I’m one of those guys who stands firmly in the middle of the social media debate: I enjoy and reap the undeniable benefits from both a personal and professional perspective, but I also admit to the tremendous amount of junk, time-wasters and “noise” that comes with social media tools.
I read a great article last week that I can’t wait to share with our blog readers. In Augie Ray’s post, he talks about what he believes will be social media’s next great battleground: relevance. He uses Facebook as the perfect example of what’s both great and ridiculous with the current social media experience, or as I like to put it:
Yay! I’m now connected to my family and friends and I know what’s going on in their lives and yes, even their every thought!
Rats! I’m now connected to my family and friends and I know what’s going on in their lives and yes, even their every thought.
Ray says the ‘noise” in social media is deafening, and it’s hard to disagree. Facebook fatigue is everywhere and one of Google’s most popular searches these days is “How do I delete Facebook?”
Speaking of Google, their new Priority Inbox may be a clue to the future. The idea is that Priority Inbox will decide what’s most important to you—not through a myriad of settings or questions you have to answer—but more intuitively, by seeing who you email frequently, messages opened, replied to, sent, etc.
The implication is that if Google can do that, why can’t someone do the same for our social media experience? Imagine seeing only Facebook updates you care about instead of deep ruminations about breakfast cereal or a niece’s conviction that Justin Bieber is the Peter Gabriel of our time.
Ray believes relevance will be the next hot topic and there will be a fierce battleground for applications that help us drown out some of the cacophony of social media.
I hope he’s right!
