This week kicked off with GigaOm reporting on Hi5 receiving $20Million from a VC Firm which is apparently their first round of institutional funding. Hi5 was not the only one as Twitter also managed to raise a undisclosed sum in its own fund raising process again read on Techcrunch . Which leads one to wonder how investors imagine a return on investment or indeed how the maths for calculating the funds was sourced, certainly Robert Scoble wasnt slow to question the lack of hype surrounding the fund raising for Hi5

Speaking of Maths a recent TechCrunch article points to the value of a Facebook user being $.30. What we are actually looking at here is how people are looking for ways to equate eyeballs in advertising to bills in the bank. With the number of companies attempting to define the value of every application and user in the currently popular social network Facebook ( and others ) Its amazing that we dont have another group attempting to define the value of the companies that will spring up trying to define the value of the value.

Whilst we are looking for investors and opportunities there is plenty of buzz around that is attracting those “willing to be first in and first out” and Smallbiztrends was happy to layout the directions for the interested entrepreneur. To save time lets get to the heart of the matter. Facebook costs a whole lot less to do a whole load more networking than Linkedin does but neither of them seem to have the finess of 8apps accept be open.

If you’re more interested in building your own social network than taking part in the “busier ones” you could consider Broadbandmechanics who are offering to help you build your own social network should the desire grasp you. But before you do, consider the reports from Light Speed Venture partners who have taken the trouble to break down the popularity and buzz of the current most popular social networks.

If you decide to stick around and jump right in then Mike Hendricksons article over at Techcrunch provides a excellent primer on 9 ways to build your own social network. This article provides a great breakdown of a number of various social networking sites. He is not alone Chris Brogan and Jeremiah Owyang have both written articles which highlight the value of social networks in terms of how an individual or business should be paying attention to the opportunities which social networks will be providing.

Some of this is clearly getting to be all to much and for Jason Calacanis hes already left the building as far as Facebook is concerned. Finding the effort of managing and handling the requests and demands on his time too much he wonders if he needs his own Social Network Optimiser to handle the work load ?

Not that social networks are not without there lighter moments as the LockerGnome himself Chris Pirillo RickRolled the Twitter community.

And here we wrap up the first report for socialset.net, there was plenty I missed and plenty I didnt discuss. Methods will improve and if you know of a social network which you feel is worth discussing send me an invite and lets get the net working.

Thanks for reading.