Cell phones

The various dating and match making services (including eHarmony’s over 500 questions before you can join, and their match making patent) offer a part of social networking services; blogs, with their trackback links offer another. Instant messaging to friends is one of the most popular forms of socializing and communicating, along with the permanent and forever increasing presence of email. Cell phone services offer dating services too.

All these ways of communicating and socializing could, in principle; be offered by any specialized social networking services provider. Once that happens, everything would be available in one place, with web-cam conversations thrown in. The picture will be complete once multimedia file sharing is offered. Such a service will have an almost portal like presence on the Net.

It must be remembered that quite a few of these services, especially match making and dating, are offered without much of a web-presence too. In order to assess the efficacy of social networking services, researchers will have to compare the success/failure rate of services that are entirely web-based, and those without any web-presence.

In the next installment, we will take up some issues in greater and technical detail.

	Making sense of online textual information and information management technologies

	Social Networking Software I: Background June 8, 2004 Social Networking Software (SNS) and SN services, and providers, have been the center of much discussion, positive and negative. K-praxis takes an analytical look at social networking software in this series of articles. What does social networking software do? The answer is obvious: social networking software allows people to form ‘networks’ of virtual relationships of various kinds, which are often meant to be translated into real space-time relationships. What is remarkable about social networking software/ services is that they offer services that are otherwise available separately. One can always join or form a group on Yahoo, or somewhere else, share photos, even music etc. By Judith Meskill’s count on the social software blog, there are about a hundred social networking services available. There is a detailed description of about a hundred SNS available here. One Issue in ‘Networking’ The crucial issue is, strangely, one of privacy, or choice: one wants to make friends, but only with certain kinds of people. On Google’s Orkut, for example, membership is by invitation only (but one can always ‘buy’ an invitation!). There seems to be a conflict between making friends, on a social network as wide as possible, and keeping to one’s choice of friends and contacts, and keeping one’s own privacy. It is easy to make friends too: all you have to do is send a wink/ IM/ email to X, who looks up your profile, and then accepts the offer. The popularity and success of social networking software/ services will depend, to a very large extent, on how they manage this conflict: how ‘open’ they are, or how ‘closed’. A service that is too open could force users to spend time in managing contacts, and worry about choice and privacy but a service that’s too closed could make new-comers feel unwelcome, ignored. As pointed out in an earlier article, Politics, the Internet and Social Networks, people tend to replicate their social behavior when they use these services. Once a group is formed, a stranger wanting to get in may not always feel welcome Dating, Blogs, IM, Email, Cell phones The various dating and match making services (including eHarmony’s over 500 questions before you can join, and their match making patent) offer a part of social networking services; blogs, with their trackback links offer another. Instant messaging to friends is one of the most popular forms of socializing and communicating, along with the permanent and forever increasing presence of email. Cell phone services offer dating services too. All these ways of communicating and socializing could, in principle; be offered by any specialized social networking services provider. Once that happens, everything would be available in one place, with web-cam conversations thrown in. The picture will be complete once multimedia file sharing is offered. Such a service will have an almost portal like presence on the Net. It must be remembered that quite a few of these services, especially match making and dating, are offered without much of a web-presence too. In order to assess the efficacy of social networking services, researchers will have to compare the success/failure rate of services that are entirely web-based, and those without any web-presence. In the next installment, we will take up some issues in greater and technical detail.