Top Twitter Friends is a web service that creates a visual map for any Twitter account of the other accounts it is most frequently used to converse with. The site uses the Mailana social network analysis system to analyze Twitter conversations and come up with the data for the visualization.

Marshall Kirkpatrick recently used the Top Twitter Friends web application to generate an analysis of a series of popular twitterers, complete with lists of each Twitterer's most frequently contacted friends, and a screenshot of their visualization. Marshall's perspective is that the openness of this information gives us some pretty intimate insight into the inner circle of influential people in our social networks, and those of notable people.

Not only can you see who people most frequently converse with, but clicking the info link beside a person's account name reveals a tag cloud of the most commonly used words in the conversations between the two Twitter accounts in question, plus an additional link to actually go and read the conversations between them.

I find it strange that while I'm perfectly happy having public conversations with people over Twitter, it makes me feel slightly uncomfortable that those conversations can so easily be searched out and read by anyone that wants to do so. The conversations were public, after all, so it shouldn't feel strange, but somehow it does.

What's your perspective? Does it make you uncomfortable that there are powerful tools for analyzing your social network and the content of your conversations? Let us know in the comments.

ConceptShare is still getting ready for the big launch. What it is, exactly, is a place where designs by designers, marketers, and creative firms can be shared across multiple channels. These designs will also be able to capture feedback so that innovative improvements can be made. Customer insight is a must when designing, and through ConceptShare, customers get a say in designs with a web based application that helps the whole creative process by saving time and money. Submitted designs in the system can be anything from user interfaces, logo designs, web designs, and new product mockups. ConceptShare's process sounds pretty smooth as well. Simply sign up and create a workplace where projects will be outlined. Uploaded concepts will be stored in the system with tags relating to the project. Participants are then invited through email, or with system experts. Then interaction will take place with users to gather feedback. No news yet on the launch of this reviewing tool, but it's going to make a lot of people happy with the possibilities of speeding up and streamlining new design processes.