“The current generation of social technologies are really about people
you already know. I guess you know this social science research on the
topic social capital, like how many friends, and friends of friends
you have, how big is your extended network. That is an asset that
people have that makes them happy and successful in life. It is very
important.”

“Facebook is a place where you take your existing social capital and
you invest it for greater returns. Get closer to the friends you have,
learn a little what they are up to.”

“But if you don’t have very much social capital, like you are the only
goth in your Midwestern high-school. Facebook sucks! All it does [is]
tell you what all the lame people in your community are doing, who you
already don’t like. If you have low social capital you want to make
new friends: [For options] There is pretty much dating, forums and
nothing more.”

-Eric Ries (@ericries) on This Week In Venture Capital with Mark Suster (@msuster), Nov 21, 2011

Thank you for pitching Gauss, Eric. 🙂