Metcalfe's "law" doesn't work as it is just an approximation for the number of connections when N is large. I recall reading that a better fit for large N is kN.logN, where k is a network-specific constant, thus slightly different for, say, FB and Reddit etc. The reason being that users tend to cluster into user-groups.
Thanks, will follow the links.
I did point out that it wasn't accurate.. I take it you were just driving that point?
The best law is the one that fits the actual growth after the growth has been accomplished. (i.e. hind sight is 20/20).
However, just as Beckstrom has attempted, it is not enough to criticise the (ab)use of Metcalfe's idea, but to discover a more accurate metric.I wasn't replying to you, but to @geekgirl - sometimes can be confusing if replies are all indented yet at the same level.