“Social Network”: from the “friend list” to the “working group”

    In the previous article, “Social Network: An Attempt to Define,” the concept of a “social network” was formulated through its technical embodiment: “a system of managing social connections.” It is not right. Still, you can not replace the "social network" as a specific phenomenon of the Internet with other concepts - a web service, a tool. The phenomenon is wider than the technical means of embodying it. Let's try to fix the error. The path of knowledge always goes from random to essential, from obvious to that which can only be seen with effort.

    Firstly, at first I want to note that a social network is, first of all, the people who form it; people who express themselves, communicate, create. We will remember this and will keep it in our head all the time. What for? Then, because we are not doing sociological research, we are interested in practical application, i.e. just the technical tools that help build a social network on the Internet. But in order to build something, one must know what exactly to build and for what purpose, one must not confuse the cart with the horse. Speaking about web services, we must remember the reason for their generating.

    A feature of the new Web is the transformation of the mass Internet user from a passive anonymous contemplator into an active public participant. The author / reader distinction is increasingly dissolving in the complicity of both parties. And the accomplices form their local social network. The initial form that recorded the existence of accomplices was the address book e-mail`s of all respondents. But this information is protected, so to speak, by "secret personal correspondence." In public, accomplices began to exist as a friend list or a network of friends of “my (according to) readers”.

    The Internet audience had to ripen for the public disclosure of their data and even more so their contacts. The social network is based on the publicity of its participants. Successful is the one who hides nothing. A new person is a kind of “open man”. Is fame and money no longer interested in a new person? If he does not hide anything, then how can he take advantage of all this for himself? Of course, the pursuit of fame and money does not disappear. Only a new person is now convinced that he will be successful personally only with the success of the team, i.e. as a network member. Only “collective intelligence” and “collective labor” provide advantages in the modern dynamic world. To be effective, the friend list must be replaced by a working group. A simple exchange of comments - means of teamwork.

    What does all this mean with respect to the technical embodiment of designated human needs? The preliminary definition was as follows: “a social relations management system” is a web service that provides a group of people who have shown interest in a particular subject area, means of interpersonal communication and changes in this subject area. " Continuing to research social services, it turned out that we didn’t even notice the elephant - it is necessary to make an addition to this definition.

    A web service designed to build a social network must have means for managing user properties. Actually, public information about the user, which we don’t like filling out during registration and happily avoiding it, becomes the cornerstone of the entire building called the “social network” on the Internet. But this should not be just a description of yourself beloved - the description should be turned into functional attributes, i.e. in the values ​​of certain fields of the database. The more detailed the database, the better for the network. Therefore, in the definition it is necessary to add the property: managing the description of the subject or means of self-identification of the participant .

    But that is not all. Such a service should have the ability to manage relations between subjects, network participants, i.e. you need to add the fourth property:management of the nature of communication between network participants .

    These two properties of social services are, in fact, the first in importance than the two previously identified: means of communication between subjects and means of changing the subject area.

    Let's change the initial one - "the system of managing social connections" - to the "system of forming a social network". Final definition: “social network formation system” is a web service that provides a group of people who have publicly shown interest in a specific subject field with the means: 1) attribute user self-identification; 2) control the nature of communication between network participants; 3) interpersonal communication and 4) changes, descriptions of the subject area . "

    This is the maximum, i.e. it is a social network developed to a “working group”.

    How can knowledge of a theoretical definition in practice help us? Everyone decides for himself. I can offer one of the options: definition is an ideal image for a real product. If the emergence of social networks is a global trend in the development of the Internet, then, knowing the goal, you can build the path of development of your project from existing conditions and properties to desired.

    Consider, for example, the growth points for the My Circle web service . It seems that this is a uniquely recognized tool for creating social networks. Let us analyze the properties of this service according to the above definition. What do we get?

    1) There is a means of self-identification, detailed. This is a huge plus.
    2) The nature of the relationship of service participants is - three circles of acquaintances. There is publicity of connections.
    3) Interpersonal communication through the service is, however, caused a very negative reaction when used. Good intentions to protect the participant from spammers have turned into an electronic secretary, breast protecting the treasured door. Why am I given the opportunity to send one message even to people from my first circle? There are no such restrictions on toodoo . Thanks to this, I now have the opportunity to participate in the work of Internet.Ru , but what if the negotiations were one message per day? ..
    4) There are many subject areas, which leads to a sense of chaos. It is not clear why to use all this and how to use it effectively? This confusion of subject areas gives rise to bewilderment: what kind of network will I build here: classmates, colleagues, a group of interests, or employment? There are clearly several networks here. Another minus is that there are no developed tools for working in these subject areas.

    Conclusion: “My Circle” is a mixture of social networks at the level of the friend list, not the working group. We wish the developers successful and focused growth.

    Another example is free-lance .ru .

    1) There is a resume, portfolio, but a general description, and not as database attributes.
    2) The nature of the relationship of the service participants is the employer / contractor. No member / member or employer / team relationship. The relationship between the participants is not fixed for the system, therefore, it is inconvenient to trace the connection. There is publicity.
    3) Interpersonal communication is also quite convenient.
    4) Subject area - order. It’s like an office was made for participants: there are applications, contacts, ratings, reviews, a portfolio. Funds have been created for promoting the entire chain from application to order, i.e. subject area controls.

    Conclusion: free-lance .ru is not a social network, but a personal office. This resource can become a social network of the “working group” level.

    Interesting conclusions can be obtained by analyzing other types of web projects for these 4 properties: LiveJournal community, thematic portal, Wikipedia, various search engines. Let's try to find the difference between Googl and Yandex?

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