My RSS feeds are filled with two broad threads - one is on the War .. about which thereís no end to the points of view and debate - and the second oneís on Social Networking Models and Social Software.  Among many others, thereís Clay Shirky, Doc Searls, Dan Gillmor, Stuart Henshall, Britt Blaser, Mitch Ratcliffe, Ross Mayfield all writing on different aspects of the evolution of this meme. 

Stewart Butterfield describes Social Software :

ìSo, what is social software? By me, it is software that people use to interact with other people, employing some combination of the following five devices:

• Identity
• Presence
• Relationships
• Conversations
• Groups

Conversations can be real-time or asynchronous. Relationships can be as simple as ìcontactsî or can be more subtle. There's been relatively little group stuff (yet).

Instant message networks have four of these (Identity, Presence, Relationships and Conversations) networks of blogs have three (Identity, Relationships and Conversations), Metafilter has two (Identity and Conversations), Yahoo Groups has three (Identity, Conversations and Groups), IRC has four, but two of those in a half-assed way (Presence, Conversations and weak forms of Identity and Groups .......î

Thereís loads of discussion on the tech aspects, which I must confess baffle me at times Ö yet Iím happy to learn how these things work Ö and the thought processes of the movers and shakers behind them.   Something that blogging has made possible ! 

More recently, Iíve read some good posts on the ëhumaní aspects of this technology.    Stuartís discussions on Identity Trust Circles on March 24 and Identity Circles on March 27 have a very clear thrust on the human aspects and benefits, and not just tech. Tech is the toolkit - ultimately the benefits supported by tech is what potential subscribers will buy into.  An excerpt :  

"CIRCLES enrich and enhance lifeís many connections. Whom you know has never been so important. Professional, Business, Community, Friends, creating circles of trust that you control. Now you can be more connected and share what and when you want.

In CIRCLES you can discover a whole new range of connections, intersections where you connect for fun, influence, advice, learning. Todayís world is connected. Sometimes for fleeting moments or maybe for a lifetime. We move, we change addresses, our contacts change from year to year. Yet serendipity still strikes. We meet friends in unexpected places, and find old work or college colleagues when we least expect them.

CIRCLES letís you grow and learn from whom you know. So together we travel many different circles and through many different roles. Collectively we learn we have a lot more to offer, when we donít always know what we can do for each other. Cooperatively we learn together, individuals can create more value from their profiles that they can individually seeding them at many different destinations. There are valid reasons for public and commerical interests. Under Circles you control access."

Ross Mayfield writes on Social Networking Models :

"The physical and logical infrastructure of the web has reached a maturity while usage has surpassed a tipping point where it is ingrained in most people's lives.  As people have become participants on the web, they are building a new social infrastructure, connection by connection."

"The above table provides a framework for understanding how Social Networking Models differ by how personal connections are made.  When a community is served by Social Software, its design places limits on how relationships are formed, especially in how strangers make initial connections."

As a non-techie myself, Iíd be interested to follow these threads as I might learn how this meme would be useful for me, in my various roles Ö as a human being with needs for sociability, as an entrepreneur wishing to network more effectively, as a consultant to clients that may benefit from such networks and software.

And as a researcher i think studying social networks like Livejournal for instance, that draws in youth from across the globe ... with a strength of 966903 users - could have tremendous value for youth marketers interested in tuning into real time youth preoccupations and trends.  A new paradigm for participant research !

Alternately, companies could set up their own networks of potential leading edge customers ... a case for a Close-up Encounters or an MTV Blogspot.  I'm thinking of youth brands here primarily because they're the early adopters of the internet in India.

More thoughts coming up ....  

7:07:47 PM    comment []  trackback []

Came across this link - The Beatles Discography via MetaFilter.

Some tidbits from one of my favourites, ëAll You Need is Loveí :

ìThis has a couple of hidden songs in it .. the most obvious one is the French National Anthem ëLa Marseillaiseí at the beginning.  Its also got Glenn Millerís ëIn the Moodí and a bit of Bach and ëGreensleevesí thrown in as wellî

ìThe song was originally written for a special BBC broadcast, billed as ëa live satellite link-upÖlinking five continents and bringing man face-to-face with mankind.  In places as far as Canberra and Cape Kennedy, Moscow and Montreal, Samarkand and Soderfos, Takamatsu and Tunis.  An estimated 200 million people tuned in from 18 different countriesÖ.î

"Mick Jagger sat on the floor underneath Paul's stool wearing a silk jacket with psychedelic eyes painted on it, puffing on a joint in front of 200 million people.  And he was due in court the next day on drug charge !"

(BTW ... Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones to 'rock' India this month ....  )

Another all-time favourite, ëNowhere Maní was ìsupposed to be about 50ís singer Alma Cogan. The Beatles had met her in the early sixties and John took an instant liking to her and he might even have fancied her! But she was a little bit too old for him (she was in her thirties) and the feeling wasnít mutual.  He even had a pet name for her ñ Sara Sequin ñ after the ball-gowns she used to wear.  She was admitted into hospital in early 1966 with ovarian cancer, and John suffered writerís block.  He said ëIíd actually stopped trying to think of something. Nothing would come out.  I went for a lie-down.  I thought of myself as a Nowhere Man sitting in his Nowhere Landí î

10:45:20 AM    comment []  trackback []