Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

AIM Meets Social Network Theory

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the diagram-fever dept.

dan moore writes "A student at Caltech has created a website (BuddyZoo.com) that tracks cliques within groups of peoples' buddylists. It also measures buddy popularity and allows you to do a six-degrees type search for other screen names. An interesting approach to social network theory."

4 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. I made the site by SkyIce · · Score: 5, Informative

    A couple of things

    I don't have the data already. Users contribute their lists to the site by uploading them.

    I'm not going to spam people. I promise.

    This load makes me glad I put the time into setting up mod_perl

    proof that I made the site:
    http://www.buddyzoo.com/images/slashdot.htm l

    1. Re:I made the site by SkyIce · · Score: 4, Informative

      One more thing: Nobody who does not have you on their buddy list will ever see your screen name as a result of the site. Spam address-harvesters will never see screennames that they don't provide.

      Right now smarterchild is topping the popularity rankings.

  2. Six degrees of separation by arvindn · · Score: 4, Informative
    A famous experiment conducted 35 years ago contended that anyone can reach anyone else in the world through a chain of friends of length 6. Some people are trying to find out if this is really the case.

    BTW, I wonder how online relationships will compare with real world relationships? One tends to have more acquaintances in meatspace, but our online friends are more diverse.

  3. Re:The results seem bizarre. by SkyIce · · Score: 4, Informative

    I scrambled them for privacy reasons.