Next Document: Reference Architecture For Social Network Sites

What are the architectural components of a social network site?

Implementing an internal “corporate Facebook” web site has become a frequent request to IT organizations from employees, line-of-business managers, human resource groups, and C-level executive teams. However, there are few commonly accepted practices regarding what architectural components need to be included in such a web site to qualify it as an internal version of the popular consumer site, Facebook. This reference architecture template begins with a set of baseline requirements established by danah boyd and Nicole B. Ellison. The authors’ analysis identifies key repeating characteristics found across consumer social network sites. Their analysis helps establish a common baseline for architects to understand what attributes need to be included in a social network site. Burton Group recognizes these attributes as inherent traits social network sites deployed within the enterprise should minimally provide to its employees (“actors” in social network terms):

• A visible profile within a bounded system which describes the actor
• A public or semi-public display of connections between that actor and their relations (e.g., “friends”)
• An ability for people to traverse those connections (e.g., to view profiles associated with the list of “friends”)

Although boyd’s and Ellison’s research does not explicitly identify the following attributes as core functions, Burton Group believes that such capabilities should also be included within a social network site definition:

• A means for other members to particiapte, interact and contact the actor (e.g., e-mail, instant messaging, chat rooms, blogs, and message boards)
• A set of controls for that actor to manage his/her own visibility (search, profile viewing)
• A set of controls for that actor to manage how they prefer to interact or be contacted by other entities (e.g., messages)

Mapping these attributes into the architectural components listed below can assist enterprise architects, infrastructure planners, application developers and other audiences to design a social network site:

• Profiles
• Social Graph
• Participation Models
• Social Presence
• Relation Controls

Template Diagram:

Comments

[Piero Rivizzigno]

Mike,

well done. I think this a great starting point for defining a reference model for social networking application.

[Piero Rivizzigno]

Mike,

well done. I think this a great starting point for defining a reference model for social networking application.

[Vladislav Chernyshov]

Very nice post, Mike. Could you explain Social Presence a bit deeply?

[Yu You]

Nice model. Is there any other reference models available, or general requirements for building social network sites?

[Andy Wang]

Mike,
Thanks for taking a stab. I've been trying to integrate social networking model into Guy Creese's Copernican Revolution collaboration framework - your diagram just gave me inspiration

[Joannah]

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Joannah

http://2gbmemory.net