For those who think social media is a fad, a fast-forward overview of thirty years of social media history should provide some perspective. The article takes us through the ever-shifting ways we have used social media tools to connect with each other through several decades. I think it provides ample evidence that we are evolving ever newer ways of connecting and communicating.

As Clay Shirky pointed out in the book Here Comes Everybody,
"Every webpage is a latent community. Each page collects the attention of people interested in its contents, and those people might well be interested in conversing with one another too. In almost all cases the community will remain latent, either because the potential ties are too weak, or because the people looking at the page are separated by too wide a gulf of time, and so on."

In several ways I think that Google's Sidewiki is a step toward recognizing the potential of "community" in every web page.

As Shirky indicated, we are continuing to experiment with various ways to use these new communication tools. And they will continue to evolve. The article from Cameron Chapman at WebDesignerDepot is a real help in providing perspective.

A week ago Google announced Sidewiki, a free toolbar service that lets anyone (anyone registered with Google, that is) add comments to any web page... yes, ANY web page. This raises all sort of questions about who can and will monitor such comments. Of course there are usage policies that you agree to follow, but the real question -- for the owner of the web page -- is who (and how) will these policies be monitored and enforced?

Shifting Power to Consumers

Jeremiah Owyang writes in his blog (http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2009/09/24/googles-sidewiki-shifts-power-to-consumers-away-from-corporate-web-teams/) about shifting power to consumers and away from corporate website publishers. Others have written about this being a field day for the lawyers. It will be interesting to see how it shakes out. Adoption will be very much based on the ease of access and the value-add that the service provides.

In a July 17th post (http://blog.niccllc.net/where-is-search-headed) I wrote about the increasing need for "social relevancy" ranking. In that post I said, "... the folks who thunk up the PageRank algorithms we all use today are likely focused on it." I didn't know how prescient that statement was.

Social Relevancy Ranking

It seems that Sidewiki is already demonstrating that it intends to sort the page comments based on who provided them and their "voted upon", perceived value. If they then use your Google profile to start adding additional levels of social "relevancy" ranking to these comments, things could get very interesting.

So, proceed with caution if you don't mind Google knowing the Web pages you peruse, though if you're using PageRank as part of Google Toolbar's "enhanced features," you're already doing this. For Sidewiki, Google warns:

    When you use Sidewiki to write, edit, or rate an entry, the URL of the relevant page, the type of action you performed, and the text related to that action are sent to Google and stored with your Google Account.

Sounds like something Google could use for nice contextual advertising in the future.

This seems to me to represent a HUGE step toward merging "content providers" and "content consumers" into one level playing field. Lets keep watching to see where it goes!

The latest update on Augmented Times (artimes.rouli.net) has some cool new videos and this wonderful mockup by Matthew Buckland and Philip Langley of possible future AR social networking apps. The technology is largely all available and is waiting for the right "spark" to make it all come together.

Combining AR with facial recognition, social engagement & networking, mobile & GPS features - the times are ripe to see some big new launches. It will happen faster than we can imagine.
...with, of course, self-improvement and real estate ads liberally sprinkled in.