Social Networking
What is a social network? Ever hear of a game called “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”? If not, it is a game where you link Kevin Bacon to any other actor/actress in six steps. For instance, to link Kevin Bacon to Sigourney Weaver...
Kevin Bacon was in Footloose with Dianne Weist,
who was in The Birdcage with Gene Hackman,
who was in The Firm with Holly Hunter,
who was in Copycat with Sigourney Weaver
So if you need to talk to Steve in your company but do not know him, one good way find him is to have a mutual friend introduce you. But how do you find such a person? That is where a social network comes into play. It can tell you a path from you to Steve so that you can find the mutual friend. Some even tell you who knows what so if you need to find the local expert on SharePoint you can and then figure out the path.
Social networks are, IMHO, fascinating applications of technology and I have been interested in them for quite some time. Now you may be asking yourself why am I posting this on a blog dedicated mainly to SharePoint? The answer will follow (just as soon as I can determine I can talk about it =)