xfn-clarifications: Difference between revisions
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That is, only rel attributes ''with'' the value "me", and ''WITHOUT'' the value "nofollow" indicate an identity relationship assertion. | That is, only rel attributes ''with'' the value "me", and ''WITHOUT'' the value "nofollow" indicate an identity relationship assertion. | ||
=== mapping community site "friends" === | |||
On community sites, "friends" aren't necessary as much of a friend as in "real life". Social networking sites have watered down the term "friend" is quite a bit, especially when you are only given a binary choice, are you my friend yes or no. | |||
For community sites which provide only one level of friendship that they call "friend", use <code>rel="acquaintance"</code> as that is much more accurate. | |||
Some sites (like [http://flickr.com/ Flickr]) provide two levels of friendship, "contact", and "friend". In such cases, use <code>rel="contact"</code>, and <code>rel="acquaintance"</code> respectively for the same reasons as above. | |||
Only if the site permits/encourages distinction of acquaintances vs. friends then should the XFN <code>rel="friend"</code> value be used. Ironically, [http://myspace.com MySpace] provides an implicit opportunity for this with their "top 8" distinction which could be mapped to <code>rel="friend"</code>, as it is ''very'' likely that your top 8 on MySpace are your friends in real life. | |||
== See Also == | == See Also == | ||
Revision as of 20:06, 23 November 2006
XFN Clarifications
XFN is the XHTML Friends Network and is more thoroughly documented on the XFN home page.
This document is for capturing clarifications that should eventually be rolled into the XFN specification.
- Editor/Author
- Tantek Çelik
Clarifications
me nofollow interaction
If a link has the rel value "nofollow", then a "me" rel value DOES NOT indicate an identity relationship.
That is, only rel attributes with the value "me", and WITHOUT the value "nofollow" indicate an identity relationship assertion.
mapping community site "friends"
On community sites, "friends" aren't necessary as much of a friend as in "real life". Social networking sites have watered down the term "friend" is quite a bit, especially when you are only given a binary choice, are you my friend yes or no.
For community sites which provide only one level of friendship that they call "friend", use rel="acquaintance" as that is much more accurate.
Some sites (like Flickr) provide two levels of friendship, "contact", and "friend". In such cases, use rel="contact", and rel="acquaintance" respectively for the same reasons as above.
Only if the site permits/encourages distinction of acquaintances vs. friends then should the XFN rel="friend" value be used. Ironically, MySpace provides an implicit opportunity for this with their "top 8" distinction which could be mapped to rel="friend", as it is very likely that your top 8 on MySpace are your friends in real life.