[OpenID] Distributed social networking with OpenID

[tom]

Evan Prodromou wrote:
>
>> Declaring relationships is easy.
>>     
>
> No, it's not. Or, rather, doing it the way a "captive" social network
> works is not easy -- or at least not easy with current OpenID-related
> protocols.
>
> On Facebook, Friendster, etc. I can declare a relationship to you, and
> you will be notified of that declaration of a relationship. You can
> respond in kind, ignore or even hide my declaration. This is something
> that doesn't happen in typical XFN or FOAF or other open systems.
>
> In AroundMe, I can declare a relationship to you, which is stored on
> your service, and not mine. IWBNI, when I declare a relationship to you,
> my own server stores that information, too.
>   
I first GPL'ed a 'web of contacts' model social network script over 
three years ago. It was Facebook style which along with all the others 
have stemmed from sixdegrees.com (1997) all of which originated from 
Mark Granovetter paper in 1973, hence as I say - you have the paper and 
the scripts available on the web - so, it's easy;)

XFN and FOAF is a 'relationship' model where you typically link to 
someone and state your relationship to them. No handshake takes place. I 
remain pessimistic to this as the relationship should be defined through 
ties as supposed to a word hence my work has typically centered on 'web 
of contacts' model.

We have two things going on here; the handshake and the ties - as 
Granovetter stated the usage of a social network lies in how those ties 
are represented and used.

Given that we cannot guarantee the sending of a message to an OpenID 
account (messaging is an optional add-on) I need you to come over to me 
[visit my OpenID]; hand me a business card or tell me your name [connect 
and give me some information about yourself], then offer a handshake 
[giving me the key I need to use, or mutually connect to your network. I 
can them optionally choose to verify the relationship. To clarify this 
process we need to create a work flow for handshake.

>   
>> The idea is that I build my social network under my OP. I can then 
>> OpenID login to a website and optionally authorize the website to use 
>> certain information held under my OP account; one example would be 
>> accessing for first degree network.
>>     
>
> Oh, that's interesting. But wouldn't OpenID Attribute Exchange work fine
> in that case?
>   
Attribute exchange happens at OpenID connection whereas by giving site A 
my key I give that site permission to access a subset of my social 
networking data at it's choosing.

I think the thing to do here is sketch out a work flow and label what 
technology is involved in each step. Then it would be great to sync with 
the WordPress, SixApart, Drupal folk to see if we can implement a join 
effort. Sound good?

Tom


> -Evan
>
>   


-- 
Tom Calthrop
Founding director, Barnraiser.

Dedicated to giving people the tools they need to share 
knowledge and advance society through social software.

Web site: http://www.barnraiser.org/
OpenID: http://tom.calthrop.info/