Even before Facebook’s recent site additions keeping users apprised of everything everyone else was doing, the website presented an interesting example of the value that information asymmetry can add to social networks (in real life or online). It would be appropriate to copy from the Laffer curve to model how information symmetry affects such networks. Clearly there is a benefit to greater information in a network (social or otherwise) such as knowing what people (nodes) are connected and so forth. However part of the value of being connected to other people in a social network is having sub-networks distinct from the greater network. Each subnetwork has some value by its distinct connections and information shared only among the subnetwork members. If that information is shared freely with all of network members then the subnetwork loses value; if the subnetwork loses value then the members lose value in the network. Quick, dirty, and not terribly valuable synopsis…