The Social Graph is Neither

The Social Graph Is Neither I first came across the phrase social graph in 2007, in an essay by Brad Fitzpatrick, though I'd be curious to know if it goes back further. The idea of representing relationships between people as networks is old, but this was the first time I had thought about treating the connections between all living people as one big object that you could manipulate with a computer. At the time he wrote, Fitzpatrick had two points to make. Fitzpatrick subsequently went to work for Google, and his Utopian vision of open standards and open data became subsumed in a rivalry between Google and Facebook. This rivalry has brought the phrase 'social graph' into wider use. I think this is a fascinating metaphor. But right now I would like to take issue with the underlying concept, which I think has two flaws: I. The idea of the social graph is that each person is a dot in a kind of grand connect-the-dots game, the various relationships between us forming the lines. II.

Social Media Success Is About Purpose (Not Technology) - Anthony J. Bradley and Mark P. McDonald by Anthony J. Bradley and Mark P. McDonald | 2:57 PM November 1, 2011 In the real estate world, there is a saying: “The three considerations that most impact value are location, location, and location.” In the world of social media, they are purpose, purpose, and purpose. Nothing impacts the success of a social media effort more than the choice of its purpose. What is a good purpose for social media? If you’re like most executives (and you’re being honest), probably not. No wonder most organizations struggle with gaining tangible and significant business value from social media. That deficiency often leads to a worst practice we call “provide and pray.” The lesson? Facebook’s core purpose is for people to easily track what their friends are doing. Yes, some social Web environments have strayed from their original purpose. Choosing the right purpose is difficult (much harder than providing the technology). Purpose is a business decision.

Welcome to Zug: the sleepy Swiss town that became a global economic hub | Business Nestling beside a lake overlooked by snow-dusted mountains, Zug seems for all the world like just another cute, affluent Swiss town. You could wander its cobbled Altstadt, sample its culinary speciality, a liqueur-drenched Kirschtorte, even stay on to see one of Zug's renowned sunsets, without ever imagining you were at a cardinal point of the global economy - or in a town that, for years, was the hideout of the world's most wanted white-collar criminal. According to the government of the canton, or region, of which Zug is the capital, there are 27,000 companies on its commercial register - one for every man, woman and child in the town, leaving a few hundred to spare. A Zug-registered firm is building the strategically critical gas pipeline that will link Europe with Russia via the Baltic. About 3% of the world's petrol is traded, either as crude oil or refined product, through Zug and the neighbouring town of Baar. In addition, Zug offered Rich a much-needed bolthole after 1983.

Médias & Publicité : Les internautes délaissent un peu Google De nouveaux sites réunissent aujourd'hui les passionnés autour de centres d'intérêt communs. Un défi pour le géant américain et son moteur de recherche. Le Web fait sa mue. Aux États-Unis, Pinterest est devenu un véritable phénomène. D'autres services, dont le projet de départ n'était pas de créer de tels «index» thématiques du Web, y ont été poussés par leurs utilisateurs. De même, le site de questions-réponses Quora a adapté son offre en lançant le service «Boards» fin décembre 2011. Des cibles recherchées par les marques «Ce n'est pas la fin du moteur de recherche, car on en aura toujours besoin pour chercher un coiffeur pour enfants à San Francisco. «Facebook et Twitter ont montré qu'on pouvait découvrir des contenus par les autres, et nous assistons aujourd'hui à l'essor de réseaux sociaux de deuxième génération, les réseaux d'intérêts», analyse-t-il. Et pour certains sites médias, Pinterest renvoie déjà plus de trafic que Facebook.

Philip Trippenbach