I’ve not been spending much time on social networks lately (swamped with deliverables for clients), but I have noticed that they are getting good at suggesting connections.
When I setup my facebook account last week and logged in; there were two friend requests already waiting (thanks Mark and Chris). But what surprised me was that out of the 30 people it suggested I might know, I actually did know 15 of them. How it vectored to David Weinberger I don’t know, but we do know each other and it’s cool that it did. It’s now hitting even better.
I just did my monthly login to LinkedIn (sony vs. betamax; this can’t go on, or can it?); and it had a ton of suggestions for me as well, including one to Claire who had just friended me on facebook. (Hmmm, are they trolling the fb connections via some mechanism?) Anyway, most of its suggestions were spot on too.
This is kinda cool, and represents a good next step in the evolution of social networks; rather than the user entering all the data; the underlying platform makes some intelligent guesses about your connections and presents them to you for a yay or nay. Over time I think we will see more of these platforms observing us; trying to divine what we might like to do, and then making it a single click for us to do it. At least, that’s what I’d be working on if I were CTO at one of these places — it’s the best way to add value to the users.
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