Windows Phone Thoughts: Taking a Bird's-Eye View of 'Social Cyberspaces'

"Have you ever joined an online message board or newsgroup discussion only to find yourself struggling to decide which participants' advice to heed, whom to ignore, who are the experts, and who is simply making noise or "flame-bait?" Trust and identity are at the core of any well-functioning community, online or in the real world. Researchers at Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) are creating tools to help computer users understand these dynamics -- and get real value from what research sociologist Marc Smith calls "social cyberspaces."

According to Smith, social cyberspaces include e-mail, e-mail distribution lists, chat rooms, buddy lists, instant messages, message boards, weblogs "blogs"), and discussion groups such as Usenet. Today, most of these virtual spaces offer little or no "social accounting" data or information that helps users get a big-picture view of the community they are interacting with. Yet the role of social cyberspaces is becoming increasingly important.

"Technology no longer consists just of hardware or software or even services, but of communities," said Howard Rheingold, author of "The Virtual Community" and "Smart Mobs." "Increasingly, community is a part of technology, a driver of technology, and an emergent effect of technology."