Companies are working fast to figure out how to make money from the wealth of data they’re beginning to have about our online friendshipsA question: If you have 347 followers on the Twitter microblogging service, what are the chances that they’ll click on the same online ad you clicked on last night? Advertisers are dying to know. Or, say you and a colleague exchange e-mails on a Saturday night. Can managers assume that you have a tight working relationship? Researchers at IBM and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are investigating.Friendships aren’t what they used to be. We now have tools, from e-mail to social networks, to keep in touch with people who a decade ago would have drifted into distant memories. Practically every hand we shake and every business card we exchange can lead to an invitation, sometimes within minutes, for a “friendship” on LinkedIn or Facebook. And unless we sever them, these ties could linger for the rest of our lives.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_22/b4133032573293.htm
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