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c h a p t e r11: THE SOCIAL GRAPH■What Is a Social Graph?
I’ve referenced three fundamental terms and associated concepts in the discussion of
social business and the application of social technology to business. Social objects,
covered in the prior chapter, range from small pieces of content—for example, photos
or tweets—to larger things such as passions, lifestyles, and causes around which people
will collect and form communities. Social applications—the tools that extend the gen-
eral functionality of a social platform—were also mentioned briefly and will be covered
in detail in the next chapter.
The third of the fundamental terms, social graph, is the subject of this chap-
ter. The term itself is nearly synonymous with a related term—social network. In
general discussion, the two are essentially interchangeable, and you may hear strong
opinions and preferences for one over the other. So, a minute spent sorting this out is
worthwhile.
The term social graph is rooted in the quantitative analysis of networks: It’s
the kind of term a mathematician or sociologist might use. The more general term is
“social network”; so to avoid the tech babble that is often the cause of avoidable confu-
sion when talking about social media, you can generally use “social network” instead
of social graph and everyone will know what you mean.
The difference to be aware of is this: In conversation, “social network” generally
refers to something like Facebook—the software, the apps, the people, the connec-
tions...all of it. By comparison, the term “social graph” refers specifically to the people
who are members of a particular network (or graph) as well as how those members
within that network are connected: The term “social graph” makes more explicit the
fact that you are concerned with the details of the connections and relationships that
make up a social network.
“Definition: The Social Graph is the representation of our relationships.
In present day context, these graphs define our personal, family, or busi-
ness communities on social networking websites.”
Jeremiah Owyang, 2007Here’s the important point: You can use either term, as long as everyone is clear
on what is being talked about. For this chapter—and in fact throughout this book—the
term social network refers to the collective object—to Facebook or Orkut or the Intel
Developer’s Network and everyone contained within it; the term social graph refers
to the members of a social network and the details around the ways in which those
members are connected. Figure 11.1 shows a simple social graph and the connections
between specific members that make up a social network.