At the time of writing, Wikipedia defined a social network as “A social structure made of individuals (or organizations) called “nodes,” which are tied (connected) by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.”

Also, it would seem, Gelato.

Giapo sells Gelato. And, if I may say so, it’s epically good Gelato. They have a range of flavours which cannot be said to be exotic, but are definitely wide ranging, and are all delicious. But the tastiness of the flavours are not why I’m thinking about social networking while writing about frozen dairy desserts. That’s because Giapo is amazingly engaged with various social networking systems, and internet stuff in general. They have a Facebook Page. They’re on Twitter. They have a blog and no less than two different youtube channels. They have a Google Apps form for daily flavours. (Note: My favourite flavour is ‘Just For Girls”. Read into this what you will.) Holy shit. They may actually be leveraging this stuff more than any other company in New Zealand. Certainly more than any national or local government body, so far.

The net result of all this social networking is that you start to think of them less as a faceless corporate purveyor of frozen snacks, and more like a friend. A friend you might drop into when you’re in town, and then twitter about how utterly delicious their gelato is.

And you will.

Giapo is at 279 Queen Street, just up the road from the Civic.