Real Social

Guaka in his blog, has announced the Real Social initiative. RealSocial.org will attempt to define what are 'true social networks' and to give them a kind of stamp of approval.

Guaka writes that:

"I’m thinking of distinguishing Real Social and real social networks.

I’d consider CouchSurfing, BookCrossing, and all current ride share websites that I’m aware of, as real social networks. They lead to real life connections or actual forms of exchange, with less time spent offline than online.

I could think of three that would fit my criteria for being Real Social: BeWelcome, Ripple and Hitchwiki. The capitalization comes from the way the networks, its organization and the software is developed."

Comment by Michel Bauwens:

A priority, it seems to me, is to start with work on a definition of what constitutes Real Social, or more formally, a Definition of Real Social Networks, in the tradition of the other definitions we already have, such as the Open Definition and the like.