Re-Organizing the World's Information: Building Virality and Curated Feeds

Re-Organizing the World's Information: Building Virality and Curated Feeds

In a world where information is abundant, the need to connect disparate pieces of information becomes increasingly important. However, the current state of platforms that organize information is overwhelming for consumers. Irrelevant filters, ad-based business models, and unconstrained supply have made it difficult to find signal amidst the noise. While privacy protection is often cited as a reason to leave platforms like Google, it is not a compelling enough reason for most people. The ability to control their data is not a selling point, especially if it means paying for something they are accustomed to getting for free.

In this era of infinite information, simply organizing the world's information is no longer enough. What is needed is the organization of trustworthy information. The initial intention of organizing information has transformed into a business that prioritizes monetizing clicks to support advertisers, rather than focusing on the search experience for users. As signals evolve, new ways of indexing and innovative surface areas emerge. However, when platforms monetize through ads, curation takes a backseat to featuring advertisers. This leads to ethically dubious design choices that create a significant trust gap.

Vertical search aggregators are effective when users know exactly what they want. However, the starting point for most users is not knowing what they want. This presents an opportunity to help overwhelmed consumers with better discovery and curation along the funnel. The conversation around curation has often been focused on the content itself, neglecting the importance of its structure. The true opportunity lies in moving curated content feeds away from their never-ending-now orientation and towards more goal-oriented interfaces. Users should be able to find content on their own terms, rather than being dependent on when the curator decides to publish.

The challenge lies in the fact that there is a massive amount of information being created, but very few people dedicated to filtering, organizing, curating, and indexing that information. Curation sites often fall into a trap where they start with high-quality curated recommendations but turn to crowdsourcing and scraping as they scale, resulting in a decline in content quality. This is when vertical search aggregators like Yelp become more useful. The ad-driven model of these sites leads to competition between advertisers and content producers, giving them the feel of marketing blogs.

One potential solution is a token-based business model that gives ownership to stakeholders and allows subscribers to benefit from future upside. This model shows early signs of promise in overcoming the cold start problem. Additionally, there are actionable steps that can be taken to build virality into products.

One way to build virality is by creating incentives for users to invite their friends and for their friends to accept the invite. Rewarding both sides is crucial for this to catch on. LinkedIn employed a similar strategy in its early days by prominently displaying the number of connections on user profiles, incentivizing users to invite more people to connect with them.

Products built for collaboration or communication between coworkers have inherent viral potential. While they may have a single-user mode, additional value is derived from the product when multiple people use it. Another way to build virality is by allowing others to embed the product into their websites. This not only creates exposure but also models the expected content and behaviors for potential users.

Social sharing is another effective method of building virality. If a product generates uniquely interesting content, users can be encouraged to share it on their social networks, spreading knowledge of the product to a wider audience. Auto-shared content onto other networks has proven to be successful in this regard. By creating a uniquely appealing artifact, users are motivated to share it with their networks.

Lastly, products that generate artifacts or URLs that are expected to be shared via messaging can also contribute to virality. Providing a rich experience around the information that is shared can further enhance the viral potential. Hotmail's signature line at the end of every email in its early days is a prime example of this strategy. It helped Hotmail grow from 20k users to 1.5M users in just four months.

While building virality into a product is important, it is crucial to remember that the quality of the product itself is what drives conversion and loyalty. Virality should be built into the core mechanics of the product from the start, rather than being added as an afterthought.

In conclusion, the overwhelming amount of information in today's world necessitates the reorganization of trustworthy information. Platforms that prioritize ad-based business models often prioritize advertisers over curation, resulting in a significant trust gap. By focusing on better discovery, curation, and goal-oriented interfaces, the overwhelmed consumer can find content on their own terms. Additionally, building virality into products through incentives, collaboration, embedding, social sharing, and messaging can help spread awareness and consideration. However, the quality of the product itself remains paramount. Building virality into the core mechanics of a product from the start is essential for long-term success.