Constellate

Constellate a project proposal

Constellate a thesis project proposal

the problem:
we have to re-add and re-group all of our friends for each new social web/ mobile service we want to try

a web service

a social network

a social network with no content

keeping track only of the relationships between people

a walled garden

a walled garden
with many gates

Users input (or import) information about their relationships
names, email addresses,
handles/screennames
how they know each person
Users group people together with custom tags
Tags can then be used on third-party services

Developers then have access to robust and current relationship information
who knows who
how people tag/classify each other
Developers use either a web API or an installable black box that automatically synchronizes with Constellate database

is it monetizable?
probably not

probably not for profit

Strangers?

Dodgeball

Dodgeball for the web

Constellate knows
what you are doing on the web
who you are friends with
who your friends are friends with
what they are doing on the web

Example

you're looking at photos on Flickr
a friend of a friend is also looking at those same photos on Flickr
Flickr queries the Constellate API and learns that these users have a mutual friend
Flickr then asks both people if they would like an introduction in the context of these photos and that friend (note that the opt-in is on a case by case basis)
If both you and the friend of a friend consent, an introduction is provided

can strengthen connections between creators and viewers of content
web is no longer inhabited by mutually unaware strangers
uses social relationships to re-conceptualize 'viewing a website' as 'being present at a website'
mutual friends passively brokering introductions

Constellate

by Steven Lehrburger on Apr 22, 2009

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Constellate — Presentation Transcript