(Advance Warning: there is a business idea here! More at the end of the post)

Aram Bartholl has created a Tshirt that lists a whole lot of the popular social networking services and lets you tick (with a permanent pen), the ones where you’re a member (thanks to GeekSugar!).

Social Networking Tshirt

The Tshirt appears to be created as part of an art/cultural commentary project, he gives an interesting summary of Web 2.0 and social networks (they are the one thing to him) and the emerging issues:

The rapidly hackneyed term Web2.0 has recently been replaced in internet circles by the name “”social web / social software“. “Social“ because connecting users to each other plays a central role in the new internet. All these services require users to establish a profile with name, photo and all manner of personal information. Users produce their own networks through lists of friends and buddies in order to get noticed and to profit from the vast flow of information. According to how active users are and which services they use, ever-increasing amounts of details of everyday private life are made public. In contrast to the normal urban restraint in everyday life in public places such as supermarkets and cafés, in the network the private lives of a wide range of people are revealed, sometimes with elaborate reports of the previous night’s party. The new services present great potential benefits for the user, however the extensive transparency poses many questions. Users in many places must first consciously learn how best to use these services.

Since most social web platforms are not cross-linked with each other, it is difficult to follow which service and under which name a friend or acquaintance is registered. In the future identification platforms such as OpenID will attempt to provide help for this problem. At present, however, users still have to build a new network of friends on each separate service. In order to make life easier, smart users publish their membership as a list of icons of the corresponding services on their website or blog.

The shirt itself is all a little tongue in cheek, but if it appeals you can pick up one from Spreadshirt (US, UK).

Perhaps not surprisingly, it’s not the only Social Network Tshirt you can find out there.

This Social Networks Tshirt from Zazzle allows you to choose your own Social Networks to customise it - though I prefer Aram’s idea because adding a new network is just a simple pen tick. With the Zazzle one, you’d have to buy a new Tshirt every time you joined a new website (I am joking).

Social Network Tshirt from Zazzle

But none of these Tshirts actually prove how popular you are. For that you’d have to go to My Friend Shirt. They will make you a Tshirt from a screen capture of your MySpace (or other Social Network of choice) friend count (complete with friends’ profile pics.

My Friend Shirt

If you noticed the subtle warning at the beginning of the post, you may have realised that this post isn’t just giving you some great fashion ideas. For those out there who are enterprising, social network accessories could prove to be a burgeoning market. Tshirts, keychains, mugs as well as gadgets that tie into the social network’s programming interface all all possibilities. You could even be clever about it like Aram’s and make it ironic - thus ensuring maximum Digg-ibility and StumbleUpon power.

Can you think of some ideas?