December 2nd, 2007
Social nets and identity fragmentation
faberNovel Consulting has mapped out some trends in social networking and digital identity. The research paper (PDF here) titled “Social network websites: best practices from leading services,” compares LinkedIn and Xing and Match.com and Meetic.
The research paper also touches on the how identity is changed by social networks, maintaining that MySpace is oriented around desired identity and meeting new friends based on center of interests, while Facebook is about real identity and the extension of real friendships. It’s an oversimplification, but Facebook’s more controlled and consistent interface lends itself to less “fantasized” identity.
The paper includes a slide from Frederik Cavazza that aptly captures the state of digital identity–fragmentation.
This week the identity fragmentation conundrum will be taken up at the Internet Identity Workshop at the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley. Stay tuned for coverage.
Dan Farber, editor-in-chief of CNET News.com, has more than 20 years of experience as an editor and journalist covering technology. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
