Social Communities

29. October 2008 | From Tino Kressner | Category: WebTrends

"Would you be my friend? Yes or No? "A question, as in real life nobody would. On the Internet, such a formulation is not so unusual. Here are services offered, their social contacts to visualize in touch with existing friends and acquaintances to keep up and new acquaintances. The principle of networking and communicative exchanges with a hint of digital exhibitionism has entered the Internet on hold.

Social networks also exist in the offline world, and for many years. The most classical form of a network is the club. Here, people with a common interest or a common goal. In politics this is called a lobby, a community of interests with the aim of influencing decision-makers in politics, mutual support in the executive, legislative, or the representation in the public media. Known from England, the gentlemen's club, an elite group. Equally dubious how powerful are the students' associations, mainly known from the USA, where among other things, George W. Bush said, without the "Skulls & Bones" never have become president.

The American psychologist Stanley Milgram believes that every human being on earth hexagons linked. In addition, he has started an experiment in which subjects he has given a letter, addressed to a person with an unknown recipient address were addressed. He asked the subjects to the letter to a friend weiterzuschicken from which they believed, he is closer to the addressee. This should be the same until the letter finally reached its target person. The letters required, on average, six stations (Six degrees of separation).

Visualization of a social network

Mr. Foo is in this example, the test subject. He is a "member" in the social network of his family, has a friend and a life partner. Only with these contacts he knows anyone from the club or the XY XY over six corners. This knowing is immensely important, because a message in this series of five social networks to bring, would only have Mr. Foo with a virus infected. Of course, that any person from the club, because in this picture, anyone knows any more than six corners in the mapped network. But Mr. Foo has joined forces with the intermediary is a special feature. Both are connected by networks. You need to many people in the network has only four to five steps and have been alone with the passing of information to another person another social network reaches. For viral marketing, it is inter alia important to find these connectors. Through virtual social networks these compounds can be identified. With a profile may be a person on such a platform, data on post and interests register.

Click a user, for example in the Business Network Xing profile of a third person, it is at the top of "Your connection to [...]" that person is displayed. The quality of a virtual social network thus depends to a considerable extent by the mass of users from. This is a crucial problem with which all platforms are fighting. Theoretically, only a real image of the contacts of a person to be created if all the contacts and the contacts in a contact one and the same Internet service are logged. If the multitude of already existing social networks, and the possibility of free platforms such as Ning, We are or cre8unity to create their own networks, that seems impossible. Combining these social networks through mashups is now the next task on the Internet show. Initial approaches have already been adopted by Google with the "Friend Connect" are presented.

Strong and weak ties

Be linked to the members within such a virtual network on several levels. First, direct contacts (strong ties) are closed or one finds oneself in a common group (Common interests, courses, corporate and / or university affiliation, ...) together (weak ties). The power of "weak ties" is not to be underestimated. Mark Granovetter describes in his book "The strength of weak ties" that these weak ties useful as a close, interpersonal relationships can be. Christof Hintze, founder of mywhitelist.de confirmed exactly this in a blog entry with the same title as Granovetters Paper on 7 August 2007. For the development of his platform were all the arguments, passion and money for his "strong ties" ineffective. Only when he mywhitelist.de as open source software is available that, he learned his "weak ties" know people working for the same idea of interest and commitment.

"For me the highest form of productivity, which I was witness to today. But change brings with it. Big changes. Giving. The parts. Releasing. The tackle. Communication. That works. All at a different level. There are no areas of work, but effective fields. None is specified. Anyone can contribute to the effect of fields involved, which he wants to participate. It can change how and when he wants. The priorities are based on the density of energy. Most feel what is to be done next and what is important. You must not say. The cheater to think about. It was the hardest for me and the Los Allow. The loss of control over my idea. I have dared and approved and there is much more, much better and much faster. Democracy not only as a word or an excuse, but really lived constructively. "

MyWhiteList works on the principle of personal recommendations of people. Just as with the recommendation of products that will prefer the opinions and experiences as an independent third party application letter refurbished familiar.