At the risk of sounding a bit out of date, why the insistence on grouping/labelling people? And why do you have to label yourself? Most people, I would imagine, wear many hats these days — but they don’t let those hats identify them. You would be you, no matter what you did for a living and no matter which application you use for networking.

I would solve the problem by recognising that it’s not really a problem. Don’t overthink.

I would be curious to know why not being able to categorize yourself bothers you. Is it because you want to be indexed correctly, so that other people can find you? Or, is it because you aren’t sure of your identity?

When I think of you, I think of a multifaceted personality, with specializations in technology and networking (w/ppl). I think of myself, and many others like us, the same way. Yes, I’m a librarian, but it’s not my ultimate definition, and I won’t let it be.

I think what might make you happiest is if services like Twitter and LinkedIn had tags. Tags are most versatile, and you can have more than one. :)

but i agree with Chris. There are times where I need to contact the people I work with. There are times I want to contact the people I am related to. There are times for everyone.

In the old days, you could have groups in your email and just email to one or the other or all of your groups. A database lets you do the same thing.

But Chris, are you looking for something that transcends email, that lets you message in the recipient’s medium of choice? That writes on my Facebook wall and Rob’s twitter and Michael’s email and Jeff’s K7 and Kat’s refrigerator?

Are you looking for something that is resident outside your server or other personal device?

I agree with Carol and Andrea. I’ve blogged about social networking on my design business site, and met web design clients at PodCamp.

I like people being able to find my different hats if they want to, although it isn’t always appropriate for me to wear all of them. My podcast is a bit NSFW, so I use specific two-sided business cards only at new media-related events, and one-sided cards for business. I have separate email addresses and lists, but if I were to send something from the wrong email address, it would only be amusing.

When I met you at PodCamp Pittsburgh, I had no idea who you were, and had never heard of any your hats. I just thought you were a cool guy who was interested in a lot of the same things I was, and added you to all of my social networking sites. I wouldn’t worry so much about your hats; it will just make you bald sooner.

I like to group and label and track everything, and I would love some sort of HUB. I believe there have been attempts at that, although I’m guessing the fact that I can’t name any of those attempts is telling. There needs to be a sort of iGoogle of social networking. One site where you could pull in, work with, and organize all of your social tentacles. Maybe it could serve a dual function: privately, you access all your networks; publicly, you could display an overview — or a couple of overviews, like work vs. personal — of your online footprint, a substitute for the homepage of links that people are doing now: (i.e. Ryan [hawaii] @ http://www.lightfantastic.org/ - and it’s something I want to do, too).

I don’t know enough about Facebook to know if it could go there. It does seem to be going in that direction. Intuitively I feel like it needs to be something new, though. I hope a solution pops up soon, because a lot of people are starting to complain about being overwhelmed, and justifiably so.

the “no labels” thing is a fair concept
though it always feels new aged to me
(sorry)

labels are important to me
they do help
it’s when I misuse them or make assumptions based on them that things go wrong
i vote very much for labels as ways to identify

understanding all your different hats makes goal setting more effective
if it’s all under one big ball of you
how do you know where you are weak?
lacking?
strong?

i say chop up the apples for the pie
then serve it whole

I didn’t explain myself well. I need a way to address outwardly to my various social networks, many of which don’t overlap in what interests them about me. Jon was right. I need to use Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIN to reach out with messages and news and info that the other people don’t want to know about.

I don’t need to label me. I know who I am. But I have different subject matter of interest to different groups.

Bleu, I hafta say that Facebook has become to me what it sounds like you’re suggesting. While I’m not in the just-graduated crowd, Facebook really has become the crack addict application that they want to be, to me, anyway. Just yesterday I was hoping there would be a Spock application for Facebook, since I had just joined the service, and I wanted an easy way to keep track of it (although, you know, Spock might be a good option here, if you can get enough friends to join it… :\).

Facebook has pre-defined networks, which are good and bad on different levels. I’d like to be able to tag my friends, JIC they’ve decided to join and not be in any network at all. Who knows, there may already be a Facebook app for that.

But, not all tools work for all people, so I recognize that Facebook is not the answer for everyone. I’m a big believer in finding the tool that fits the user (go go gadget Ranganathan!), so I won’t be a Facebook pusher. Maybe it does need to be something new, for a new type of user. Or, maybe we just need to spend a little time checking to see if it already exists, and is just underplayed.

I see what you mean — I have “groups” in my email contacts list, and there are a few people who are in all of the groups, so yes — it would be nice to do the same with social networking apps.

Andrea, I’ve only played with Facebook a little bit, so it definitely may be that I just need to delve in deeper. Maybe you’re right, and what I’m looking for is already there.

I have been invited to Facebook by someone with many hats, but haven’t joined yet. I will have to check it out soon.

Glad to see you are not having a personal identity crisis, Chris. In the words of a famous Pittsburgher, “I like you just the way you are”.

The simplest way for a social networking app to solve this would probably be tagging.

If you could tag your contacts, and in turn be able to look at contacts grouped by tags of your choosing, I think your problem would be solved.

Chris with all the tools available to quickly and instantly communicate online the opportunity has become a challenge. My suggestion is to set up 2-3 interfaces (blog, Twitter, LinkedIn) and aim your various groups at one or more of the interfaces. So you may have a family blog and your professional blog. One you can update more often than the other if necessary. Go back to the 4 Hour Week and aim at those groups that are bringing pleasure and reward for you to determine how much time to spend in each. But I do think it requires multiple “personalities” but not split personalities. You have the different personalities naturally - Dad/son, nonprofit, venture idea, friends, work. Just carry this out naturally into a few different blogs, email addresses, or Twitter personalities - keep it simple but keep it separate. LinkedIn I treat as a professional network only. Plaxo the same (great new 3.0 for Plaxo as a side note. ) I have a couple of different emails for different groups I deal with.

I find this interesting because I tried to do a flow chart recently of everyone who attended PodCamp Boston, where they are now, and how our paths overlapped, and it got so intertwined, only 3d modeling would work. It’s a webbed world, with so many interconnections. Fascinating, but confusing since we can’t know everything about everybody, yet many people assume you know more about them than you probably do.

First of all, I love the Social Network Architecture Project idea if only for the acronym: SNAP. :)

I agree with Josh Nichols about tagging. That’s the most flexible and lightweight implementation. In fact, I suggested tagging to Twitter as a way to do groups.

But, what would also be needed is yet another web application that was simply your Social Network Organizer (SNOR?). It would allow you to apply its tags (and perhaps more complicated associations) on your existing social network peeps, groups, etc. Then, by using the various site APIs, it would allow you to listen or shout out to each of your tagged sets.

Sounds like a product idea…. we should talk. :)

Joe C.

Interesting view, Chris, and one that hits home with me, as well. Like you, I know who I am and for which I stand. However, I’m involved in many projects, on many levels, and through many organizations/circles.

As a musician/songwriter/new media producer/community affairs and media relations professional/safety educator, etc. I find that my circles sometimes do NOT overlap. And yet, sometimes they do. It can be a challenge finding a venue to help me connect in an organized fashion.

I’m looking forward to hearing others’ comments on how we can better group these connections to be effective and, most of all, efficient.

I like linked in but its just not useful. Its a static directory of names which I cannot even access without paying them. I like congoo.com and facebook for contacting people free although facebook is mostly kids. Congoo seems to have real industry pros and I like the industry news too. My two cents.

I ran across Ziggs.com earlier tonight. While I was importing contacts, I learned that it does allow you to group your contacts. Play around with it and see if it helps.