[nine_k]

To me, it's the other way around. Most of my real friendships were initiated by contacts on social networks. This is the only way I could have met a number of wonderful people who live far away from my city.

And transparency, (tunable) FOAF features is exactly what made it possible rather quickly. If anybody here remembers FriendFeed, they had this mechanics well-polished. (They also invented the Like button.)

[olah_1]

>And transparency, (tunable) FOAF features is exactly what made it possible rather quickly

I'm interested in hearing more about what "FOAF" is and some examples of what you mean :)

[reificator]

At a guess I'd assume `FOAF` = `Friend of a Friend`.

[olah_1]

Probably, thanks.

Iris (built with Gun) has "degrees of separation" as well. https://iris.to/

I believe SSB does have degrees, but I'm not sure how many.

[fenwick67]

They like to call the relationships "hops" in SSB. I think Manyverse replicates only 2 hops (the people you follow directly and then the people they follow), but the desktop client replicates 3 hops.

[olah_1]

I think the reason that SSB isn't super well documented yet is probably because the protocol is still subject to change and not yet set in stone. I think Manyverse tweeted something about how SSB might get mutability and a delete propagation message in the future even.

Regarding "degrees of separation". I think it makes sense to have the degrees be

1. "I have met this person in real life, known them for a long time, and can confirm that they are who they say they are".

2. "I only know this person through the app, but we both like and respect each other and are friends"

3. This is either a 1st or 2nd degree relationship of one of my 1st or 2nd degree relationships.

So theoretically 1 and 2 are the same, the difference being you like scanned a physical QR code verifying 1 and know them IRL for example.

That way the degrees can double as a "web of trust" that serves as identity verification.