[A]ccording to [Clay] Shirky, one thing is certain: "The value of each site is communally-created. Links and transactions are more important than individuals." In other words, each community creates its own kind of value. Thus, an attacker might hit Tribe to farm social networks for spam victims; and then he might exploit LinkedIn to get the contact information for a VC he wants to meet.

Citing Lawrence Lessig's idea that code equals law, Shirky argues, "Actually, it turns out that code is only sometimes law. The software is not as valuable who uses it." When it comes to locking down social discovery Web sites, one might make a similar claim. Secure code on these sites may not be nearly as important as the community policing them.