The practice of online social networking of the physical world

A big challenge for the web is to become ubiquitous, blended with the everyday life of people. The pervasive web envisions seamless connectivity with the physical world, where embedded devices offer real-world services to the users. Social networking is a core part of the online experience. The Web 2.0 has become a social web, extending users’ social capabilities. Online social networking platforms have the capability to support numerous real-life applications, promoting the concept of sharing environmental services between relatives, friends or more generally groups of people that have common interests. In this paper, we investigate how the social web can be harnessed to facilitate the transit to a pervasive web. We examine this potential through four case studies: a smart home that promotes sharing of household devices between family members; a working environment where employees monitor a common area; a neighbourhood where neighbours compete for energy conservation; and a social application that allows people to compare their electricity footprint with their friends and their community. Through these case studies, we demonstrate the potential benefits of enhancing pervasive applications with social characteristics.