More of interest with social networks

Via iaslash, here are a couple of articles by Stowe Boyd on social networks: The Promise and Pitfalls of Social Networking and Cracking the Social Code. I especially appreciate this opinion in the light of my previous thoughts:

"It is perhaps true that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, but it is not clear that the friend of my friend is a friend of mine. Trust and regard attenuates rapidly in human relationships: a friend of a friend of a friend is unlikely to bring much social juice to bear. Except in narrowly defined and strongly affiliated groups (like religious sects, fraternities or within corporations), this transitivity of social capital does not really work."

I think I'll have to think this through in a more socio-mathematical way - what aspects of online trust that are of value can be tracked and transmitted and how can these be usefullly exploited?