The Circle of Friends is a method of building social networks using a social networking service. Developed by Jonathan Bishop in 1999 the system contrasts with earlier models such as Web of Contacts developed two years earlier as it allows users to manage their lists of friends rather than be told who their friends are.
Development
In an interview with the Peopleized website, Jonathan Bishop said that it was a 'techie' reason why he invented the Circle of Friends, "Databases was one of the subjects I most enjoyed at university and a day I was attempting to develop an Instant Messaging application using a database I had one of my 'wouldn't it be great' moments, where I thought it would be a good idea if people could not only see who is in their buddy list, but click on a buddy and see their list." Bishop faced challenges developing this system as he explained to Peopleized, "When I went to university to study computing, all I wanted to do was develop for the Web. However the courses offered by universities were either orientated towards developing snazzy designs or programming for desktop computers. The main challenges I faced were getting what I knew how to do on the desktop to the Web, and I've got to thank a lecturer at my university, Ray Kingdon for helping me do that."
