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Streams from the Road: Trends from Friends
Young Urban Professional
On Sunday I spent the afternoon in Half Moon Bay with Robert Scoble, his lovely family and Francine Hardaway (whom I had never met).
For over five years now I have looked to Robert as a beacon for what's next for social media. He got me blogging back in 2004, on Twitter in 2006 and Friendfeed in 2007. I returned the favor (finally) by getting him onto Posterous. Naturally, the conversation turned to what's next.
However, unlike years past, this time we were all hard pressed to come up with a crisp answer. The one clear takeaway, which Robert writes about here, is not to overlook Yelp - which is growing like mad and with the non-digerati set as well.
Beyond Yelp, we discussed augmented reality, the post-iPhone world, lifestreaming/Posterous, a resurgence for blogging and what's next for Twitter and Facebook. However, while it might seem like the world is taking a breather and that innovation is slowing, I see it another way. Everything is becoming social. As a result the noise is only going to get worse.
As I travel many I talk to are having a hard time keeping up. The digerati at least are breathless and frustrated with their overflowing inboxes - RSS, Twitter, Facebook, email, SMS and IMs. The Attention Crash is worsening. And there's no end in sight.
However, as everything becomes more social I believe there will be a boom in curation technologies that help us find the signal in the noise. These apps will help us spot trends from friends. You can spot these everywhere - the Facebook highlights column, PostRank, Feedly, Alltop, PopUrls, Regator and my6sense.
As these take hold, who you follow will become more critical. Follow people like you who share things you're interested in and the signal will rise. Follow noisemakers and the signal fades. This reason is precisely why Robert recently cleaned out his Twitter and Facebook friends after following everyone for years. So Robert remains a sign of what's to come: smarter attention management with the help of smart tools.
Reader Comments (10)
"Smarter attention management" is such a great way to phrase what's needed Steve. I find that if I don't categorize my followers in TweetDeck or use Nutshell Mail to summarize the noise, I feel overwhelmed. I'm starting to automatically delete Facebook "XXX invited you to . . ." emails when it comes from someone who just overloads my inbox. I agree, the volume of noise will crank way up even more - and then as the masses cry out for better tools and ways to organize our favorite followees, it will shift. So, what we need are squeaky wheels using their power for good. If you see how to improve a Twitter app or are just flat out annoyed by Facebook - shout it out to the world and send a direct message to developers. Let's move the technology along so we can can focus on the important stuff: making connections and having intriguing conversations.
Steve, it's conversation overload, one of the key maladies of our age. And it is worse than Information overload: http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2005/08/conversation_ov.php
You've provided some really good points here Steve. With the shift of people becoming more open and transparent, along with the onslaught of apps both on the web and mobile devices to share information, the level of data is getting very unruly. I agree that mining the data in our social graph effectively to bring well curated content will be a great step in bubbling up the content we want to hear above the noise. I think there will be many more innovative solutions that will be born from mining social graph data though.Two examples of what I've thought about in the past are improving dating sites and recommendation engines. I envision dating sites providing more insight into who we are and helping us find better matches based on the data. I can also see much better recommendation engines being created to help us by better products based on our peers.
It was a real pleasure meeting you Steve, and sharing our thoughts about what's next. How about virtual currencies? I still like that one.
Another great post Steve. The best part of your posts for me is the simple language and your perspective that reads like a conversation itself. I think what makes so much of the chatter noise is the way people structure their posts. So many are littered with big words, references that get lost on some people and no clear statement at the beginning of the post that tells what I can expect if I choose to read more. Your posts are very direct and the first line or two tells me exactly where you are heading. I like that and enjoy reading your thoughts.
Steve, once again very well said. "Breathless and frustrated" is certainly how I feel trying to keep up. Tools that help us find information and insights from all the noise are an urgent need. I think you're right in predicting the emergence of such tools in the near future and I will continue to look to your recommendations for best practices. Thanks.
Good to see you like Posterous so much Steve & are starting to convince others similarly. I'm still not sold enough to move, but will keep my eye on it.
@vestor Your feedback here is invaluable. Thanks.
You nailed it with "the Attention Crash" definition.Technology can only go so far to unclutter the noise (Lazyfeed and Feedafever are two other services worth mentioning), users should have a hand too.The noise reduction is currently handled mostly by the recipient -using the aforementioned technologies-, whereas part of the responsibility should be on the shoulder of the sender. Carefully sharing, finding tools to address only part of one's audience (Facebook statuses that can be sent to a selected list comes to mind) will also have a part in defining a better conversation architecture.It's my daily struggle. Balancing when having many interests.You're a clear leader -for me- in giving a prime example on how to converse online. Thank you for that.(I addressed the noise issue partially, after reading you, here: http://su.pr/64d97S)
SteveSaw you on BNN this am....you were marvelous and your presentation of your site and support of your new Blog like business model was right on. I just wanted to touch base as a Vancouverite who's looking for his break in the retail market and who believes PR and advertising on a site like yours, would be quite beneficial ! To be brief, I'm just an average Joe who got lucky and secured the Distribution rights to a new product in the Energy Segment...."Revive Energy Mints "....The new Red Bull that comes in a pocket sized 8pk.of refreshing mints.They are manufactured right here in Langley BC and after 3 months of begging , 7-11 has just put them on the shelf coast to coast for a 6 week trial......if they move and become a regular item, all will be right with the world and the US stores will then take them as well ! Thus the importance to our success, in getting the word out asap. ! We've done a Basic website etc. at this point and the manufacturer has a commercial finished and coming to our Canadian air waves within a few weeks, but ground level promotion is whats going to get people into 7-11 to try it within the next month . So, as a King of the Webwaves on both sides of the Boarder, I'm asking for your help? Would you consider going and getting a pack for 2.99 at your closest local Canadian 7-11 as soon as you can and giving me your honest opinion?....If you like them as much as all my other associates who I've had time to sample, please let me know.....then I'd like to arrange some immediate PR from you and some advertising on your site, as we need people across the country to get into the 462 Canadian locations and make this trial , move off the shelf ! With your support and the potential successful outcome of this trial....this kind of power from you and your site could be quite a large feather in your cap !!.....Moving forward, you could really show the kind of Hammer you swing within the Blog/Web world !! See us at www.reviveenergymints.ca I'll wait to hear from you. Sincerest Regards,Graham FordRevive Associates CanadaAuthorized Distributor / Revive Energy Mints#202-15388-24th ave.Surrey, BC. Can.V4A 2J2c# 604-644-1964w# 1-604-716-6260F# 1-866-843-6514