Business on the social Internet: is it possible to embrace the immense?

    And, really, can the social Internet be equally interesting and / or useful for all its users: from a “girl with pigtails” to a serious businessman? Let's leave the girls with pigtails alone, as well as without pigtails too. Statistics say that in Web 2.0 their generation feels very good. Let's talk more about professionals and businessmen.

    This note is a shortened version of a note posted on my iTech Bridge blog . There “under one roof” I put my comments made on three different occasions: to one discussion, to the result of one vote and to one question asked to me. This topic has much in common with that considered in a number of my notes on the problems of the intelligent web.It deals with issues of rating, ranking (sorting) and filtering information. However, here these questions are projected onto the business application of the social Internet.

    In fact, in one fairly long note summarized are three autonomous ones connected by one topic with a general conclusion. Therefore, I immediately warn you, if there is no time, it is better not to go there. In order not to write angry comments later :). Well, and below everything is very brief and without lyrical digressions (almost in the telegraph style of the FAQ) ...

    Question (of one habragrazhdanina) : Is it possible to build an intelligent network on an unintelligent social resource?

    Answer:People everywhere and always remain people, with all their advantages and disadvantages. This also applies to any virtual community to the fullest. A social web, or rather a web resource, in itself cannot be either intelligent or unintelligent. But owners, if they want, of course, are quite capable of making this resource more or less focused on one or another community. For this, they come up with various "rules of the game" (ratings, karma, and the like).

    Question (arising from the previous one): Does the business, in general, need a social web?

    Answer: Yes, I need it. Indeed, in the social Internet there is a place for resources not only for mass, but also for corporate (Enterprise 2.0) use, no one doubts today. In any case, in the West.

    Question (and again following): Is it possible to combine two incompatible, at first glance, directions in one resource: traditional (mass) and corporate (business)?

    Answer:But this issue is more complicated. Unfortunately, the market so far responds to it more negatively than positively. In any case, as we have seen, for resources oriented to a more or less mass user. It should be noted that those who are currently developing social resources for a corporate application still negatively answer this question. They do not want to unite. There is no other way to explain that not only the resources intended for work on the Intranet (behind the firewall), but also those who allow network-wide use, almost flatly refuse all rating of users and ranking information. There is no need, they say, to business people. Although in this case, a huge amount of knowledge scattered across mass social resources disappears. And the “mulet strategy,” which I already talked about, only one way to resolve this contradiction. I’ll talk about something else below.

    Question (to the result of one discussion): Is it possible to love or not like information?

    Answer: No, it is impossible. You can only agree or disagree with the information. But the concepts of “like - don't like”, or, what’s the same thing “love - not love”, are quite intimate, whether it’s a woman, Microsoft, or a note from your colleague. Not recognizing this, any social resource obviously dooms itself to the loss of a significant audience of professionals and business people.
    Question (to the result of one vote): Well, why did you bury him?

    Explanation:Buried, or rather, resolutely otkhrabili one of the most harmless survey. Neither you seditious thoughts, nor hurt someone's assumptions, there is nothing even close. Just asking for advice on how to rename some collective blog.

    And now the answer: Since the proposed survey fell into the "bumpy" ones from the first minute and was never able to get out of there, they did not see it, much less see it, many of those for whom it was intended. After all, only a masochist or a lover of "strawberries" will sacrifice his time to delve into the waste of human activity, albeit informational. Real experts and people of business, as a rule, do not belong to the indicated categories ...

    Question (notes put in conclusion):What is the collective mind capable of in social resources?

    Answer: The collective mind is capable of much if it is properly managed. To do this, it is enough to put more advanced criteria for ranking, sorting and filtering information into the social Internet. It is these criteria, together with the corresponding algorithms, that will take on the role of managing collective intelligence. In other words, they will become the "getters" of the "grams of radium from tons of (informational) ore" so necessary for specialists. In this regard, it seems to me that if the term “controlled democracy” has the right to life, it is, first of all, in virtual communities ...

    Well, now, if you are interested, you can go to the main note, which contains all the necessary explanations and links. At the same time I want to warn that to illustrate some of my assumptions and conclusions, I referred to some features of Habrahabr. Therefore, in order to avoid a repetition of my sad story with news2, I really ask the distinguished habrag citizens to take this calmly. I hope that everyone, including the owners of Habrahabr, if they read my article, will correctly understand that I was guided only by good intentions :) to expand the areas of use of social Runet. This is exactly what we are currently doing in our Commonwealth “For the New Social Web”. I would be glad if my thoughts are ever useful to anyone else ...

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