Social Network Site

Refers to sites such as Linked In that allow people to manage relationships.

Definition

By Danah Boyd at http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2006/11/10/social_network_1.html

"A "social network site" is a category of websites with profiles, semi-persistent public commentary on the profile, and a traversable publicly articulated social network displayed in relation to the profile.

Dare Obasanjo considers them to be a "a subset of Social Graph applications."

To clarify:

1. Profile. A profile includes an identifiable handle (either the person's name or nick), information about that person (e.g. age, sex, location, interests, etc.). Most profiles also include a photograph and information about last login. Profiles have unique URLs that can be visited directly.

2. Traversable, publicly articulated social network. Participants have the ability to list other profiles as "friends" or "contacts" or some equivalent. This generates a social network graph which may be directed ("attention network" type of social network where friendship does not have to be confirmed) or undirected (where the other person must accept friendship). This articulated social network is displayed on an individual's profile for all other users to view. Each node contains a link to the profile of the other person so that individuals can traverse the network through friends of friends of friends....

3. Semi-persistent public comments. Participants can leave comments (or testimonials, guestbook messages, etc.) on others' profiles for everyone to see. These comments are semi-persistent in that they are not ephemeral but they may disappear over some period of time or upon removal. These comments are typically reverse-chronological in display. Because of these comments, profiles are a combination of an individuals' self-expression and what others say about that individual." (http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2006/11/10/social_network_1.html)

Characteristics

From http://nform.ca/publications/social-software-building-block :

1. Identity - a way of uniquely identifying people in the system

2. Presence - a way of knowing who is online, available or otherwise nearby

3. Relationships - a way of describing how two users in the system are related (e.g. in Flickr, people can be contacts, friends of family)

4. Conversations - a way of talking to other people through the system

5. Groups - a way of forming communities of interest

6. Reputation - a way of knowing the status of other people in the system (who's a good citizen? who can be trusted?)

7. Sharing - a way of sharing things that are meaningful to participants (like photos or videos)

Examples

MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, Cyworld, Mixi, Orkut

Geographical Spread

From a world map of social network sites at http://valleywag.com/tech/data-junkie/the-world-map-of-social-networks-273201.php

"* Orkut leads in the Indian subcontinent, as well as Brazil;

• Facebook is stronger, internationally, than Myspace, with surprising strongholds in the Middle East;

• hi5.com is the most international of all the social networks, leading in Peru, Colombia, Central America, and other, scattered countries such as Mongolia, Romania, and Tunisia;

• both Bebo and Skyblog follow colonial patterns, the first strong in smaller English-speaking countries such as Ireland and New Zealand, and the latter in Francophone countries;

• and Friendster, the original social network, leads all across Southeast Asia.

• Fotolog, a photo service defeated in the US by Friendster, has re-emerged as the dominant social network in Argentina and Chile."

(http://valleywag.com/tech/data-junkie/the-world-map-of-social-networks-273201.php)

Discussion

Om Malik argues that social network sites should be a feature of the general web experience, and not located in countless separate sites that function as isolated silo's.

Read his commentary at http://gigaom.com/2007/02/05/are-social-networks-just-a-feature/

The Six Social Needs Served by Social Network Sites

From a report by Communispace [1]:

"The Six Social Needs People Seek in Social Networks

1. Expressing personal identity: online social networks provide people with the ultimate tool for defining and redefining themselves, as evidenced in profile pages on Facebook and MySpace.

2. Status and self-esteem: the need for autonomy, recognition and achievement are essential to our sense of self-worth and are fulfilled in online communities, blogs, and social networks that provide a way to develop and manage a virtual reputation.

3. Giving and getting help: people have a need to both seek and provide help to others.Mutual assistance between strangers is a phenomenon that has been uniquely enabled by the Internet.

4. Affiliation and belonging: online communities are becoming the way people find, create and connect with others “just like me” – people who share similar tastes, sensibilities, orientations or interests.

5. Sense of community: a sense of belonging or affiliation alone is not equivalent to a true sense of community. Achieving a real sense of community requires long-lasting reciprocal relationships and a mutual commitment to the needs of the community as a whole.

6. Reassurance of value and self worth. People want to be reassured of their worth and value, and seek confirmation that what they say and do matters to others and has an impact on the world around them. Meeting all 5 + 1 of these social needs generally requires the level of intimacy and facilitation that are the hallmarks of smaller, invitation only online communities." (http://www.communispace.com/research/abstract/?Type=All%20About%20Communities&Id=38)

Policy Recommendations

Recommendations for a safer SNS usage, by Enisa

• Review and Reinterpret Regulatory Framework: Social Networking was not around when current legislation (especially data protection law) was created. Clarification or even modification is needed in particular of the Dir. 2002/58 on privacy and electronic communications.

• Increase Transparency of Data Handling Practices

• Awareness-raising & education: recommendations include “real-time” education of users, campaigns for schools, security best practice training for software developers and security conscious corporate policy for SNS usage.

• Discourage banning of SNS in schools: instead favouring co-ordinated campaigns to educate children, teachers and parents in a controlled and open way in safe usage of SNS.

• Promote Portable Networks: allow users to move, control and syndicate their own data and privacy preferences between SNS. Other recommendations include Research into Mobile SNS and Convergence with virtual worlds. For full list of threats and recommendations, please refer to the Position Paper http://www.enisa.europa.eu/doc/pdf/deliverables/enisa_pp_social_networks.pdf

More Information

Related entries:

1. Giant Social Graph ; Social Graph

More:

1. The topic is monitored through our Delicious tag at http://del.icio.us/mbauwens/Social-Network-Sites
2. Sam Rose introduces object-oriented social networks, at http://www.communitywiki.org/en/SocialNetwork
3. Comparative review of nine sites, including fully open ones such as People Aggregator, at http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/24/9-ways-to-build-your-own-social-network/
4. Special issue of JCMC journal at http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html