Linkedin recently released a new feature in their labs called InMaps which visualizes your connections giving you a visual element to who knows who where. Kind of a visual version of the six degrees of separation game with Kevin Bacon, which I apply to Linkedin when describing it to people new to social media, and which is where I got the name Six Degrees Web Design. (I thought about putting & social media on the end, but that would be too much of a mouthful, but I digress.)
InMaps look like the old Spirograph game of the 80′s a lot of us had fun with and allows you to add labels to show what the different areas of your connections have in common.
Mine looks like this: (click to view larger)
If you want a more in-depth explanation of InMaps I rather liked Whitney Hess’ post on InMaps.
Hubs and Connectors: Understanding Networks Through Data Visualization
After reading this post and looking through my InMap I wondered if there is one for Facebook. The closest thing I could find (after wading through all the Facebook intern world map results) was an app called Friends Map. What this app does is plot out your friends’ location on a map rather than show you their connections. Besides you of course. What I mean is a map that shows which of your friends actually know each other and you didn’t realize they knew each other such as long lost high school or college buddies or friends from places you used to live.
Friends Map starts out with a world map showing a number in a red dot on the countries where your friends live. Since I keep Facebook personal mine is all U.S. based. However, Twitter and LinkedIn would be global.
The image below shows the initial results screen. Click the image to enlarge it.
Once you click a dot, it expands to show the results. The app also shows you a list of your friends’ names and location grouped by state below the map. However, to protect my friends’ privacy, I won’t be showing you that (you know, unlike Facebook’s privacy changes)
Now, what I would really like to see, is an InMap of my Twitter connections. I mentioned this a few weeks ago to some connections on Twitter and they suggest I create it, but I think trying to figure out the algorithm would leave my brain in knots.
Do you know of any apps that do this better on Facebook? If so, tell me in the comments.