Categorization of people you know is turning out to be a challenge for social network websites.
See Orkut
Follies and Clear...
precise and problematic: "The precision shows up in the digital choices were given: Is Phil your friend or not? If he is, is he one-star, two-star or three-star sexy? Choices you are not given
include: (i) Sort of sexy. (ii) Could be sexy if he dressed better.
(iii) If I were a woman, I think Id find him sort of sexy if I went for that type and if he dressed better. So, exactly how many stars does that work out to?"
A nice categorization challenge: how do you categorize the people you want to add to a social networking service?
Here's my take: for most sites, the basic connection should mean that you know who this person is. Not "Friend" but "People I know". Doc Searls seems to think the same.
Further categories would really depend on the site. If I had the time (or someone paid me) I'd work out a categorization framework. But there are taxes to do.