Chess and social networking

Have you noticed the little buttons at the bottom of the posts on Chess Tales for reddit, digg and del.icio.us? Ever wondered what they do?

In the increasingly Internet driven world we can access more news and information than ever before, but how do we see the wood for the trees?

Social news sites, like reddit and digg, address that problem. They let you rate stories you like (and those you don't like) and share that information with everyone else. Cut the bad stories and just go straight to the ones the world says are worth a read. That's the theory anyway. They also do other clever things, but I'll let you visit their sites to find out more.

Del.icio.us is also about sharing things you like with the world, but this time your bookmarks. Instead of storing them on your computer, you store them online. You can then access them from anywhere, and also share them with other people. Again, there are lots of other advantages that are worth discovering.

It's all part of the phenomenom of social networking online; new ways to build business relationships, meet new people, share information and interact. MySpace is the biggest operator in this field, with some 100 million young (and not so young) members.

You could argue that chess players are amongst the pace-setters in niche social networking. Our online playing sites such as Play Chess, ICC, Buho 21 and Chess Assistant bring together thousands of people online every day.

I'll be talking about social networks and the future at an event in late April, contact Anna Brown at Service Network for more information.

Let me know if you've make use of social news and social networks, and which are the most chess friendly.