FOAF allows groups of people to describe social networks without the need for a centralised database.

[clarification needed] Tim Berners-Lee, in a 2007 essay,[3] redefined the semantic web concept into the Giant Global Graph (GGG), where relationships transcend networks and documents.

He considers the GGG to be on equal ground with the Internet and the World Wide Web, stating that "I express my network in a FOAF file, and that is a start of the revolution."

There are also modules or plugins to support FOAF profiles or FOAF+SSL authorization for programming languages,[9][10] as well as for content management systems.

[11] The following FOAF profile (written in Turtle format) states that James Wales is the name of the person described here.