Popular Mechanics is a NYTimes article that addresses sociometry (think numerical analysis approach to social behavior… uber quant-sociology). A large part of this discussion is on social networks. Since social networks has been the recent star child of sociology, it shouldn’t be surprising that sociometrics is also interested in approaching it. Milgram did do the first numerical study of networks.
Author Archives: zephoria
halloween costume: friendster profile
One of my readers kindly pointed me to this collection of Halloween photos. On the fourth picture down, you’ll see that someone chose to go to a Halloween party as his Friendster profile. That’s a riot!
huminity
Everyone keeps asking me about Huminity, since it just got some funding.
Unfortunately, i only know what i can see on the site since i am a Mac person. So, if you have experiences with Huminity, please let me know…
genetic basis for transsexuality
Intermingling data on transsexuality and interssexuality, UCLA-Med has some new research on the biological basis of gender identity.
don’t believe age statistics
At various times, different sites have told me about how “mature” their community is, based on age statistics that they have. Apparently, they didn’t think that it was too odd that quite a few users were “81” or “100” or “69”.
Not only is it common for users to lie, but there’s an entire population of users who purposely invert their age. Thus, if they’re really 18, they mark themselves as 81.
To get a clear picture of this, go to myspace and do a search for all users 51-100. [I say myspace because it’s allows for an easy age search.] “Bill Clinton” is the only one on the front page who looks older than 51… most look like teenagers. But apparently, there are 4064 people over 51. Hmmm.
monkeys and robots
group hug
My roommate just posted about group hug, a fantastic site full of confessions. An example:
I worked for two years at a Walgreens, I would chase down shoplifters and make sure they realized shoplifting was bad.
I stole my lunch from the candy and frozen foods section every day. probably $12 worth.
Friendster guide to interpreting photos
OK, this is fun. Buttafly has created a Friendster Guide to Interpreting Photos.
That fun piece is in addition to an opinion piece on why one must join Friendster (to find out about how diverse your friends’ friends are). Buttafly understandably misreads the Gallery to be one’s collection of friends’ friends, without realizing that the general population should be available there and that 4 degrees is meaningless. I was talking with someone yesterday about how Friendster has constructed a misreading of degrees by their decision to only present 4 degrees. They chose 4 mostly because of technical reasons, but 4 degrees has no value when you are looking at people. Yet, by noting it as “your network” and giving you a Gallery to look at your network, it’s easy to think it means something. Unfortunately, my “network” consists of everyone from the neo-nazis to the gangstas to the midwestern teens, none of which are actually in my actual network of associates.
Diebold
I love my friends. And i love the fact that they enjoy standing up to authority to challenge their power. This week, Joe Hall decided to mirror the Diebold code to express his outrage of the abuse of copyright. And he got a cease and desist. And now he’s in the NYTimes expressing his disagreement. Go Joe!
Confessions of a bad Friendster
“Confessions of a bad Friendster” is a hysterical article from the LATimes.
Let me just admit it. I have not been a very good Friendster. And this has let some people down. I’m sorry. Frankly, I was caught off guard by how serious everyone is about it.
Key points from this perspective:
1) Friendster is a time sync
2) a fashionable profile is essential to maintain good standing with your friends
3) creating a fashionable profile is a torturous process
4) photos are ESSENTIAL
5) reciprocity and awareness are key to testimonials
6) never ignore the bulletin board messages or you’ll lose touch with friends
7) over time, you will identify with the question mark