Social Ch@nge

Google has apparently applied for a series of patents that will enable it to a put a value on how connected you are, within your social network. Akin to the “pagerank” system used by the search giant for valuing the popularity of websites, “friendrank” would help identify individuals who are particularly influential within circles of friends. This is part of a larger drive by Google to push OpenSocial, and would combine data from many social media sites, such as Facebook and Myspace.

So, Nike might pay a premium to place an ad on Seth Godin’s Facebook page. In contrast, my Facebook page would probably only attract the “Click on the mole to win a prize!” crowd.

I have two big issues with this:

First, this is a pretty interesting idea when you apply it to fundraising. We all know that our donor base is composed of people who are valuable to us because of the money they give, and others who are valuable to us because of who they know - those are the ones you want on your board. Now imagine you could scan all your donors to identify what Malcolm Gladwell calls “the Connectors” - pulling out the real nodes on the network, who could push your message out there. Donor databases like Raiser’s Edge try to do this, but often the total amount of intelligence you have on anyone is a little limited, because the database is an isolated island in a sea of information. But if Google uncorked all that social media data, and showed you where your top 10 most influential donors where…and who they knew…it’s like having Big Brother on your side!

My second concern, you might guess, would be the loss of privacy to us all because of this sort of thing, “1984″ redux, age of surveillance, etc.

Ok, my real issue? Just imagine that a poor geek in grade 10 could absolutely, positively know that his FriendRank is a crappy 2 out of 100: if it’s on Google, it must be true.

Google employees: remember your roots! Think of all those hours spent playing Dungeons & Dragons! With the FriendRank system, how will baby geeks survive long enough to grow up to be just like you?