*****  To join INSNA, visit http://www.insna.org  *****

It sort of depends on your definitions I think...

In the UK Friends Reunited is extremely popular and well documented in
the popular press for its role in libel, divorce, cyber-stalking and
other events rated newsworthy in the tabloid press ;-)
http://www.friendsreunited.co.uk/

Similar site back in Aus is www.schoolfriends.com.au

Universities tend to have alumni sites that form similar functions e.g.
http://www.henleymc.ac.uk/henleymc03.nsf/pages/alumni. I am sure the US
fraternity/sorority have similar sites but I suspect that you guys over
the pond would know more about that than me!

Likewise large consultancy firms have similar alumni portals for social
and business networking - http://www.big4.com/

Most of these are simply portals though... I doubt they meet any more
specific definition of social software.

Something like LinkedIn can certainly be used to support existing F2F
networks e.g. by tracking down old colleagues, university friends etc,
and definitely has more "social software" features that the flat portals
mentioned above...

... but it's not a collaborative workspace, nor is it "adaptive to its
environment" in the way the Headshift guys talk about it -
http://www.headshift.com/moments/archives/sss2.html

So I guess it really depends on what level of support you think a social
network needs... is email, SMS texting, Skype and an Outlook address
book enough?

Cheers,
Steve

Stephen Thair
[log in to unmask]
07971 815 940
skype me: seriti-steve

-----Original Message-----
From: Social Networks Discussion Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Kimberly Stedman
Sent: 01 May 2005 01:56
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Social Software and "Real World" Social Capital?

*****  To join INSNA, visit http://www.insna.org  *****

Hi, I'm a grad student (Kim) in Seattle. I'm working on a social
networks / social software project, and I'm coming up a little short on
information.

  Are any of you familiar with social software that attempts to
strengthen
social networks which originate in the physical world? I'm interested in
software that's geared, informally or otherwise, towards preventing the
loss of social capital that occurs when groups become physically
separated
(let's say, your high school circle of friends after everyone has gone
off
to college).

  I've found quite a bit that's geared towards meeting new people
online,
or maintaining group-level dynamics with folks one may never meet. There
are also packages that capitalize on networks for theme-specific
collaborative projects. I'm theorizing, though, that software approaches
to
pre-existing social networks would need to be based in a different set
of
group-psychological protocols than are appropriate for groups of
physical
strangers. (E.g.: Role-playing might be inappropriate or unnecessary,
and
too much theme-ing of the software vehicle [gaming-based, collaboration-
only-based, etc] might only serve to limit the existing social dynamic
and/or the lifespan of the group's use of the software.)

  I'm sure there's already been work done on this topic, but I'm not
finding it. Friendster is geared to physically-based social networks,
but
in practice it seems to function as an online address book. And, when it
comes down to it, Friendster also only permits one-on-one social
interaction. I'm not sure how far it goes to actually
fostering/perpetuating social capital or a group dynamic.

  I'm looking for articles, software recommendations (web-based or
otherwise), or in a pinch, just some debate. : ) Perhaps there has been
more work in this sort of thing outside the US? Any and all information
you
folks have would be welcome.

Thanks,
Kim

_____________________________________________________________________
SOCNET is a service of INSNA, the professional association for social
network researchers (http://www.insna.org). To unsubscribe, send
an email message to [log in to unmask] containing the line
UNSUBSCRIBE SOCNET in the body of the message.

_____________________________________________________________________
SOCNET is a service of INSNA, the professional association for social
network researchers (http://www.insna.org). To unsubscribe, send
an email message to [log in to unmask] containing the line
UNSUBSCRIBE SOCNET in the body of the message.