Ranking your friends on MySpace

There is a list for your top eight friends:

J.D. Funari is hoping that clarity prevents offense. A week after logging onto MySpace, the 24-year-old TV editor from Studio City posted a disclaimer above his Top 8: "Since this ‘preferred’ listing of friends can quickly become unnecessarily political, I’d like to briefly explain my sorting technique," he wrote.

"The first spot will always be my brother (for obvious reasons) and the second spot will always be my friend Katie (for reasons obvious to Katie and I). The third and fourth spots are reserved for music and movies of interest. Five and six are wild-cards which may be related to how well I know the person and/or if I’m dating them (opposite sex only) and/or if they’ve paid me for inclusion [emphasis added]. The final two spots are, to be perfectly honest, the two most attractive current female photos from my list of friends."

You also list whether you are attached or single.  The economic question is whether or not a more gradual series of categories — offered as an option — would raise or lower the value of the network.  The fraidy cats could go the ambiguous route, but of course that makes it less fun to read about them.  Here is the full story.  This week’s New Yorker (15 May) has the definitive article on the economics of MySpace and FaceBook, here is a brief summary.  The idea of constructing a broad network, but which also allows full privacy, is counterintuitive but the key to making FaceBook work.