Social media has heightened our awareness of relevance.
Get ready for better search, new ways to communicate more quickly and more succinctly, and the ability to not only find what you are looking for – but to have it automatically delivered to you.
After taking a couple of years away from print media, my wife recently subscribed to the local newspaper. I am struck by how very little of the content they share is relevant – even though their focus is my local community.
Location is certainly a key parameter of relevance, but I have no interest in crime reports and the like. And because print newspapers are incapable of allowing me to filter what is of interest to me, I tune out.
Tags Enhance Relevance
Location, location, location is now being replaced by search, search, search. To that you should be aware that if you expect to be found with the plethora of search engines that can target search with laser accuracy, you need to keep one thing in mind - tag, tag, tag.
Remember the scene in the film Jerry McGuire when Tom Cruise (Jerry McGuire) pleads to Cuba Gooding Jr. (Rod Tidwell) to … help me help you! That's what tags do – they help the search engines help you.
Recently I learned about a new site with a memorable name – Hashable. Given the notoriety of Mashable and Hashtags, that's a killer brand name. I haven't quite figured out how Hashable will work, but I like what I am seeing so far.
Hashable Tags Your Connections
Hashable pulls data from your LinkedIn account and then shares it through their network via the hashtags that you attach to your new relationships or recent encounters with old friends. The result is that you add more contextual – and searchable data to your social graph and those you are connected with – especially as it relates to your small business.
I'll be honest, like so many other things associated with social media, I have no idea where this is going. However, with all due respect to the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard who said, "When you label me you negate me" – I am still convinced that we will soon become a very tag-able society.
Who Are You?
What Kierkegaard was implying is that our language is incapable of describing who we really are. While that may be true, it is still the basis of search. Nevertheless, we are moving squarely into a period where everyone and everything will be easily, quickly, and locally searchable.
I'm sure earlier philosophers such as Socrates, known best for the Socratic method of inquiry, would have nevertheless appreciated this period in time.
He would still suggest you repeatedly ask yourself, "Who am I?"
Yet, it is arguable that your response may be less relevant than what the search engines have to say.
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Until tomorrow, Jeff
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