A Discussion on Social Software: Concept, Building Blocks and Challenges

Abstract

The possibility of developing more interactive and innovative applications led to an explosion in the amount of systems available on the web in which users interact with each other and have a primary role as producers of content — the so-called social software. However, despite their popularity, few of these systems keep an effective participation of users, promoting a continuous and productive interaction. This paper examines the concept of social software and analyzes the social software honeycomb, a framework to help in understanding this kind of system. Based on the analysis of an inclusive social network and on literature review, we revisit that framework. We argue that values should be considered in the context of social software and the framework should be extended and theoretically grounded in order to address the several challenges imposed by the “social”.