Yesterday, this blog's Facebook page reached 101 likes! As you can see, 92 of them are friends of mine, most of whom were probably invited by yours truly. Still, I think this is fun. I joined Facebook in 2006, and I use it almost every day to connect with friends and co-workers, learning new things, and finding out about real-life events. In this way, the "social network"actually works almost like a well-connected city, with more or less rounded blocks of homes, stores, offices, restaurants and cultural scenes.
In this amazing map of Facebook friendships made by Paul Butler, you can see how large parts of the world are interconnected using this powerful network. I, for one, com from Norway, but have connections going to such far-off places as Kenya, Colombia, South Africa and Bangladesh. Read more about how the map was made in this short and interesting article.
Finally, a picture of a well-connected city, for comparison. Bologna in 1640:
May both the world and its cities become increasingly interconnected in the years to come!
The problem with facebook, as well as other private owned network systems (both in cyberspace and real life), is that they are not neutral. The owners of the network have an agenda of their own, and will use the network to shape the user's preferences, creating social pressure, censoring content and ultimately creating path dependence.
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