It seems today everyone is talking about social media with great fanfare.
It is common for new ways of communicating to receive great attention and hype. Consider, though, when a search engine was called artificial intelligence. These days, we no longer think of Google as such. I believe that in the next few years, what is now called social media will assimilate similarly into ordinary experience. When it does, it might not be called anything. The hype will fade, and what proves actually valuable will remain. The notion of endorsing something or someone, often called liking in social media parlance, will remain. It depends on innovation and natural selection to determine how this changes our everyday experience. Let's take the long view, though, by looking at the "artificial intelligence effect." Other examples include the way your brakes work in your car. Or the way a rice cooker or microwave determines when to stop. It would seem odd these days to say these devices demonstrate the awesome power of artificial intelligence. For my part, I look forward to a similar calming down about social media. I suspect part of the hype comes from genuine excitement that there is potential for the web to change again via "the social graph." But please, let's remember that we got into a bubble before: everyone had great ideas, people under 30 became wealthy CEOs and wore turtlenecks to work. When the inevitable disillusionment hit, it stung for a long time, and shattered much of the faith investors had in smart young people. This time, let's keep a modest perspective while we innovate. Finally, if you like this comment, please twitter it or share it on facebook. Thanks for listening.
