SocIoS: A social media application ontology

Abstract

The value that social web is adding is undeniable. However, social web is coming at a cost: the so-called "closed" web. Slowly but steadily, a growing portion of internet activity is confined within the spaces of social networking sites (SNS) or platforms that encompass social networking capabilities by default. Furthermore, due to their competitive stance between one another, conceptually common content and functionality are accessed through different mechanisms in SNSs. This work deals with the issue of semantic equivalence between the prevalent notions used in SNSs in order to device a common object model that will enable the integration of social platform APIs. The result is the proposal for an ontology for the implementation of cross-platform social applications. Two particular applications are considered as a guide for this reference model. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.