I just asked my friends on Twitter what their first social network was (see their responses), and most gave a varying degree of responses of web based communities,  a few claimed early BBS systems –I didn’t see anyone claim email.

Most Get it Wrong: Facebook is not the Largest Social Network

People often make the mistake that Friendster, Tribes, or some early social site was the first social network. People also make the mistake that Facebook is the largest social network to date, in reality, the largest social networks are email.   Let’s run the numbers: Microsoft told me that Hotmail has 375 million active accounts worldwide, Facebook only has 200 million but growing.  Email is the first –and largest digital social network and will likely continue this path of domination, and hey, that’s coming from me, a social technology analyst.

Email is the First –and Largest– Social Network

Well if you agree that Facebook, a private community of your friends is a social network, then so is email. They both have the same requirements 1) profiles (emails have signatures