Social DNA
There has been a lot of discussion recently about whether Google has, in their DNA, what it takes to 'get' social.
Well I think I 'get' social but I'm not sure how much my life is improved by getting the news 30 mins ahead of everybody else and I'm pretty certain that I don't need to actually see people go through the arduous process of constructing a reply in real-time. So I'm well disposed to the idea of a 'social layer' that improves the processes I'm already familiar with - although a better analogy might be a 'social render' that can be used to fill in the gaps and smooth over the rough transitions.
A good test will be how Google contacts are handled.
Google contacts is a tremendous asset. With an Android phone, all you need to do is enter your Google credentials and your email, calendar and contacts are there. I've got an iPhone and, with slightly more configuration, you can do the same thing. The thing is that Google contacts was a the right place at the right time. Originally my contacts were in Outlook and then, via some complex synchronisation story from Plaxo, they ended up in Google. I can't see a compelling reason to move them. Sure I can think of some 'nice-to-haves' but most of the alternatives have fundamental flaws.
For example, could I use Facebook instead? On Facebook I don't have to worry about changes to my friends' contact details - I see the updates pretty much as soon as my friends make them. Very nice to have. But, at the moment Facebook, doesn't handle all those contacts who don't have a digital presence, and there are - and will remain - plenty of those.
On the other hand it would be nice if Google could, for those of us that have defined a profile (even if it was only to test out Buzz) provide some sort of live link to those of our contacts that have also defined a profile (and set suitable sharing options etc etc). Technically it wouldn't appear to be that hard, afterall it's a basic construct of something like Facebook. Clearly there must be hidden complexity because it wasn't built in at the start that relates to the number and range of services that Google offers. For example it was only recently that your profile could be properly tied to Picasa web albums.
Of course Google might have no intention of beefing up 'contacts'. Maybe they will build on top of the Buzz infrastructure and provide a new way to add contact info into the list of people you are following. But that would seem to increase the 'conceptual count' yet further.
Personally I'm looking/hoping for my contacts to become more intelligent and gain a social element and for that enhancement to carry across to my phone.
Well I think I 'get' social but I'm not sure how much my life is improved by getting the news 30 mins ahead of everybody else and I'm pretty certain that I don't need to actually see people go through the arduous process of constructing a reply in real-time. So I'm well disposed to the idea of a 'social layer' that improves the processes I'm already familiar with - although a better analogy might be a 'social render' that can be used to fill in the gaps and smooth over the rough transitions.
A good test will be how Google contacts are handled.
Google contacts is a tremendous asset. With an Android phone, all you need to do is enter your Google credentials and your email, calendar and contacts are there. I've got an iPhone and, with slightly more configuration, you can do the same thing. The thing is that Google contacts was a the right place at the right time. Originally my contacts were in Outlook and then, via some complex synchronisation story from Plaxo, they ended up in Google. I can't see a compelling reason to move them. Sure I can think of some 'nice-to-haves' but most of the alternatives have fundamental flaws.
For example, could I use Facebook instead? On Facebook I don't have to worry about changes to my friends' contact details - I see the updates pretty much as soon as my friends make them. Very nice to have. But, at the moment Facebook, doesn't handle all those contacts who don't have a digital presence, and there are - and will remain - plenty of those.
On the other hand it would be nice if Google could, for those of us that have defined a profile (even if it was only to test out Buzz) provide some sort of live link to those of our contacts that have also defined a profile (and set suitable sharing options etc etc). Technically it wouldn't appear to be that hard, afterall it's a basic construct of something like Facebook. Clearly there must be hidden complexity because it wasn't built in at the start that relates to the number and range of services that Google offers. For example it was only recently that your profile could be properly tied to Picasa web albums.
Of course Google might have no intention of beefing up 'contacts'. Maybe they will build on top of the Buzz infrastructure and provide a new way to add contact info into the list of people you are following. But that would seem to increase the 'conceptual count' yet further.
Personally I'm looking/hoping for my contacts to become more intelligent and gain a social element and for that enhancement to carry across to my phone.
On an unrelated note, how does 'social DNA' compare with 'the selfish gene'?
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