By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. 9 Ways to Build Your Own Social Network
The idea of a 'white lable' social network service is that you use them to create your own social networks - the brand of the service fades into the background and it is your name and network that sees the light of day. That's the theory, though in practice it turns out to be hard to get these services to put their own name into the background - a Ning social network always looks like a Ning social network. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Dynamics of Social Networks
Good post that makes the concept of social networks a lot clearer - and a lot more complex. "Our networks do not include us as individuals, but rather as identities. This means that you may have people networking with you in your various identities e.g. as a parent, as a co-worker, as a member of a project etc." Thus our participation in networks has as much to do with role as with identity (I would have a lot to say about this, but let's move on). Toward the end of the post, Pollard contrasts the distinct approaches to informal networks by progressive and conservative members. Fascinating reading. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Twitter Aladdin
Yes I created a Twitter account. Purely by coincidence. I needed the account to fill out by Ning Edubloggers profile. But don't expect much in the way of tweeting. I don't see Twitter as being even remotely convenient to use (it behaves like Ning and Facebook and Explode and all the rest - it tells me something has happened (a message, a follower, whatever) and then I have to go to the site to find out what it was... sigh). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. One Identity, OpenID, and Social Network Fatigue
Sat in on a nice e-portfolio presentation this morning (Kenneth Chapman and Matt Fisher). The product will do everything you want, as well as unplug the kitchen sink. But I feel like the author of this post: "Creating a new 'self' every time we join a social network is a pain! Todd calls for a 'portable profile' that includes a suggestion by Tony MacDonnell for a 'portable friends system'." Yes, you can import your LMS ID into an LMS e-portfolio. And maybe I can carry the portfolio out into the world with me. But can I use the same profile on MySpace, Facebook, and in my school LMS. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Social Media and Seamless Learning
Stefanie Panke, AACE Review, 2019/03/29
I accept that there will be a certain amount of sloppiness in online posts; after all, I'm no saint. But the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE) ought to have higher standards than this article. Not only is it riddled with grammatical errors, it's factually unsound. For example, at one point it says 3 billion is "about a third of the world's population," which isn't close. It later says "Globally, 45% of the population are social media users," which is more accurate, though 45% is nowhere near a third. It tells us "81 percent of the United States population had a social networking profile," but the number cited, 243.6 million, is actually 74% of that population. We are told, "in Germany, 42.8 million people use social media", which is about half Germany's 82 million people, not the 36% the article claims. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. I was wrong about networks
George Siemens, LinkedIn, 2019/03/27
I'm not sure what to make of this article. It feels like he is having his 'groups versus networks' moment. He writes, "Networks are ephemeral. Systems exist to preserve. Systems exist as predictive agents. It's hard to control people in networks - they have too much agency, they can do what they want. The lack of controlability makes it difficult to achieve intended outcomes in networks. When agents want a clear outcome, they turn to systems. Systems preserve power." He still likes networks. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Nature Network - a Thinking Person'S Social Network?
Coverage of a new social network for scientists, "Nature Network (NN) - a social network for 'scientists to gather, talk and find out about the latest scientific news and events'." So why, asks Andy Powell, is nature - the journal - doing this? "Communication that used to happen primarily thru the peer-reviewed, published article and the conference paper is now beginning to happen in other ways." Good answer. More...