Defriendization is the future of social networks
Small is beautiful, time to remove friends overload (”defriend“) from Facebook and other services! Two reasons for that:
- Socializing does not scale
I wrote about this earlier (”Openness is difficult to scale“) and you might have heard of Dunbar’s number, “a theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships“. After over-adopting social networks as we over-adopt any new technology, we will push the envelope back (another fundamental trend I believe).Clive Thompson explains in a recent Wired column:
“socializing doesn’t scale. Once a group reaches a certain size, each participant starts to feel anonymous again, and the person they’re following — who once seemed proximal, like a friend — now seems larger than life and remote. […] So the conversation stops.”
Clive Thompson in Praise of Online Obscurity - More friends mean more ads
Another reason is that, as soon as advertising becomes more aggressive on social networks, each of my friend and “friend” will becomes a reasons for social networks to advertise on me. “John bought this”, “Peter registered for that”, why don’t you do the same? That is the balance Facebook and all its competitors will have to solve.
April 8th, 2010 at 10:48 am
[…] Laurent Haug’s blog » Blog Archive » Defriendization is the future of social networks liftlab.com/think/laurent/2010/04/08/defriendization-is-the-future-of-social-networks – view page – cached Small is beautiful, time to remove friends overload (”defriend“) from Facebook and other services! Two reasons for that: * Socializing does not scale I wrote about this earlier (”Openness is difficult to scale“) and you might have heard of Dunbar’s number, “a theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships“. After… Read moreSmall is beautiful, time to remove friends overload (”defriend“) from Facebook and other services! Two reasons for that: * Socializing does not scale I wrote about this earlier (”Openness is difficult to scale“) and you might have heard of Dunbar’s number, “a theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships“. After over-adopting social networks as we over-adopt any new technology, we will push the envelope back (another fundamental trend I believe). View page Tweets about this link Topsy.Data.Twitter.User[’padzzle’] = {”location”:”",”photo”:”http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/452686377/s_sensory_branding_normal.jpg”,”name”:”Anna Domingo”,”url”:”http://twitter.com/padzzle”,”nick”:”padzzle”,”description”:”Strategic Brand City & Destination powered by a Global Think Tank hybrid team.Finding the right piece to build & communicate your brand experience.”,”influence”:”"}; padzzle: “RT @laurenthaug: Defriendization is the future of social networks http://bit.ly/cw3hy5 ” 45 seconds ago view tweet retweet Topsy.Data.Twitter.User[’laurenthaug’] = {”location”:”Geneva, Switzerland”,”photo”:”http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/209888692/IMG_0105_normal.jpg”,”name”:”Laurent Haug”,”url”:”http://twitter.com/laurenthaug”,”nick”:”laurenthaug”,”description”:”I am an entrepreneur, event designer and researcher passionate about understanding how technological innovation is reshaping society and culture.”,”influence”:”"}; laurenthaug: “Defriendization is the future of social networks http://bit.ly/cw3hy5 ” 8 minutes ago view tweet retweet Topsy.Data.Twitter.User[’liftlab’] = {”location”:”",”photo”:”http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/245011516/liftlab_logo_normal.gif”,”name”:”liftlab”,”url”:”http://twitter.com/liftlab”,”nick”:”liftlab”,”description”:”",”influence”:”"}; liftlab: “Defriendization is the future of social networks http://bit.ly/cw3hy5 ” 8 minutes ago view tweet retweet Filter tweets […]
April 9th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
[…] plus d’influence, comme l’a démontré une étude dont a parlé ReadWriteWeb.[en]In his blog post Defriendization is the future of social networks, that I commented upon in Defriending, Keeping Connections Sustainable and Maybe Superficial, […]
April 9th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
[…] d’évoluer et de grandir en tant que personnes.[en]The last link from Laurent’s post Defriendization is the future of social networks that I want to comment upon is about Log-Out Day in Korea. (Read my first two articles about his […]