My RSS feeds are filled with two broad threads - one is on the War .. about which there’s no end to the points of view and debate - and the second one’s on Social Networking Models and Social Software.  Among many others, there’s 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 :

“So, 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 “contacts” 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 .......”

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

More recently, I’ve read some good posts on the ‘human’ aspects of this technology.    Stuart’s 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 life’s 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. Today’s 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 let’s 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 don’t 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, I’d be interested to follow these threads as I might learn how this meme would be useful for me, in my various roles … 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 ....