Social networks are hot. MySpace, Facebook. Google recently wanted to open the market with its OpenSocial. Which made me think, are these efforts really social? Is Facebook a real social network? I think not
So I grabbed realsocial.org which is currently just an alias. But I will put up a wiki with my (and your?) ideas about what real social networks are. I'm thinking of distinguishing Real Social and real social networks.
I'd consider CouchSurfing, BookCrossing, and all current ride share websites that I'm aware of, as real social networks. They lead to real life connections or actual forms of exchange, with less time spent offline than online.
I could think of three that would fit my criteria for being Real Social: BeWelcome, Ripple and Hitchwiki. The capitalization comes from the way the networks, its organization and the software is developed.
JANUARY 2014 UPDATE: Ripple is now a little bit different, I'm not sure if it's still real social. And I've dropped the idea to do much with realsocial.org.
SEPTEMBER 2014 UPDATE: I sold the domain name :)