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The Friends Of My Friends Are Not My Friends

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Re: The Friends Of My Friends Are Not My Friends

#31

Post by ahoge »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #19
ahoge wrote: post #13

Yea, "friends of friends" is a really weird concept when it comes to people you know from the internet. It creates connections between disjoint communities. Those communities are disjoint for good reasons. They don't have anything in common.

> disjoint communities Really? Think about it: when you befriend a new person, was that person usually a complete stranger to you before, or maybe rather a friend of a friend?

The important bit is "people you know from the internet".

For example, I really like survival horror and horror-themed action games. That's what connects me with one particular woman who shares these interests. However, she's also into My Little Pony and other furry stuff. I don't care about those things or people from those circles.

All those communities are very narrow in focus. They only share one particular interest.

Re: The Friends Of My Friends Are Not My Friends

#32

Post by gedrap »

No one has mentioned this one yet but maybe they (FB) have found out that doing this, will increase the growth of number of friends? Because from time to time someone (possibly) will be like "oh wait I know him!". And more friends -> more updates and notifications -> checking FB more often -> more time to click the ads.

Re: The Friends Of My Friends Are Not My Friends

#33

Post by tomswartz07 »

jellicle wrote: post #15

Not sure that a business based on taking a photo of something and asking people "what is this?" is destined for success. Isn't that something that Google Now/Siri will probably automatically answer in the near future? "It's a left-handed lug nut for a 1975 Vespa scooter. Click here to buy it now on Ebay!" "It's a powdered doughnut, and judging from your location, you're at Acme Doughnuts on Main St. They have a 2-for…

Although farfetched, the idea of this gives me tingles.

Re: The Friends Of My Friends Are Not My Friends

#34

Post by derefr »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #30
TeMPOraL wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Facebook's limited notion of social relationships creates a poor (and sometimes creepy) user experience That's the thing I kind of wonder about every time there's a discussion related to Facebook here - I personally can't see neither the "limited notion of social relationships" nor a "poor/creepy user experience". I'm curious where that difference of perception comes from. > Facebook model works great at college, k…

The way I was using it is that I have many different social interactions, from people whom I've grown up with and known all my life, to people who happen to ride the same train I do when they commute and prefer the same car. There are a lot of differences between how I might interact with the former and the latter, and what I might share with them. At one level they are both 'friends' (as defined to be 'not unknown',…

> At one level they are both 'friends' (as defined to be 'not unknown', 'not threat') but my buddy from Junior High is a 'lifetime friend' and the person on the train is 'a friendly person who rides the same train I do'.

The latter are "acquaintances." I don't think they're "friends" at any level. A social network that understood what acquaintances were would be pretty great.

Re: The Friends Of My Friends Are Not My Friends

#37

Post by rhizome »

jellicle wrote: post #15

Not sure that a business based on taking a photo of something and asking people "what is this?" is destined for success. Isn't that something that Google Now/Siri will probably automatically answer in the near future? "It's a left-handed lug nut for a 1975 Vespa scooter. Click here to buy it now on Ebay!" "It's a powdered doughnut, and judging from your location, you're at Acme Doughnuts on Main St. They have a 2-for…

Not sure that a business based on taking a photo of something and asking people "what is this?" is destined for success. Isn't that something that Google Now/Siri will probably automatically answer in the near future?

These services require data-entry on the part of their users in order to seed these identification engines. I see this data-entry as a hidden value of the user, and part of why network effects are so valued by VCs/the market.

Re: The Friends Of My Friends Are Not My Friends

#38

Post by rm445 »

I wouldn't go so far as to say the author or his 'friends' are misusing Facebook - they can use it however they please. But people with massive numbers of friends are going to break whatever expectation there was of nearby members of the network being meaningful.

For those of us less entwined with social networks, our 'friends' are actually our friends, and family, colleagues, neighbours and people we know through shared interests. The friends of our friends will be likewise, with a perfectly good chance we will have things in common with them, together with a few distant links that could provide interesting or unexpected connections. It can be a useful network.

Of course, Facebook has been complicit in every development that has made it more general and less a reflection of our real social networks - as it has tried to acquire every person as a user. There is a conflict between a social network that tries to be a more convenient form of your real-life social networks, and a 'social network' that is trying to be the whole Internet.

Re: The Friends Of My Friends Are Not My Friends

#39

Post by chavesn »

The author has a fair point, but I was left hanging waiting for a "so, what?" at the end. I was hoping there would be something more constructive to this than just a complaint.

What should be done about it? What are people really looking for? How can a network with the goal of connecting more people deal with the inevitable noise? How soon should they worry about that?

Was Facebook perfect 4 years ago, or is there a gap still left to be filled? How can a social network really figure out who is most relevant to you and link you to them?

I think these are great questions. I would love it for authors who know/care about this topic to look at Facebook, Twitter, and Jelly with solution glasses instead of just problem glasses.

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