There are advantages and disadvantages to both social graphs and interest graphs. Perhaps an ideal network might want both. Interest graphs seem to be very compelling, if the interest is continually refreshed. Social graphs are compelling, do not need much refreshing, but the social element must be there. That is a network faces the issue of its graphs collapsing to the opposite graph.
But what we want is a melding of some kind. It may be possible to move from one graph to the other, but it seems it must be done gradually, without that collapse. That is perhaps because the user will find what compelled them is not there and lose interest. It is a matter of trust, that belief that the network will deliver that which has compelled.
A question is the symmetry issue. That is, is it easier to socialize an interest graph, than interest graph an social graph. First off, a social graph already has interest graph elements. It is a social interest, which is inherently compelling.
But there is more, there is all the stimulation of a person as a human being interacting. An interest graph can have this as well, but it is more biased towards perhaps interest, that which the user finds fascinating in life.
It is the difference between somebody telling you a story and reading about it. It is the same content, but highly different in terms of that which compels. That perhaps is a direction for fusion of these graphs.
The advantage for the network, is for an interest graph, to stabilize interest with social elements, and for a social graph to add granularity to the social graph, which can simply stop. In both cases, it can enhance loyalty, perhaps. That trust which brings one back.
So to fuse, for an interest graph we want to socialize those interest, to have a sense of the person. For a social graph we have the sense of the person, but we want a HCI structure which enables a sense of interest as well.
Of course social graphs always had that, but more enduring perhaps is the sense of those things in life people really care about. It is the difference between what want seems to want and what one really needs. That is an enhancing network, which helps people feel that which is really important to them. That is social and interest. And highly compelling, one might expect.
This leaves open the issue of moving to this place. Whether there is symmetry or not, is hard to say. It think there probably is, it is located at that point where interest and social converge. Getting there is probably no more difficulty or easier for either graph.
