Self Attenuating Social Networks
From Zanecorpwiki
In the current crop of social networks, there is an inherent problem between the push for a large network effect and the signal to noise ratio expressed through the network.
On the one hand, one wishes to grow the network as large as possible in order to maximize the network effect. The more people there are, the better your chance of connecting with that gal that can do whatever it is you need done, or that guy that will appreciate what it is you're doing.
On the other hand, the more diverse the network, the larger the noise ratio. Some people in the network are talking about arts and crafts while others are talking about political overthrow.
The general solution is to attenuate the signal, and best approach (at least in the mainstream) we currently see implemented is the use of groups. Topical notes arrive through the group channel.
This can provide an attenuated single, but is a limited solution. What would be better, in my opinion, is if the various actors could decorate relations (via a tagging system that tracked the tagger as well as the tagged and the tag value) and then filter based on these tags. For instance.
The tagging mechanism is clear enough. The other two parts are group selection, ordering, and bandwidth allocation.
First, write selection statements according to relations and tags. All blog entries arriving through any relation marked as a friend. We can then apply an ordering on this such as most popular, subject to aging. Now we get an ordering of all our friends blog. This defines a dynamic channel. Finally we allocate bandwidth to the channel: of the 150 articles I want to read in a day, up to 50% can be from. This defines a channel rule.
Channel rules can then be ordered in terms of precedence, and viola, you have a easy to configure personal quality of information service machine. Is this theory easy? I think with a small demo, yes it is.
Why is this so much better than groups? First, I believe it's more natural. It's how we actually operate in the real world. With the right rules (and recommending some best practices and compiling little tricks is part of explaining the idea) you can insure that you get to see the most interesting stuff, even if it's not in your most listened to channels.
Most importantly, though, it puts the user in control. Groups can be captured by people that have all the time in the world to post, but with this, you just filter out that noise. You can develop a trust network. Indeed, the most important channel selection function would probably be my friends or my friends friends which applies some kind of diminishing rule to an item so that on every link in the chain, it's volume becomes less, but if it's coming through all your links, then it self amplifies so you don't miss the hot topics, or the thing that all you're friends find so funny. On the other hand, there's nothing Robby the Headhunter could ever do to invade you're world. He can write a million billion posts on every group in existence, but you'll never get hit with any of that noise unless you don't want to (and of course there are times when you're interested in what headhunters have to say).
