It was a pleasant surprise this weekend to open up the FT and find Graham Bowley’s piece on social networking services (SNS). While much has been written about SNS providers such as MySpace, Facebook and YouTube no MSM coverage todate has really joined up the dots like Grahams piece. In particular it was great to see Graham giving credit where credit is due to the very talented Danah Boyd. Danah has been in tune with SNS since its emergence in 2003 and over the interim has generously shared her thoughts on her weblog.

Since then I have repeatedly sat in on presentations where material I had previously read on Danahs weblog was used by a consultancy or agency without accreditation. When I have challenged the presenters as to why they have not done so each have stumbled, bumbled or mumbled something to the effect that no C level executive would know Danah Boyd. Thanks to Graham giving Danah the international recognition she deserves every C level reader of the FT weekend edition now knows her name.

There is currently alot of talk about the need for SNS legislation whereas what is really required first is education before legislation. If you are not familiar with Danahs work I highly recommend checking out her best of posts on social media, social networks and social software. She is one of the leading thinkers on SNS and a voice I both trust and respect.