Steam as social networking research....
That could be quite an interesting one panda - though I think you might need to compare the behaviour of Steam users to people on Facebook/MySpace. How willing are people to add random people as a friend, how much interaction do they have with the people on their friends list, how big are their friend lists on Steam compared to Facebook etc.? Plenty of possible material there.

Another interesting point is that on Steam profiles there's usually very little personal information, so you're more likely to find out personal stuff about people by actively talking to them (cv_alltalk for the win) rather than passively reading it.

Anyway, I'm on your list of Steam friends, so if you need to send me a questionnaire at some point go right ahead :)
(annexed, Mon 15 Sep 2008, 13:50, 1 reply)

:D
thanks doll, you're a star.

but this is only if i can wing it past my lecturer.

*fingers crossed*
(panda_sam, Mon 15 Sep 2008, 13:58, closed)

Good luck
I'd assume that anyone running a 'social software' course couldn't afford to be stuck in their ways, because the field moves on so quickly at the moment. You couldn't be restrictive when it comes to new networks - who would have thought not long ago Twitter would gain any serious following, but now 10 Downing Street does Twitter...

So just tell the lecturer that he/she can't afford to be behind the times, and make sure you've got some good hypotheses to propose at the time you make your bid.

As it happens a couple of my work colleagues are doing an analysis of how political candidates are using Facebook at the moment - could be quite interesting.
(annexed, Mon 15 Sep 2008, 14:13, closed)