The problem with social software as a recommendation network has its roots in the problem of social software itself. ‘Friend’ is a pretty blunt instrument when it comes to describing relationships, especially in matters of taste. The sad reality is that most of my friends have rotten taste in music (I don’t hold it against them), while the music recommendations I actually follow are mostly from people I’ve never met, be they Rhapsody editors or MP3 blogs. Same for virtually every other narrow category where I need advice; odds are that the real subject matter experts aren’t anyone I know.
(Via The Long Tail.)
The one problem I’ve always found with “social software” like AIM, MSN Messenger, etc., is that they’re much more monopolistic than, say, web browser programs. When I found Mozilla Firefox to be a better-made program than IE, I scrapped IE and downloaded Firefox. If I don’t like the AIM program, then there’s little option for me. I downloaded a nice little add-on called AIMutation that has some better features and all, but I do have to stick with the basic AIM program itself, even if I prefer, say, MSN Messenger because it has more smiley faces, because it’s not just a matter of individual preference. Now, I need to still be able to connect to the AIM network to talk to all of my friends, otherwise I’ve lost the point of even using these programs.