SWXG topic 5 of today's meeting agenda and CONTINUING ACTIONs: Top Social Networking services and Matrix

Hi Harry, Dan and Dan, 
 
As a matter of XG administration, and topic 5 of today's agenda Social
Networking Matrix, I request that you check on two ACTION items which still
appear to be open. We may have an opportunity to work on them today (or in
the near future).
 
The two action items (part of topic 5 of July 1 meeting agenda) which I wish
to highlight are: 
+ [CONTINUES] ACTION: cperey to make list of top 30 to do profiles on, to
merge with hhalpin's list on alexa

+ [CONTINUES] ACTION: karl to create the matrix to be filled

I said, in my memo to the list when I posted the top 30 list to the wiki on
June 9 [1] that I didn't know if the first of these actions was closed or
continuing. Since you have not closed this Action Item, I assume that it
still needs some work.
 
Can someone please clarify what further is needed/expected? Is it only a
matter of merging these two lists? 
 
If we merge, we should agree on some criteria/definitions and the purpose. 
 
I posted, on the wiki page called "Top Social Networking Sites" [2] a number
of comments below the Alexa list and above the list of 30 services
contributed for this Action Item. 
 
One of the comments was to stimulate discussion about the purpose of the Top
Social Networking list and matrix. Harry made changes to the wiki page to
clarify Purpose. A thread on this topic began [3] but did not get much
activity. Is everyone in agreement?
 
There was another discussion thread which began in June on topic title "What
is a Social Network?" 
 
An example of where we are trying to get to a definition is here [4] (but
similarly, this topic/thread did not sustain a lot of attention/postings
after we settled that the Web != Browser). Bonneau and Preibusch do not, in
their matrix/list, include services whose primary purpose is content sharing
(e..g, YouTube and Flickr). There was a mention in a post on that thread
that identification of Social Networking services is just intuitive. You
just know one when you see it... 
 
There was the very beginning of a related thread attached with ACTION 20
(according to Ron) on the topic of Segmentation of social networks [5]. I do
not believe that "big", "medium" and "small" are categories we can use.
Neither is "general purpose" and "Niche" (the two top level categories used
by Bonneau and Preibusch). Similar to the question of "What is a Social
Network?", segmentation of services into categories has not received the
attention I feel it deserves. 
 
Around the beginning of June, I posted a memo [6],  in response to Ron's
above ACTION 20 memo, with suggested metadata for the matrix. It is a core
dump of the information I try to capture for a community service fact sheet.
 
Did I miss some important messages concluding discussion on the (A) purpose
of the W3C Top Social Networking services list and matrix, (B) the headings
of features we are seeking to capture, which I believe is the action item
assigned to Karl above, (C) definitions/terminology which we will use going
forward? 
 
I realize that today's topic is privacy and data protection in social
networks, however, f these (above Actions) remain open (not RESOLVED), I
hope that with the inputs of today's guest speakers, the XG will return to
working on them. 
 
Have we ever created an XG action item which says that we will develop/agree
on "standard" W3C Social Web terminology ("sites" vs. "services" vs.
"features") which will be used throughout the XG's report? 
 
This task might continue with a survey of definitions we have used,
published by others in the academic literature (Dana Boyd's definitions,
Bonneau and Preibusch definition) on a wiki page and be linked to another
wiki page on which there is a first pass list of Social Network Properties
[7].
 
WHY RELEVANT FOR TODAY'S MEETING?   I hope when Soren and Joseph are on the
call, during the discussion period, or after the call on this mailing list,
we can: 
 
(A) discuss section 3.1 of their article on Selected Sites (the
methods/criteria they used for selection), and 
 
(B) decide if, in the future as part of the Top Social Networking services
and Matrix Action items, we should create a different complementary matrix
or build upon their matrix (or both).
 
             Question #1 to be answered: what metrics/features are missing
from the Bonneau and Preibusch matrix which SWXG might wish to add? Cross
examine the metadata list in [6] or use another source)
 
             Question #2: what community services are missing from the list
of 45 which SWXG may want to add? Mobile-centric services (there is
MocoSpace) are poorly represented, in my humble opinion. We already know
from reading their article that they do not cover non-English language
sites.
 
Thanks,
<http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/socialweb/wiki/SocialNetworkProperties> 
 

Christine 

  

 <mailto:cperey@perey.com> cperey@perey.com 

mobile (Swiss): +41 79 436 68 69

 

 
[1]
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-xg-socialweb/2009Jun/0042.html
 
[2] http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/socialweb/wiki/TopSocialNetworkingSites

 
[3]
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-xg-socialweb/2009Jun/0071.html
 
[4]
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-xg-socialweb/2009Jun/0056.html
 
[5]
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-xg-socialweb/2009Jun/0023.html 
 
[6]
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-xg-socialweb/2009Jun/0024.html
 
[7]  http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/socialweb/wiki/SocialNetworkProperties