Google is promoting an API that maps connections among people. Great idea. I would guess the idea is to discover others with similar interests “a few links removed”.
The problem is that the API relies on designated “people” connections – friends lists, blog rolls, etc. There are designated tags for such links, but how many people or applications use them (see Jarvis post).
There must be another way to attempt to do this, but the methods I can think of require that the authors” of elements on the web be known. Links among web pages, blog posts, social networking sites, etc. are not just links among information sources, but also links among people. If “author” was a tag, it should be possible to create maps of linkages among authors. This would be a little different than acknowledged people links (XFN, FOAF).
I suppose the idea that taking advantage of linkages among people associated with ideas may seem a little intrusive. However, once one advances past the first level of people links a similar issue arises. My kids and I share each other as “friends”. This means I am one link away from the others on their friends lists. I feel myself growing younger by the moment, but I have no interest in discussing how to get tickets for the next Hannah Montana concert.
Perhaps author to author links should be weighted 1 and friend to friend links should be designated 2 in creating a network map. Then, you would have the “best of both worlds”.
BTW – if you don’t understand the reference to “best of both worlds”, you need some younger friends. 😉
