A blog on social software, collaboration, trust, security, privacy, and internet tools by Christopher Allen.
With Google+ almost two weeks into its test phase, conversation about this new social network service seems to be going in circles.
Literally.
That’s because Circles is the Google+ feature that users are generating the most buzz about. It’s Google’s answer to the problem of organizing your social graph online.
If you’re not familiar with a social graph it’s a map of everyone you know and how they are related to you.
In my previous post, I talked about the limits on sizes of tightly-knit communities. These group limits are closely related to a number of interesting personal limits, and are often confused with them.
Unlike the group limits, personal limits actually measure something different: the number of connections that an individual can hold. They're yet another thing that you must consider when thinking about communities of people.
Personal Limits The Support Circle: This is the number of individuals that you seek advice, support, or help from in times of severe emotional or financial stress.