"There are lots of definitions of social software out there, ranging from the clinical ('software that enables people to connect through computermediated
communication') to the pragmatic ('stuff that gets spammed'). While doing research for a recent workshop, I came across a useful list of seven social software elements. These seven building blocks -identity, presence, relationships, conversations, groups, reputation and sharing - provide a good functional definition for social software. They're also a solid foundation for thinking about how social software works."