Datasheet

Schwartz c01.tex V3 - 12/26/2008 11:38am Page 5
Chapter 1: Social Computing
The social bookmarking concept is typified by including some common features such as:
T Availability of link information (title, link, and so forth): Much like a media file is the core of a
social media site, the link of bookmark information is the core of a social bookmarking site
T Ability to categorize and comment on a link: Again, like a social media site allows comments
and tagging for media files, a social bookmarking site frequently allows the bookmarking user to
categorize and comment on the link information.
T Track the number of people saving the bookmark: In order to elevate the most requested book-
marks, the system must track each bookmark’s relative popularity
T User profile and link to profile page: Users of a social application take advantage of the user pro-
file to identify themselves and their activities in the social application.
T Subscribe for updates: By using a subscription technology such as email or RSS feeds, the social
application reminds the user to come back and continue to participate in the conversation and
the social experience.
One of the most common sites for viewing links of content that has been saved and marked with reference
tags is on del.icio.us (
http://delicious.com ), as seen in Figure 1-2. This image illustrates how delicious
tracks links, popularity counters, and categories or tags for each link.
Social Networks
Social networks are the most popular type of social applications. Social networks were thrust into the
spotlight when sites such as Facebook and MySpace achieved their legendary levels of popularity. These
applications are primarily used as content management systems, which help users keep up with friends,
coworkers, and even potential sale leads or new jobs.
Social networking sites rely heavily on the user profile data. This might include information a user enters
about himself or herself, such as interests, age, location, or work history. This data can allow the system to
match people based on common information in their profiles. It is critical to have accurate and consistent
data to make these matches in the profiles. In the MySpace profile of Tom below, Figure 1-3, it’s possible
to see that Tom’s profile includes basic information about him and his interests, which have enabled him
to become one of the most heavily ‘‘friended’’ people on earth with over 247 million MySpace friends!
To help drive traffic to the site and keep users interested, many social networking sites on the Internet
have a developer kit and API for building mini-social applications or extending the sites themselves. This
can allow other applications, such as independent web sites or even SharePoint, to integrate to the user
profile stores of the social networking sites.
Some common application characteristics that typify the concept of a social networking application
include features such as:
T User profile picture: How can you be sure if the John Smith asking to be your friend is the John
Smith you know? Look at his profile picture and see it that’s the right John Smith!
T Detailed user profile information: Social Networks rely on user profiles to help match one user
to another. The ability to store rich user profile information in a social networking site is a must.
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