The Boolean Graph
For some reason I'm using Facebook less and less*. I think it's because my social graph is out of date. The people I friended three years ago in passing I hardly know and un-friending is hard and socially awkward.
I thought I'd never create another social graph, but now w/ Instagram and Path I find that creating new graphs every few years is a must.
No one has yet created a dynamic social graph. Facebook and other social graphs represent a rolling timeline of relationships that are out of date the instant they are created. I have a fight w/ a friend, I lose touch w/ an old college roommate, a work relationship grows stronger – existing graphs have very little visibility into these situations with an on or off boolean friendship model.
Friendster -> MySpace -> Facebook -> Instagram/Path -> ?
Why do we move from one service to another every few years? Maybe it's because these services don't accurately mirror our real social lives. Maybe it's the allure of a new product. I'm not sure.
*Full disclosure: I own a metric shit ton of Facebook stock, so it pains me to write this.