I rarely toot my own horn but this is a fun example of where you can predict trends based on how humans actually think and create successful business ideas.
Back on June 10th, 2009 I wrote an article titled “A multi-billion dollar idea!” My premise was that Facebook worked great for kids, who want popularity and everyone as their friend. But, adults actually have circles of trust, of friends. Not everyone is a friend. Not everyone is trustable or shares the same values we have in a given context. It’s something we must teach children. My prediction was that adults would start leaving Facebook as the novelty of “everyone is a friend” would prove to be unworkable. It’s OK for marketers and kids, but not human adults. It seemed that an adult way of working with human smaller circles had to happen.
Well, Google is getting close to launching their own social network with “Circles” as a major component. Soon you will be able to socially network as adults actually do in real life. You can have a circle of your closest friends. Some of them may overlap with your political friends or your volleyball friends. You’ll be able to reach more people the way you actually think, with circles joined by invisible links to each person. We’ll of course see Facebook follow with their own upgrade as they see what works and doesn’t with Circles.
Thanks dad for teaching me chess when I was little! We never know how some odd learning later helps us see the world in a different way so we can help others. Chess helped me see multiple scenarios into the future. Steve Jobs learned calligraphy and it helped him invent the Macintosh. Everything you’ve ever learned is a hidden gift waiting to be expressed.
Learn more about the coming Google+ here: http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/28/google-launches-all-out-social-networking-assault-with-google/
Excellent post, Erol! You pinpointed my biggest problem with Facebook and other social networking sites. It’s going to be great when developers create sites and software that works more like adult humans think.