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PeopleAggregator - An Open Source Social Network
prostoalex writes "When Orkut, LinkedIn, Friendster, Zaibatsu and Tribe.net just don't cut it, meet PeopleAggregator, an open-source, PHP-written, FOAF-based social network. There's the site and there's the source in case you decide to launch your own. I found out about PeopleAggregator reading this interview with Mark Canter on Read/Write Web today." I wish such sites would provide profile-conversion tools to encourage jumping ship from one to another.
If you're a cubicle rat, then yeah, I guess the whole FOAF thing seems a little too much like high school dating logistics. But if you translate introductions into opportunities and know how to write a compelling message, then some of these social networks are godsends.
"It was a summer's tale: Just a boy, his Linux, and a head full of dreams..."
What ever happened to people meeting at the mall, bars, concerts, school, etc
Not everybody knows how to drive an automobile. Not everybody drinks alcohol. Not everybody can afford tickets to those few live performances offered at venues friendly to those who either by choice or by statute do not drink alcohol. Some students ride a bus to and from school and thus do not have time to meet beforehand or afterwards.
In addition, electronic FOAF systems are much cheaper than inter-city bus fare or airplane fare for meeting friends who have interests that aren't all that common in smaller cities of 50,000 or so.
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Create your wireless web site
All of the friends and acquaintances I know who use social networking are NOT geeky (but then i have few geeky friends, all of whom don't use social networking). All of the people I know using these sites are totally not geeky and are mostly somewhat trendy if a bit on the counter culture side of it believe it or not. I'm 19 however, and people of my age are significantly more tech savy. Perhaps as you get into older people technophobia creeps in.
Just go on friendster or myspace sometime and you'll notice the fact that most people there are not geeky at all, and that there's probably an even mix of boys and girls.
Photos.
I can only hope that we, the net citizens, will eventually push back on these mega sites to get some standards produced.
Imagine if each ISP ran a standards-compliant IM server for its users. No more "Do you use Yahoo or MSN? No, oh well, we can't chat." Instead, each IM server vendor would compete to have ISPs install their server but work with all other vendors' products instead of segregating users into disparate networks.
Freedom to fear. Freedom from thought. Freedom to kill.
I guess the War on Terror really is about freedom!
Social networks are only as useful as your own perceptions. While not a proponent myself, I've seen valid declarations for and against them (in general), open or closed (to the public), etc. It seems that those that look to them for substitutions for an actual social life are typically disappointed since male to female ratios are nominal at best. On the other hand those that look to these networks as opportunities to meet people (or keep in contact with people) from varied backgrounds and locations who share interests or needs (programming help, contractors, games, etc.) generally have much better luck than say randomly talking to someone in a bar.
If these networks were to try and cater to the lonely hearts out there, they would be no better than dating services, except they would likely prove to be disappointing in that regard, little better than just jumping into any of the myriad chat rooms out there. Perhaps this is validating invitation only networks (ala Orkut), who's to say?
A drawback to social networks is end user propagation and activity. Maintaining, checking, browsing and so on seems, to me at least, like a time consuming activity. One which I lack the desire and the time to follow. I tend to be a bit of a hermit, often times putting my IMs as away just to concentrate on the task at hand while I sit at my computer. I suppose when the "killer" social network comes along, I'll sign up and stay, until then they remain little more than academic interests in a field that is reaching oversaturation and little innovation.
The success of a social networking tool depends on the people that use it - it doesn't depend on whether it is open source or not... If you are wanting to meet different beautiful people I suggest you stay away from a social network where the only people who are going to join are your existing group of friends!!
Face it, using the internet as our primary means of communicating is inevitable.
Please tell me where I can get off whatever train you're riding on, because I don't think your world is or will be a very nice place to live in.
75% of the communications I have with people are still good old fashioned face-to-face conversations, and I would venture a guess that for most people the number is not much different. For most people the internet is replacing the ways we would communicate over long distances (phone call, snail mail), but it's not, nor do I think it ever will be, a suitable replacement for real physical interactions. And if I am somehow proven wrong, please shoot me before it happens.
I agree with everything else you said. Developers have already decimated our town squares, traditional shopping districts, and other public spaces and replaced them with malls and other quasi-public areas, where the only speech and the only activities allowed are the ones they deem to be "appropriate". Why should we let them fully enclose our virtual commons as well?
fuck you.
Women go for that stuff, trust me on this one. I can validate this comment. We do love men who know how to dance, and it doesn't have to be a trendy hip-hop or house style. You can waltz, tango, or practically anything else because it shows you have a cultural side.
But if you really want to earn points:
1. Know something about wine. All men. ALL MEN should know about wine. At least understand the types of wine and how to evaluate a wine's flavor/
2. Ditch the false bravado. Machismo is attractive initially, but it quickly wears.
3. Take an interest in your date. Don't let her walk all over you, but show her you appreciate the time you're spending with her.
4. Be clean. Shave. Use cologne sparingly. Make sure you shoes and your belt match.
5. Be passionate about something. Have a social cause. Love poetry or literature.
6. Open doors for ladies, but don't order our dinners without our permission.
7. It's okay to be a geek. Geeks are sexy. They think about things, but don't brag or act superior because you know more about a subject than your date. Let her know that your geekness includes aspirations.
8. Pay attention to our non-verbal signals. Women average about 150 non-verbal signals every minute.
9. Don't be late, but be forgiving if we are.
10. Above all else, do not end the date with a heart-felt, "Gawd, I'd like to finger you" while escorting your date to her door.
And as a bonus for you college guys: don't do her homework for her, do offer to help tutor her if you'd like to help. And when you take her out on a date, don't take her to see a movie. 2 hours of silence in a theater isn't going to help her get to know you. Take her to dinner - it doesn't have to be a fancy restaurant, but it should be better than a fast food restaurant. If all you can afford is a corner dive, well, tell her. And tell her that you would (and will someday) take her to someplace much better. At least she'll know you're not just cheap, but that you are hoping for future dates. If she is worth her weight in RAM, she'll appreciate the honesty and be understanding without being judgemental. Go for a walk around town. Sit at an outside cafe and have coffee or ice cream. Go browsing through a department store 45 minutes before it closes. Buy her flowers. These are all good things.