Re-Organizing the World’s Information: Why we need more Boutique Social Influence

Re-Organizing the World’s Information: Why we need more Boutique Social Influence

In a world of infinite information, it's no longer enough to simply organize the world's information. We now need to focus on organizing the world's trustworthy information. The abundance of irrelevant filters, ad-based business models, and unconstrained supply has overwhelmed consumers, making it difficult to find signal in the noise of these platforms. While privacy protection is important, it's not a compelling enough reason for most people to leave Google. The idea of "controlling their data" doesn't resonate with the majority of users, especially if it means paying for something they're used to getting for free.

What began as a well-intentioned effort to organize information has become a business primarily focused on monetizing clicks to support advertisers, rather than prioritizing the search experience for users. This shift has led to ethically questionable design choices and created significant trust gaps. When platforms monetize through ads, curation takes a backseat to featuring advertisers, leaving less digital real estate available for curated recommendations.

Vertical search aggregators work well when users know exactly what they want. However, the starting point for most users isn't knowing what they want, but rather discovering new content and finding recommendations along the way. This presents an opportunity to assist overwhelmed consumers with better discovery and curation throughout their search journey.

The conversation around curation has been too content-focused and not enough on the structure. The true opportunity lies in moving curated content feeds away from their never-ending-now orientation and towards goal-oriented interfaces. People should have the ability to find the content they want on their own terms, without being limited by when curators decide to publish.

The challenge we face is the lack of dedicated individuals filtering, organizing, curating, and indexing the vast amount of information being created. Curation sites often fall into a trap where they start with high-quality, curated recommendations but gradually shift to crowdsourcing and scraping as they scale. This transition leads to a decline in content quality, and users turn to vertical search aggregators like Yelp for more reliable utility.

The ad-driven model used by many platforms creates a competition between advertisers and content producers for user attention. As a result, these sites begin to feel like marketing blogs rather than trusted sources of information. While subscriptions can be a solution, they aren't always viable for infrequent use cases. However, nascent token-based business models show promise by giving ownership to stakeholders and allowing subscribers to benefit from future upside. This approach can help overcome the cold start problem faced by many startups.

Moving beyond the organization of information, we must also address the issue of social influence. Our society's focus on individual success has eroded the social fabric of our communities and traditional institutions that once held them together. It's time to reorganize our communities around new influencers, aspirations, social rituals, and habits. The global health crisis has provided an opportunity for this reorganization, expanding the playing field of who and what we want to identify with and aspire to be.

Social influence relies on our tendency to rely on others when faced with an abundance of choices. We trust regular people who share their opinions and recommendations more than compensated spokespersons or distant celebrities. Being an authentic influencer means having a following and engagement that brands seek to reach. Social commerce emphasizes individual taste and style over specific brands, allowing us to buy someone's look rather than a particular brand within it. This product-centric model extends the lifecycle of products and enables them to be resold and revived in different styling iterations.

Curators have overtaken influencers as the primary vehicle for capturing the cultural mood and starting trends. A good curator goes beyond reposting images and provides context, history, and a point of view that makes even mundane objects stand out. Defining business objectives, brand objectives, and strategies is crucial for effective curation.

Algorithmic personalization is a third model of social influence, where brands create their own influencers. This approach relies on repeating past successful choices and delivering content based on algorithmically created taste profiles. TikTok exemplifies this model, leveling the playing field and making taste profiles the currency of influence. To stand out in this algorithm-driven world, brands must be human, flexible, surprising, and creative.

In the future, a mix of all three models of social influence may be the best approach. Brands should adapt to this new reality and find ways for the models to amplify each other. As we navigate this changing landscape, it's important to remember three actionable pieces of advice:

1. Prioritize the organization of trustworthy information over simply organizing information. Focus on curation and discovery to assist overwhelmed consumers in finding relevant content.

2. Embrace a mix of curated recommendations, social commerce, and algorithmic personalization to amplify the impact of social influence.

3. Define clear business objectives, brand objectives, and strategies when curating content. Provide context, history, and a point of view to make curated objects stand out.

By reorganizing the world's information and embracing new models of social influence, we can create a more curated, trustworthy, and meaningful online experience. The future lies in the hands of those who can effectively navigate and adapt to these changing dynamics.