Get your Facebook network visualized (properly and without anyone stealing your data)

Many of you who read this have had a blob like this created to "visualize" your network of facebook friends:


In my opinion, hideous and useless. When you could have something scalable, informative and beautiful like this:


I'd like to briefly tell you how to get your own graph like that. Because it is so much more flexible it has not been packaged as easily accessible as myFnetwork, but connect with me and I can guide you or show you how it's done through screen sharing.

1. Download the data necessary, through the netvizz app
2. Install the Gephi application (available for most platforms) to crunch and style the data
3. Export to PDF to explore and enjoy, or even print your own nerdy large-format poster. Done!
   

The details of how to use Gephi are in this tutorial (or this, the tutorial is more convoluted but it's a generally more interesting site).

From my friends network you can intuitively see a number of interesting things, it's a sort of picture of my social life. If tweaked and run according to different parameters (interests, gender, other groups) the sky is the limit for what you can discover using such statistical tools. They can tell things about your group, or people you want to learn about - I keep some of my experiments in this gallery.

Now, I can't tell for sure why apps like myFnetwork only give you such a hideous result, but I have been told that the prime motivation for providing any small facebook apps like that is to access and resell your information. Facebook in themselves are marginally better keepers of it, and in principle netvizz (the app I use to download the data) may be as bad too, but at least they don't give me bullshit trinkets which are supposed to keep me happy and attract attention from my connections.

LinkedIn also created a similar visualization they call inmaps - much nicer though and they don't run it off Gephi but borrowed everything from it's style. My professional graph you can see here. My idol Joi Ito has a great video having it demonstrated to him personally here:



What are you waiting for? Be the big brother and process the information you have access to, I for sure intend to further experiment with these things, so stay posted!

Remember, remember the fifth of November... when you were anonymous and free

"Remember, remember the Fifth of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot
I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot"

Once upon a time, when there still was an information void and not everyone could be kept under surveillance one man plotted to blow up the British Houses of Parliament. Since then, this "terrorist" has been demonized annually by protestant royalists.

However, in 2006 when the conservative protestants had finished celebrating their victory and total information awareness is finally within reach, the dust was shook of the Guy Fawkes mask and he was instead martyrized in a film by Alan Moore (seriously, download it here, "V for Vendetta" is awesome) as an icon of the true will and action of the man on the street - when he can be Anonymous, that is.

Ok, so as a symbolic action to celebrate this thought I have changed my profile pictures everywhere to the Guy Fawkes mask, and I suggest you do the same, but admittedly, the idea isn't particularly sticky. There are only a reasonably small and non-important things I currently don't feel I can say or do out loud without risking my name, but there are others who are less privileged and in my gut the principle still feels so urgently important. Anonymity is worth protecting, anonymity is for everyone and anonymity is essential for a safe society.


PS. I was reminded by a reader that I seem to misuse the word "integrity", because it in Swedish has a use stemming from "personal integrity" which simply doesn't work in English, instead it's "privacy". Thanks for the reminder, I stand corrected.

PPS. Share this with friends as the simpler address tinyurl.com/remember5november

Buy bye privacy - I have joined facebook

So finally I have given in, I have joined facebook. One friend too many mentioned collaborating through a facebook app, and considering my revised view of integrity I have finally decided to give in and join this borg. Because, on today's internet, everyone know's you're a dog and you might as well be somewhat in control of it:

My name is Carl-Johan Sveningsson, I was born in Gnosjö, Sweden on the 25th of January 1981, my email address currently is cj.sveningsson(a)gmail.com, my S/MIME fingerprint is D1:50:3A:C3:76:FD:37:95:58:4D:A4:F1:A9:1E:D4:F9:49:0C:8C:95 and my OpenID is http://cjsveningsson.myopenid.com . This is me

On the other hand, I have a fascination with sousveillance and neoism pseudonyms, have just tried out FiSH IRC encryption (bulky and works so-so), I discuss encryption with #basvrak @ EFnet and have just signed up to FRApedia.se. So I think I'll be fine anyway... I hope.