The social graph is neither. Maciej Cegłowski, owner/founder/operator/sole employee of Pinboard (recently), blogger of idle words, lays down some science and thoughts about the charting of your personal connections, and why it's doomed.
posted by ardgedee on Nov 9, 2011 - 78 comments

The best social network you've (probably) never heard of is one-five-hundredth the size of Facebook. It has no video chat feature, it doesn't let you check in to your favorite restaurant, and there are no games. The company that runs it has just four employees, one of whom is responsible for programming the entire operation. It has never taken any venture capital money and has no plans to go public. Despite these apparent shortcomings, the site's members absolutely adore it. They consider it a key part of their social lives, and they use it to forge deeper connections with strangers—and share more about themselves—than you're likely to see elsewhere online.

Why Ravelry is such a great community and social network. Prev
posted by Foci for Analysis on Jul 7, 2011 - 109 comments

Friendster : Wallflower at the Web Party via
posted by Afroblanco on Oct 15, 2006 - 27 comments

Friendster awarded patent on social networking.
posted by delmoi on Sep 16, 2006 - 47 comments