Is anyone on Google+ already? I think
it is definitely a step in the right direction.
The circle concept is interesting.
Apparently people are indeed members in
multiple groups, for example you might
be in the FRIAM group, but also in other
groups, like the Stanford Alumni Association
or the parrot breeder group of Valley Springs
in South Dakota, for example.
The basic element in a social network
is a link from one node to another, such
as friendship, relationship, membership,
kinship or following. The "circle of friends"
or "circle of trust" seems to be the place where
a link from an individual intersects with a group.
Similar to a coupling constant in QFT:
if someone has many acquaintances in a group
and a large circle of friends, he has a "strong coupling"
with it, if he knows only a few and his circle of
friends is small, the coupling is weak, too.
-J.
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