Telepocalypse

Antisocial software

Am I the only skeptic on the whole social software phenomenon? Probably not. There are two problems with the current “connection-enabling” approach of social software.

The value of the social software system increases with the “strangeness” of the other party. I have an address book to track friends and acquaintances. There’s no serious money in address books any more, and certainly no pot of gold in subscription address management. But I rarely acquire new friends (those cold-hearted Brits!). And acquaintances come naturally enough through business contacts, blogging, conferences, and everyday serendipitity. So the market is damned small. And the social occasions where stangers need to meet have had matchmakers for millenia, whose existing businesses are much more amenable to an on-line extension. Believe it or not, people actually got laid before the invention of packet data networks. Amazing!

The B2B hub boom-and-bust neatly illustrated how hard these intermediary businesses are to establish in a totally virtual world. It’s those spillover moments into the messy analog world that really count.

The upside potential of an online social network is limited by the number of matches I want to make (which is generally small). However, the downside potential is almost unlimited. There are untold numbers of salesmen, gurus, whackos, activists, believers and marketers who want a slice of my attention. All I want is an electronic buddy to automate the “Scram!” sign at my virtual picket fence. And the value increases with the scale of the attention deficit problem. People who want to make a lot of connection generally are offering low value to their connectees. The more the system is used, the less value it has!

So the value (“money”) is probably not where people are currently looking. We need “anti-social software”, if you’ll excuse the grammar abuse. Connecting people isn’t the problem. It’s stopping the wrong connections. It’s proving that the luscious 17 year old girl in the dating chat room isn’t really a 48 year old divorced guy with time on his hands. Friendster? More like Foester!