The Dunbar number is the supposed cognitive limit to the number of individuals with whom any one person can maintain stable social relationships. Traditionally stated as "150" individuals, the Dunbar limit was never much of a problem. You'd only stay close to a few friends from high school, then only a few friends from college, a few colleagues from that previous job. But through the power of social media we are now hanging onto all of our previous relationships in some form, while also making completely new connections. We are socially overwhelmed on a daily basis!!
Just imagine for a moment, if there was a way for Facebook to just intuitively know that you only want to hear about certain types of information for certain people. Imagine a mobile application that could tell you as soon as you walk into the room with whom you would have the most interesting dinner conversation. How would that change the world of business development? Recruiting? Dating?
The world has turned into a great big networking opportunity, and in a time of social fatigue what we really need is a web that is a great party host. That technology is right around the corner...
Over the next week, I am going to be looking at how the next generation web will change the way you connect, discover, and share with the social online world. I'm also going to be looking at how this movement is going to make marketing more relevant and measurable.
WHAT'S UP WITH THE VERSION NUMBERS?
The technology I am talking about is built on something called the Semantic Web, which is a continual effort to turn the web into a more "machine-readable" language. The subject was the highlight of the Web 3.0 Conference in Santa Clara that I spoke at last week. I meet a great deal of intelligent people who are making it their life work to try and create the next generation of web applications and services.
Semantic Web? Web 3.0? I'm sure I'm turning some readers off already. Whether you think that Web 3.0 is a terrible name or not... whether you think the next generation of the web should refer to mobility, data portability, semantic technology, artificial intelligence, or personalization... the one thing that I think everyone can agree on is that the next generation of the web needs to bring us out of the overload. The next generation of the web needs to be more relevant and meaningful.
CHANGING THE WAY WE CONNECT
I didn't bring up the parallel about the "great party host" just to be cute. There is actually a deeper meaning behind the term. When I was in 7th grade, my English teacher taught the class how to make good party introductions, an assignment that we were graded on. The trick to a good party introduction is to not just introduce people based on how they are connected to you (Ashley is my sister, Daniel is my co-worker). The trick is to find that common interest, that social object that bonds them together, the spark that will ignite them in an interesting and valuable conversation.
In the maturing social web, we no longer want to connect just for connection sake. We want to connect with those we share a common interest, value, or purpose. And we are going to see a wave of start-ups over the next year that play into this need for object-centered sociality.
For example, Bintro (short for "business introduction") uses semantic technologies to match profiles together for business opportunities. Unlike LinkedIn, it's less based on who you know and more based on what you know. Another start-up I had the opportunity to speak with was BanyanLink. Their services allows college students to collaborate with career centers, and uses semantic matching technologies to connect students to internship opportunities.
WHAT IS SO REVOLUTIONARY?
These might not seem like anything more than niche professional social networks, but it is what is underneath the hood that is changed. Rather than your information being stored in useless text fields that need to be scraped to find any meaning, your information is turned into a machine readable language. This machine readable language knows that "interactive strategist" and "social media evangelist" and "digital planner" are different titles for similar positions. Good semantic technology is like film editing or a motion picture score... it enhances the quality of the experience and you are likely to not notice it unless it is done badly.
The web is moving toward data portability, a time where our social information will be our own and will be able to roam freely. We are moving toward a time where the only "social network" will be our social graph. And it is imperative that when that time comes that the information that is tied to our digital selves is incredibly meaningful and machine readable.
Next up, how will semantic technologies change the way you discover new content? And are there privacy concerns with all this openness? And finally, how is this movement is going solve the problems of marketing relevance and social media measurement?
Marta Strickland
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Strategists & Planners
Comments (22)
Marta,
This is a brilliant post, and highlights how critical it is to begin injecting relevancy into the social web -- especially as the oversaturation and abundance of information continues to permeate the cybersphere in epic quantities.
What struck me most was: "... the next generation of the web needs to bring us out of the overload. The next generation of the web needs to be more relevant and meaningful."
I couldn't agree more. Social networks and the like continue to become overpopulated, and with very little direction or basis for how to connect substantively, it loses its value and usefulness, which ultimately detracts from user experience, hinders community growth, and causes social fatigue.
I believe those negative side effects have already begun to happen, and greater focus needs to center around how to streamline the web for quality, spurring meaningFUL(L) interaction instead of furthering the flawed mentality of racking up meaningLESS numbers [for quantity sake].
We need...
Connections in context.
Relationships with relevancy.
Actionable associations.
Social SUBSTANCE.
Some would argue that diversity allows you to expand your network in discovering the 'gems' and kindred spirits, and there is some truth to that. But with your party host concept, it could keep you from wasting an hour making idle chit chat with a gardener when you don't even have a lawn.
Posted on December 17, 2008 10:47
I think you are right. Social networks have so much potential to add value, the difficult part is finding the individuals that can add the most value to your life.
For Twitter, I like Mr.Tweet, which suggests influential Twitterers based on your network.
Part of the problem with Twitter is that random people with nothing in common with you are constantly trying to follow/spam you.
Posted on January 29, 2009 20:59
I agree, there is an overload and 150 alone iis a big number. I don't know if I could come to 150 coutning my stable contacts. I'm a net person, but I don't consider most of my "friends" there as people I have a social relationship with.
Facebook for example. The applications there are forcing people to get more and more friends, without even knowing them. I know people with hundreds of "friends" just to get into the game. And with most of them they had at least talked. I don't know how they do this, I can't. I stick to my few friends. They're changing too, but not so many and not so fast.
Posted on March 17, 2009 10:34
Hi there,
I found great ideas on your Web site.
Well done !
Thanks for that and keep on doing
Greetings from germany
Thomas
Posted on May 30, 2009 09:43
Make your guests feel special.
"Once they set foot in your home, they are kings and queens," opines Lacoste. "In my day we smoked a lot, so I had a pack of everyone's favorite cigarettes. Know their music likes. Know that they drink Tanqueray gin. Surround
them with their favorite things to put them immediately at ease." If your guests are strangers, call them and ask.
The extra effort puts your party into another class entirely.
Posted on June 4, 2009 19:57
I follow the discussion of social web 2.0 and I am agree with the opinion of Gennefer Snowfield. This view explains the main problem.
Posted on July 9, 2009 11:52
socially overwhelmed on a daily basis.... is exactly the right description! I tend to close down some of my social-profiles especially on the bigger platforms such as facebook etc...
Posted on August 18, 2009 04:24
Yepp, I also agree with Gennefer on this issue. And i guess it´s true: We are socially overwhelmed on a daily basis!! Keep on there, regards Marco
Posted on August 18, 2009 05:36
This is a brilliant post,I added your blog to my favs :-)
Posted on August 23, 2009 11:38
yes I agree, Social Media can be a real time-bandit!
Posted on August 25, 2009 08:37
Hi there,
I found great ideas on your Web site.
Well done !
Thanks for that and keep on doing
Greetings from germany
Mike
Posted on October 6, 2009 09:50
i think it is a goog idea
Posted on October 6, 2009 10:42
This side of view is a clever one. Your opinion of web 2.0 good
Posted on October 25, 2009 15:22
Yes, we are socially overwhelmed on a daily basis. It´s to much. Great article.
Greats from Martin
Posted on November 4, 2009 01:57
I think so, too. Many interesting ideas on this site, thanks for sharing.
Posted on November 11, 2009 12:47
Thanks for this postings and greetings from Germany
Posted on November 19, 2009 05:19
Thank you for sharing. It was really a pleasure to read.
Posted on November 30, 2009 02:38
nice stuff, thanks for posting
Posted on December 11, 2009 12:45
Awesome, thank you for sharing.
Posted on December 23, 2009 12:45
I agree with you, that's the meaning of the internet ;-)
Posted on January 7, 2010 04:41
Interessting stuff found right here, thanks,
gretings from germany
Thomas
Posted on January 22, 2010 08:31
Hehe, nice article, it's stealing alot of time indeed.
Posted on February 11, 2010 09:12