lclough wrote:
] Wow. The underlying data would be really valueable for anyone
] doning social-network research.
]
] MemeStreams seems small. Is this a result of the interface or
] is it really small? It would be interesting to see graphs of
] usage over time for the frequency with which folks read,
] recommend, and post. Even better would be summary data in a
] tabular form that one could crunch.

MemeStreams is still small. We are growing, but we are still small. The main page has a fair amount of readers and we get tons of referrals from Google, but there are only a handful of active users who post frequently.

After we get the next version of MemeStreams up, we plan to expose XML based interfaces for querying link data. This will not only allow people to access the data for research, but also to support other visualization tools such as Touchgraph.

] A philosophical question. Is MemeStreams going to be a single
] community where everyone reads more or less the same set of
] posts, or a community with multiple foci of interest? How
] will the new developments support the one versus the other
] approach?

Nothing about MemeStreams design limits it to one group of people. Nothing about our intent for the site limits it to one group of people. Quite the contrary actually. We feel that the fact MemeStreams is only one group of people is a sign of its youth and immaturity. It is one community. One young community. Someday, there will be many communities present here. We have not created the architecture necessary for this to happen yet, so it hasn't. :)

The main page (which Decius and I usually refer to as the "democratic view") has whatever is most popular on the system, but the Reputation Agent is completely different for every person. The Agent's content is based on the system's understanding of the social network present, in relation to the user or a specified group.

One thing that I don't think most people realize: There are no "admin accounts" on MemeStreams, or anything like that. Decius's account, my account, your account, etc, are all the same. No one has any more power to make links appear on the front page then anyone else..

While on this topic.. I wish I never made the "most recommended users" page at the root of the Social Network section of the site. That page seriously misleads people. That list doesn't really have any bearing on anything.. That's built by totaling up a number of metrics, that are never actually totaled in that way, anywhere other then that page. Decius, Jeremy, and myself will always be at the top of that list. It wouldn't be possible to nock us from the top spots.. We have been actively using the system since day one, so someone would have to post and be recommended a truly insane amount to make up for the fact we have several years of system usage on them. In the year in graphs, you are seeing lists built on the same metrics, but with a timeframe taken into account so its in context.

RE: MemeStreams - The Year in Graphs 2003