Flutterby™! : Idea of the moment 2004-05-06 22:10:45.898185+00

Idea of the moment

2004-05-06 22:10:45.898185+00 by Dan Lyke 4 comments

We had that flurry of Flutterby interest in social software, but aside from answering the occasional friend request trickling in from Orkut I've largely forgotten about those sites. I'm still not sure that the whole networking thing has promise, but a possible tool: Mine FOAF data (including the separate registration of email addresses for those who wish to keep their addresses obfuscated) and build automated "2 degrees" mailing lists.

Tribe.net was the only one I tried, but the experience paled pretty quickly. For me, the technology involved in a [successful] social network should reduce the amount of time I have to spend at it. All that Tribe.net did was eat up more of my time, with no noticeable return.

I think the networking thing could have promise - if it could be streamlined rather than just have feature upon feature heaped upon it.

Dan, do you have a FOAF file? I've looked at some of the tools that show the relationships built from FOAF files and they are interesting but I never could see any practical use for the maps they create.

Friend/Networking/Social/Dating systems really only have one driving force.. and it takes lots of effort to get a few results.. but the results are worth it. One day this person sends you an e-mail.. you respond.. she responds.. and somewhere a sparkle happens.. you go out.. and well.. magic happens.

On the work/professional side, as a part of some professional networking, evite.com has generated some business leads..

Larry, I've never had an application for an FOAF file. And frankly I'm not sure that idea is a terribly good one as I don't think I've actually gotten any interesting messages on any of those services via the "circle of friends" email, most of it has been trite and irrelevant.

But that's essentially the only service that these sites offer beyond hosting some often poorly implemented bulletin board software.