A social graph is a representation of the connections between people on social networking sites. It can be illustrated by a diagram and is closely related to the term social network. Different social networking services have their own social graphs, but Google’s Social Graph API allows websites to use publicly available information from different online social graphs. Some argue that this is an invasion of personal privacy and that individuals should have ownership and control over their personal information.
In the context of the Internet, the term “social graph” usually refers to the connections between people who participate in a social networking service, such as Facebook, LiveJournal, LinkedIn or Myspace. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg used the term, as well as the term social network, when he discussed the relationships between users on Facebook and how those relationships can make what he calls a richer online experience. In mathematics, a graph is an abstract representation of the relationships between things and can be used to model various natural and man-made systems, such as power grids, economies, cells, and the World Wide Web. A social graph can be illustrated by drawing a diagram, where individuals are represented by nodes or points and their connections are represented by lines drawn between the nodes. The term can be used both to refer to the actual web of connections between individuals, and to a diagram showing a representation of those relationships.
The terms social network and social graph are closely related. Usually, social networks refer to relationships in the real world, while social graphs describe relationships on the Internet, making them a representation of the online social system. However, the distinction is not clear-cut. Real-world societies can be referred to as social graphs, where individuals are related because they are related or because they know each other from various social contexts, such as work and school. Brad Fitzpatrick, programmer and creator of LiveJournal, described the social graph as a “global mapping of everyone and how they are connected”.
Different social networking services have their own social graphs which are usually completely separate from each other. In 2008, the Internet company Google Inc. started the Social Graph API, a project intended to allow different websites, including social networking sites, to use publicly available information from different online social graphs. In this context, the social graph includes not only relationships between individuals, but also connections to virtual objects such as photos, pages and events.
Proponents say this use of social graphs will make it easier for people to interact with the entire social network online, no matter what social networking service or website they’re accessing. Critics call it a possible invasion of personal privacy. Some have also argued that each individual should have ownership and control over his or her part of the online social graph and the personal information it contains.
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