The Working Network

Evan's talk was one that I found to be particularly interesting. He asked the crowd to think about what new things could be created by stripping down and simplifying existing products, as opposed to building more feature rich ones. Twitter being the perfect example of this idea. A blogging platform with pretty much every useful feature removed!

The above quote was pulled from David Lenehan's LeWeb3 Conference Report. I appreciate the sentiment. Things move too quickly today to waste time trying to work out the perfect user experience. I believe it's a conceit to think that you can. As many have pointed out, we humans are lousy at forecasting -- at least at predicting specifics -- and just as bad at guessing how we're going to feel about our predictions whenever they do play out as expected.

Are there exceptions? I think so. Next generation platform plays, for instance, might fit the bill.

From:

Age Determines Technology's Value

By Eric Chabrow

Not only do younger generations perceive technology differently from their elders, but they use it differently, too.

Look at a PC and what do you see? Many baby boomers and older members of Generation X are conscious of the technology and infrastructure that make PCs work; then they see content. Generation Y and the Millennials see just content.

I wonder if Eric has any kids of the Gen Y/Millennials type? I asked my kids what they saw when they looked at the PC? In truth, both of them were baffled by the question. Neither said "I see content" or much that when generalized could be fairly described as content.

I say much because depending upon how you're predisposed to see it, you might say some of their answers were all about content. For instance, "a way to play games with my friends", or a place to find good videos (YouTube reference) could both be considered content. But, they could also be relationship. A good YouTube video is almost instantly shared. And games -- well that should be obvious.

Given that my kids are engaged with other kids about ninety percent of their online time, my immediately available evidence suggests that content is not the point at all. Although I can imagine why a baby boomer or a Gen Xer would see it that way.

www.fabernovel.com/socialnetworks_en.pdf

The above research is an attempt to provide a little structure around social networking (and to sell FaberNovel Consulting -- though more power to them, I say).

Generally speaking, a little order is a good thing. I do believe there is much talk about social networking (or community if you prefer that term), and little communication. The reasons are largely due to lack of any agreement on terms. Without such an agreement, we simply can't have any sensible discussion.

I'd debate several points in the above referenced research:

• The metrics discussion (Where are things like number of connections, or connection density -- we are talking networks here.)
• The networks typology (Where are learning networks? Isn't this really a list of network activities rather than any sort of typology. Bigger issue here is this: the report makes the same mistake many observers do: that social networking is somehow exhausted by what is currently headlining in the popular SN consciousness. Better breakdowns exist if I must say so myself.)
• Simplistic views of identity (Real or fantasy? Is a managed persona of the LinkedIn type real? Aren't identities all activity/context dependent? Lot's more here, perhaps fodder for a post of my own.)
• No examples of fantasy/qualitative (how about the relationships that form in WOW guilds -- oh wait, they're not listed so they mustn't be social networks -- silly me).

To be sure, there are many good points made and frankly anything that seeks to add some order is welcome. It's a marketplace of ideas that we need, along with the energy to shop that market. To stretch the analogy a little too far, I'm always dismayed to see the number of people that stop their intellectual shopping as soon as they find the first affordable offer. It may be human nature, but that makes it no less unfortunate.