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Rate Your IM Popularity

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the i-thought-the-internet-was-to-get-away-from-this dept.

aicrules writes "The internet has long been a safe haven, and thus a play-field-leveling force, for the less socially adept to create a network of friends to share in fun, games, and conversation. However, it appears as if the influence of the social ladder is creeping its way in. While it will certainly lend itself to the abuse that any online scoring system faces, AimFight is the new place where people can go to check their popularity against others." From the article: "Your popularity is based on who has you on their buddy list. There's a complicated algorithm at work here. Your score is measured to the third degree, in the sense of the 'six degrees of separation' game that seeks to link anybody on Earth to any other person through no more than five friends. Say a couple of your friends, A and B, have you on their buddy lists. A, who has three people on her buddy list, doesn't add much to your score. That's because she doesn't have as many people on her buddy list as does B, who has 16. Your friend A is clearly not as well-connected as your friend B. Not unlike life."

4 of 332 comments (clear)

  1. The real winners by otter42 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So who's going to win this?

    Why, the zombie hackers of course. I imagine that their ICQ buddy lists must be light-years long.

    --
    www.eissq.com/BandP.html Ball and Plate System. Amuse your friends. Crush your enemies.
    1. Re:The real winners by Nytewynd · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Actually, it isn't just how many friends you have. It is how many friends your friends have. That means as long as a geek latches on to a popular person, they can be popular by proxy.

      --
      /. ++
  2. The summer that never ended.. by EvilStein · · Score: 3, Interesting

    myspace being bought out, the growing popularity of all these online "social networking" sites (read: online ego jerkoff sessions, basically) and now this?

    Ugh. More & more 'tweeners that don't know squat about computers except how to click & install Napster and AIM.

    I'm saddened at what the Internet has become.

  3. Worklists make you popular by cornjones · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This will be wildly scewed by people who use IM for work. In my experience, most workplaces use MSN but I am sure some use AIM. I have dozens of workmates grouped by their functional area. According to this, I am really popular. THere are people here at work that have 100s in their lists, since they are on my list does that make me cool?