[Air-l] From Social Isolation in America to Facebook

[Ellis Godard]

Barry wrote:
> One problem with almost all social software is that it makes 
> two false assumptions:
> (a) It assumes that relationships are dichotomous: Friend/Non-Friend.
> (b) It assumes that friends all belong to the same group.

It also makes (at least) a third: (c) It assumes that relationships are
symmetrical, though I'd wager more folks might identify Barry as a friend
that Barry knows - or at least that plenty of folks consider him a friend
whom he may not consider a friend, or even know. 

The asymetric nature of intimacy in most relationships is something that
seems to have received relatively little attention in any literature,
particularly talk about social software.

-eg