Date post: | 21-Jul-2015 |
Category: |
Technology |
Upload: | manasgarg |
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Leaky Abstractions
Source
Social Platforms Today
• Online Social Platforms are simplified
“models” of “real” Social Networks
• A Social Model defines a set of rules for users
to interact with each other
o Types of relationships
o Privacy aka Rules of Content Visibility
o Rules of Communication (who can talk to who?)
• Different Social Platforms with Different
Models “co-exist”
Evolution of Social Platforms
• Emergence of Social Platforms in niche
areas
o Smaller number of potential users
o Stronger sense of belonging
o “Common Interest” as the binding force
• Seeding of connections from big
daddies(Facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter have
APIs)
• Different “Social Model” for different
platforms
Challenge for New Platforms
Big Daddy Newbie
Lots of Connections. High likelihoodto consume & communicate
Challenge for New Platforms
Big Daddy Newbie
Few connections, less likelihood toconsume & communicate
Socializing as it happens
• People “just” run into each other
o Socialization is spontaneous
o You don’t need crowd to have company
o Subtle/Explicit gestures to engage and
disengage
• People communicate and the connections
get formed
o People don’t “create” connections before they
communicate
Elastic Social Networks
• Term “Elastic Social Network” was formalized
by Color (early 2011)
• An emerging method for modeling Social
Platforms
• The rules (privacy & ability to communicate)
are evolving
• The model has been around, the term is new
Grouping Beyond Connection
• Multiple ways to bring
people together
o Not just “connections”
o Parameter based (all blues
together)
o Heuristics based (A likes
B, A likes C; B might like C)
Signal Based Recommendations
• The system collects &
analyzes behavioral data
• Tracks your level of
engagement with others
• Determines the likelihood
of you getting along with
a person
Driving Forces
• Upcoming Social Platforms need to find their
groove
o New platforms must provide ways to form new
connections instead of just leveraging existing
ones
o New platforms must deliver value even with
smaller number of users
• Existing Platforms need to stay relevant
o Need to go beyond “connection” and look at
“quality of connection”
Challenges
• Alternate ways to present content
o Reverse Chronological “News Feed” not as
relevant in Elastic Networks
• Algorithms to bring people together
o Requires a self-learning, recommendation engine
• Abuse control
o “Connection” based model is inherently abuse
resistant
Summary
• Social Platforms are simplified “models” of
real Social Networks
• Elastic Social Networks move beyond
“connections” based Social Model
• Elastic Social Networks present opportunity
for new Social Platforms
• There are usability, privacy & technical
challenges in building Elastic Social
Networks