So like many of you, I finally got a Google+ invite, and plan on kicking the tires a bit over the next few days. But as I was quickly scanning the features, and reading great previews like this one, I was looking for a specific feature.
I want the ability to follow content in addition to following people.
Let me give you an example (because I can already tell I’m not doing a good job of explaining myself). We all have our networks on Facebook and Twitter. And we are probably following the people that aren’t family for a specific reason. Maybe it’s for their social media knowledge, or because they are industry sources, whatever. But come next year, a big portion of your network (at least those in the United States) will probably engage in discussing the same topic: Politics. And if you are following a few dozen ‘A-listers’ for advice and wisdom on social media, it can be a jolt to see them suddenly on Facebook and Twitter every day saying that they think your favorite Presidential candidate is a blithering idiot.
So then comes the question: How do you handle this? You are following a person because you want to hear their opinions on social media, not politics. Do you unfollow them? Do you grit your teeth and bear it? Do you argue with them? I do the same thing: Last fall, on Saturdays I started tweeting score updates from the 1 or 2 college football games I was watching. Then I had friends tweeting me asking for the score to a particular game, and the next thing you know, I am all but live-tweeting about 5 different games at the same time. Some of my followers absolutely loved it, and some of them unfollowed me because they weren’t following me for college football updates, they were likely following me for social media discussions.
The shortcoming I see from existing social media tools is that there’s no efficient way to filter based on content created. Sure, you can create groups or lists of like minded individuals, but even that doesn’t guarantee that ‘unwanted’ content won’t be discussed. And if you could filter someone based on content, would you even want to? Is this a viable concern, or is it maybe an unintentional byproduct of following a lot of people that we really don’t know?
What do you think the solution is? Do you unfriend/follow people that discuss topics that don’t interest you? If you had the ability to filter their content based on type, would you?
@RedHotEventsnb @mackcollier I see your point but I see advantage to not filtering as it exposes me to things I may not go after on my own.
@LettOVE @RedHotEventsnb There’s definitely value in being exposed to new things and ideas, I will grant you that.
@MackCollier @redhoteventsnb also continuously dumping opinion (especially w/o back up) will probably get you unfollowed even if I agree
Perhaps we’re looking at this the wrong way? We’re following people for specialities but a specific topic is not the sum total of the person.
If you follow someone you have to expect the good with the bad, hypocritically I dislike following chat attendees as it makes the stream impossible to follow. At the same time as I do chat a lot myself, I have to accept that.
Sometimes you have to take the rough with the smooth. We’re so used to filtering things out that we might well miss something we didn’t know we would appreciate. As filters get more powerful, we shut ourselves away from the unknown.
Ironically, better filtering will enable us to follow topics not people. Taken to extremes doesn’t this just feed into the “birds of a feather” syndrome. Or worse, losing the ability to converse outside artificial barriers we enforce?
You have to take the rough with the smooth in order to enjoy the good. It seems as though it’s a skill we’re in danger of losing.
Mack – to me this really begs the question of how we got so intolerant that we can’t deal with a little off-topic conversation sometimes. I, like you, try and keep my content consistent with the topic people followed me to discuss, and I always keep my followers in mind, but once in a while, I just have to say something that ISN’T about social media – I mean, really. As @NicWirtz mentions, its not my only interest or all that I am.
I’ve unfollowed people too, for a variety of reasons. Usually actually for unintelligent blither or too much of using a social media tool as a public IM outlet.
But recently, I’ve started wondering if narrowing down who I watch and follow isn’t limiting my exposure to different people and views..which might be healthy for me to digest, even if I don’t agree.
I don’t think that it is about a willingness to be exposed to other views or intolerance. I also don’t stop to listen to the street corner preachers. There are only so many minutes in a day. The same reason you unfollow those unintelligent blitherers for too much social media info, I tend to get rid of those who mix the personal and the professional with too much political speak.
I am assuming the reason you blip off these people is because that you know more than those you are blipping off, so you don’t need to hear what they say. Having spent years in politics and as a Constitutional scholar most of what is said out there on politics is blither as well! Why waste time with inaccurate, unintelligent blather? If I want to build a pool, I don’t consult my doctor. If I have a medical condition, I don’t consult my lawyer. Why would I want to consult less educated, less informed people about politics?
I do follow some people for political reasons, but they are people whose credentials bear out their political knowledge, not the average Joe who is doing the equivalent of standing on a street corner yelling at everyone who walks by. I follow Mack for his social media knowledge, not his political knowledge. He may be brilliant in that area but I don’t need anymore political brilliance and I am not looking for it. When I want that, I seek it out. I am not saying you can’t do it, but he asked and I answered what I think about it and I can tell you my biggest and ONLY unfollow day came on Memorial Day when I thanked those in the military for their sacrifice. Unbelievable!
Just look at what happened to Oprah. People following me is not a right, it is a gift. I feel a sense of responsibility to honor the reasons they are following me instead of arrogantly assuming they want to hear from me about everything I think and feel. Would you stand up in a resturant and start speaking to everyone about your political views or anything else? Why is that different here? I don’t assume they are following me because they think I’m brilliant and want to hear my every word. I think they follow me for a lot of reasons but mostly because I honor them with what I offer instead of use them.
I think hard about what I put up and I would love to speak up about politics, but if I decide to do that it will be with a different account defined as such so people know what they are getting. If people know that is what you are about, they will flock to you for that purpose. If my doctor starting trying to indoctrinate me on politics when I came to see him for my broken knee, I would probably not go back.
It is an overreaction to say you can NEVER say anything else. I don’t think anyone said that here. But I think you need to be true to your mission, whatever that is. You might lose some straying a bit, but you might lose a lot more if you stray a lot. All I am saying is if I go to Dillard’s to buy a shirt and they started to lay on the political stuff, I would walk out and never go back. Maybe that’s intolerance and maybe its just common sense?
@GeorgePasswater Hey G. – thanks for the RT, dear friend! Still need to get an email off to ya…where’d the day go?
@ljcrest As always, my pleasure. Heh…no problem, whenever you get to it, I will read it. Yep, I know. I have lots to do tonight.
@christammiller However tweetdeck does….
WOW great conversation.
Here are my thoughts. If you only follow people to hear one perspective of who they are then you are missing out on the beauty and complexity of life. How can we ever expect to grow, expand or discover new solutions if we become homogenized. That does nothing for critical thinking.
Have we really become so narrow minded that a little football or politics can turn our minds to jello? My thing with the political folks is they go so off center that they come across as fantatics. Lesson for me is it helps me keep a more balanced perspective because I am exposed to their ( IMO) ridiculousness.
There is always a lesson or an advantage in everything if you choose to look at it that way.
My thought “Lighten up folks” we are human being who are complex and dynamic.
@taracoomans @NicWirtz I have found very few people who have ever needed to be unfollowed. I block 50% of the people who try to follow, the remaining 40% I follow, with 10% who I will decided upon later. The ones I follow have a high Listed:Follower ratio and provide content which is interesting.
Sometimes they go on about politics, but who cares? I am not interested in politics and their tweet is only on the main stream for 4 seconds before it is gone, so I just look away.
I am less intrigued by the people who are ‘Specialists’, which only tweet links on their one subject, and always stay on topic. I don’t block them because of it, I just don’t find them to be very engaging or social.
Sometimes I want to know if you had bacon for breakfast.
@taracoomans @NicWirtz Basically, I am saying I agree with Tara. (being concise is not a strong suit of mine.
@prosperitygal Michelle my pet theory is that a lot of people follow us for one specific type of content. I think we have a close group of friends/family, but if we have a few thousand followers, 95% of them are following us ONLY to get a certain type of content from us. So they have a VERY loose connection to us, and if we do anything to weaken that connection in their eyes (like posting content they don’t want to see), then they cut us loose. What do you think?
The problem is people forgetting the social part and now looking at everything as a way to make money. If all they want is your advice they need to subscribe to your rss. When I follow you yes I would be disappointed if never discussed social media, but you discussing football and politics gives us to more layers to connect on. This is why the saying “deals are made on the green” exist. It’s those extra non work related bonds that connects people.
Oh, and while we’re at it, you should absolutely #ff @ginidietrich, because she is amazingly savvy, fun, and likes angry snowmen.
As I consider this thread, I can’t help but think that a sociologist might enjoy reading it.
I also would suggest that our personalities play a role in our assessment of the merit of using content filters. As an extrovert, I’m interested in what lots of people think about lots of different topics–this is one reason I’m more drawn to the open forum of Twitter than to the more restricted forum of Facebook. Like @ExtremelyAvg, sometimes I’m interested to know what someone had for breakfast (by the way, @ExtremelyAvg, I had two eggs and toast with grape jelly). Maybe an introvert would tend to be less interested in “off-topic” posts. Not sure if the axis I’m speaking about here is best classified as introvert/extrovert, but I do think our personalities shape our answer to this question.
I’m with @NicWirtz and several others on the importance of connecting with people in their complexity rather than simply with content streams. Social media connect us with more people that we used to connect with, but the meaningfulness of our connections is trending downward. I’m a big fan of social media, and I’m not saying it’s wrong to use content filters, but if we do use them, I hope we recognize the limitations of the connections we are making.
@MackCollier Link is broken.
@sirtwist Sorry, should work now, I added a plugin that screwed it up, removed the plugin.
That is an excellent breakfast choice, thanks. @beaustanley @NicWirtz Now I have just one question…How are you today, after such a yummy breakfast, on a scale of 1 to 37?
A big +1 on this post…drives me nuts. I just want a way to overlay searches on top of lists/groups/circles. So, using your example, I might have a list called “soc media influencers” and I’d overlay the search “-election” to filter out election rants. Even better if I could filter to only see posts that included links (I’d use this for lists I’ve created that include content curators for specific topics).
Google clearly gets the basic need for this and they’ve taken the first step with the implementation of circles…they’ve said that it’s designed to deal with the fact that within your big list of “friends,” you have many different underlying networks and you care about different types of info for each of them (e.g., I may not want to see family pics for my “topic x curators” circle, but I do want to see them for my “family” circle). But for now they’ve made filtering a completely different product (sparks). If I was going to bet on anyone to get this right though, I’d bet on them. Nobody has more expertise at helping you find the information you’re looking for and they’re now focused on the social web. Seems like it’s just a matter of time until they focus their algorithms on making it easy to access the info you’re interested in from within your social circles.
@ExtremelyAvg Umm . . . it was a day somewhere around 18 1/2 or so.
I ran into your posts while researching an article of my own about Google Plus. I agree with you. I think the content function is something that would be a great thing to add to Google Plus. I made a mention of your article in mine.
http://www.michielgaasterland.com/social-media/google-plus-will-it-sail-or-fail/
I think the Circles functionality + the ability to follow specific content from specific people could change they way we share and consume content.
Can’t wait to see how the Google Plus roll out will pen out.
Dear Mack, you have a calling. It’s called create a new and more efficient social network. I’ll invest. Love, Gini
i believe someone may have got their first, its the thing that happens when we switch off the computer 😉
@JasonStoddard @joshdilworth @mackcollier Thx. I see personalization, but not the ability 2 overlay searches on to my lists/groups. Correct?
@paulmay @jasonstoddard @mackcollier Search coming next, it’s on the near roadmap (they’re in private beta currently).
@paulmay @joshdilworth @mackcollier re: trap.it. The AI is good. Of the traps I’ve created, I’ve discovered some great stuff.
@paulmay @joshdilworth @mackcollier re: trap.it. If I were to use traditional methods to try and find the same content, FAIL.
@paulmay @joshdilworth @mackcollier re:trap.it. Finding AI doesnt place detrimental reliance on legacy,blogger, SEO/SEM. Only great content.
@paulmay @jasonstoddard @joshdilworth @mackcollier overlay content/traps with contacts and lists is coming. want to nail AI first. 🙂
@paulmay @joshdilworth @mackcollier @goTrapIt Odd suggestion: If you use it, set up a trap for “hair relaxer.” You’ll “get it” once you do.
@JasonStoddard okay. even we’re curious. one hair relaxer trap coming up.
@goTrapit No one listed knows anything about hair relaxer, thus no assumptions; good way to vet quality content/AI. cc @joshdilworth
@ginidietrich Thank you Gini! My passions lie elsewhere, but I appreciate the thought. And who knows, maybe Google can improve Sparks and it can become what we’re talking about here?
Mack–
Interesting point that social media networks don’t allow for creating a focused content lens. While useful for participants, content by itself isn’t social.
Happy marketing, Heidi Cohen
So what you expect really is socially filtered RSS (or RSSed society)? Where you narrow down both the topic and the trusted resources for it? I believe it wouldn’t be too difficult to implement.