Social Media
Pareto Proclamation, Part 1
10/08/07 20:38
Another moment of inspiration spurred by some discussion at Grokdotcom.com as a result of a couple of recent articles,
Google and Yahoo Starting Social Networks
FaceBook Follies and LinkedIn Lure
I don’t know if I should be paying the guys at FutureNow, or if they should be paying me, but I find the discussions there stimulate some of my most salient (at least I think so) thoughts.
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So how many “friends” do YOU have on MySpace? LinkedIn contacts? Phonebook entries on your Treo? Email addresses in Outlook?
How much data do you have indexed? Technorati tags? Diggs? Bloglines RSS feeds? Podcast subscriptions? Twits?
Do we really need more “social networks?” Do we really need even more information thrown at us? WAVES of information that we can’t conceivably completely assimilate let alone make any real use of?
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It seems to me that there is more than enough data and information out there. More than 25 years ago, Alvin Toffler wrote a book called “The Third Wave.” He observed that economic society to that point had gone through 2 previous waves– the Agricultural Wave and the Industrial Wave– and that we had now reached the cusp of what he called the “Information Wave.” But is there any doubt that in the last 25 years we have moved way beyond the swell of an information wave?
I did a quick calculation and if I were to spend 8 hours a day to listen to every CD, watch every DVD, read every book, watch every family video and look at every snapshot (figure 15 seconds each) in my house, it would take me over 67 YEARS! Thank heaven I don’t have satellite TV and internet…oh wait. I guess I do.
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Practically speaking, we don’t need any more information. What we do need is better ways to filter, select, consume and use it in a meaningful manner.
So let me suggest the title for Toffler’s next book (or maybe I should write it. Actually, maybe you’re reading part of it right now)...
The FOURTH Wave– BRAIN Waves
We've got to start using our Brains! In computer terms, you brain is more than an input device connected to mass storage– there’s processing power in there! The intelligent organization, classification and indexing (intelligent filtering) of what’s already out there is far more important to you and me than the tons and tons of raw information virtually at our fingertips.
So, what are some of the organizing principles we can use to make sense of information overload? And what IS the “Pareto Proclamation?”
More to come, eventually.
Google and Yahoo Starting Social Networks
FaceBook Follies and LinkedIn Lure
I don’t know if I should be paying the guys at FutureNow, or if they should be paying me, but I find the discussions there stimulate some of my most salient (at least I think so) thoughts.
————————————–
So how many “friends” do YOU have on MySpace? LinkedIn contacts? Phonebook entries on your Treo? Email addresses in Outlook?
How much data do you have indexed? Technorati tags? Diggs? Bloglines RSS feeds? Podcast subscriptions? Twits?
Do we really need more “social networks?” Do we really need even more information thrown at us? WAVES of information that we can’t conceivably completely assimilate let alone make any real use of?
————————————–
It seems to me that there is more than enough data and information out there. More than 25 years ago, Alvin Toffler wrote a book called “The Third Wave.” He observed that economic society to that point had gone through 2 previous waves– the Agricultural Wave and the Industrial Wave– and that we had now reached the cusp of what he called the “Information Wave.” But is there any doubt that in the last 25 years we have moved way beyond the swell of an information wave?
- How many websites are indexed by Google? (7,490,000,000 indexed for the letter “a” alone)
- How many books can I buy at the click of a mouse at Amazon? (9,611,286)
- How many movies are available at my local Blockbuster store (2,500) let alone online (over 80,000)?
- How many channels are running right now on my DirectTV digital satellite– ALL of which I can TiVo for later viewing so that I can watch back-to-back Law and Order day and night, 24/7 for the next 3 months if I so choose?
I did a quick calculation and if I were to spend 8 hours a day to listen to every CD, watch every DVD, read every book, watch every family video and look at every snapshot (figure 15 seconds each) in my house, it would take me over 67 YEARS! Thank heaven I don’t have satellite TV and internet…oh wait. I guess I do.
————————————–
Practically speaking, we don’t need any more information. What we do need is better ways to filter, select, consume and use it in a meaningful manner.
So let me suggest the title for Toffler’s next book (or maybe I should write it. Actually, maybe you’re reading part of it right now)...
The FOURTH Wave– BRAIN Waves
We've got to start using our Brains! In computer terms, you brain is more than an input device connected to mass storage– there’s processing power in there! The intelligent organization, classification and indexing (intelligent filtering) of what’s already out there is far more important to you and me than the tons and tons of raw information virtually at our fingertips.
So, what are some of the organizing principles we can use to make sense of information overload? And what IS the “Pareto Proclamation?”
More to come, eventually.
