Social Network Sites: My Definition
danah boyd,
Many2Many,
Nov 21, 2006
For Val, this link to Danah Boyd on the definition of social network sites (I know that's not exactly 'social software' but it's close enough). Something like this definition is needed because with the recent popularity of social software everything and its dog is being called social software or a social networking site (I can just imagine getting in my email: Purina Cat Chow - social networking for your pets). Boyd writes, "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." or as I wrote (see the comments), "The point about social software is that it creates persistent links between users, and through these persistent links, a community is formed. Moreover, the ownership and control of these links - who is linked, and who isn't - is in the hands of the user. Thus, these links are asymmetrical - you might link to me, but I might not link to you. Also, these links are functional, not decorative - you can choose not to receive any content from people you are not connected to, for example."
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