by Brian Solis
Chitose Suzuki / AP
World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee introduced us to the GGG, the Giant Global Graph, which connects the much-discussed Social Graph to the Semantic Web, which in the past has been linked to Web 3.0.
Now, people are making another mental move. There is realization now, “It’s not the documents, it is the things they are about which are important”. Obvious, really.
Its not the Social Network Sites that are interesting — it is the Social Network itself. The Social Graph. The way I am connected, not the way my Web pages are connected.
We can use the word Graph, now, to distinguish from Web.
I called this graph the Semantic Web, but maybe it should have been Giant Global Graph! Any worse than WWWW?
Not the “Semantic Web” term has been established for a long time, I’m not proposing to change it.
So, if only we could express these relationships, such as my social graph, in a way that is above the level of documents, then we would get re-use. That’s just what the graph does for us.
This is a fascinating discussion as it insinuates that the Social Graph is aligned with the Semantic Web. As I’ve written before, it is the organization to which Sir Tim belongs, The WC3, that has been the leading force behind defining the Semantic Web.
The Semantic Web is a web of data and is about two things. It is about common formats for interchange of data, where on the original Web we only had interchange of documents. Also it is about language for recording how the data relates to real-world objects. That allows a person, or a machine, to start off in one database, and then move through an unending set of databases which are connected not by wires but by being about the same thing.
Now this discussion will have to get down into semantics as there have been some who have made unsubstantiated arguments that the future of the Web is based on social networks. And, with all of the noise around the Social Graph, there has been a series of debates over whether or not the Social Graph is nothing more than a fancy word for Social Networks.
Just for the record, I define the Social Graph this way…Social Graph = your relationships, extending connections, and the relationships of others within Social Networks. Or quite simply, Social Graph = Social Networks.
Nick Carr ponders whether or not the Graph can extend beyond networks across the Web:
But while it’s true that technologists and theoreticians desire to abstract the graph from the sites – and see only the benefits of doing so – it’s not yet clear that that’s what ordinary users want or even care about. That’ll be the real test to whether the graph makes the leap from mathematician to mainstream – and it will also tell us whether a social network like Facebook has a chance to become a true platform or is fated to remain a mere site.
So is the Social Graph, a term which I guess we’re stuck with, a glimpse at Web 3.0?
I don’t think so. But it is an interesting discussion.
It is so much more than relationships, social networks, and the ability to connect like-minded people and their documents. However, creating a standard way to describe people, the links between them and the things they create and do on the Web will only make the Web more intelligent and efficient.
As I’ve said before, the future of the Web is about intelligence. It represents a shift in how people will interact with the Web and how those people, and correlating data and documents, connect through peer-to-peer sites and communities.
I do agree that freeing the Social Graph from the confines of any one social network will make it more important and significant. Think about the possibilities behind extending the Social Graph, ggg.yourname.com .
Whatever we call it, the next Web will focus on the back-end of the Web and more effectively wiring things together. Whereas Web 2.0 was about interface, social media, and interactivity, the Semantic Web will be about data, exchange, and behind-the-scenes intelligence to streamline and enhance how we interact with the Web, data, and the connections between people.
Related articles:
Social Graph: Concepts and Issues by Alex Iskold
Brad Fitzpatrick: Thoughts on the Social Graph
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