The value of context
: John Robb groks [word of the day] a lesson on social software from the Dean Campaign, via the NY Times mag story on it:
The software works in the Dean campaign because it allows people of like mind to communicate, meet, and become friends. Generic or “global” systems will never work. Social software needs an “interest space” to be useful.
Right. In this case, a presidential campaign provides the context, but that comes along only once in four years. In Friendster’s case, sex is the context. But often, content is the context. That is the “interest space.” That is what media is really about, in the end: We all read this newspaper because we care about our town, or read this food magazine because we like fashion. Content has always been the flame that draws moths. And now the moths can have a party.
: Howard Stern read the same Times article and came away with — that is, grokked — a different lesson: The Dean campaign is a great place to pick up people; it’s about sex.
