While the Inbox and the TV Guide were the monikers of scarcity, the stream is the moniker of abundance. But, the stream in its current form, is largely DIY, as @robdiana articulates the pitfalls of the stream.
If a "Regular Geek" has strong issues about DIY streams, imagine the plight of the mainstream adopter. This clearly indicates that,this current trend of the 'DIY curator streams' is transient and would give way to a more robust solution, the 'relevant stream'.
We do have the learning algorithms and 400 million people, who all are eager to share their 'likes' to the world.
What is the problem, then?
The problem isn't technology or availability of curators, but how fundamentally these 'likes' bubble up into our 'relevance stream'.
This is the result of co-mingling, social networks with "connected consumption".
The pivotal problem arises from the "Keynesian Beauty Contest" pattern, present in the Social-network based "connected consumption".
"Keynes described the action of rational agents in a market using an analogy based on a fictional newspaper contest, in which entrants are asked to choose a set of six faces from photographs of women that are the "most beautiful". Those who picked the most popular face are then eligible for a prize."
“It is not a case of choosing those [faces] that, to the best of one’s judgment, are really the prettiest, nor even those that average opinion genuinely thinks the prettiest. We have reached the third degree where we devote our intelligences to anticipating what average opinion expects the average opinion to be. And there are some, I believe, who practice the fourth, fifth and higher degrees.” (Keynes, General Theory of Employment Interest and Money, 1936).
If we segregate the "social aspect" from social networks, we get a "connected consumption" platform of Relevant Streams.
But, I am not predicting the "end" of social networks. Social Networks has its benefits, as discovered by Paul Zak : "Social networking triggers the release of the generosity-trust chemical in our brains".
I am merely arguing for new platforms of "connected consumption" without socialization.
I agree that social networks are not at their end. If anything, I do not think we have used the network enough.
ReplyDeleteYou mention "relevant streams" and I think this could be one part of it. The other is using the network behaviors to determine what is considered interesting, if not relevant. The one thing we cannot forget is discovery. How do people find new things or become interested in new things?