My ideal scenario (and I hope I'm not repeating myself here repeating myself here) is that social networks as we know them simply die out, and people just distribute the information directly, in a peer-to-peer fashion. You won't have to worry about whether to post information on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, or any of the other social networks; you just post it to the Internet, and people who are interested in seeing it will read it.
This is how things worked after the invention of online journals and blogs, and before the invention of social networks.
This ideal scenario seems impossible now, but the current state of the industry hasn't existed very long. 6-7 years ago, social networks were still an emerging phenomenon. In another five years, the Internet might have moved on to something else.
I can imagine people tiring of social media, but I think that means moving onto something new and as yet unknown. Going back, for better or worse, seems unlikely.
"Yet" in social-network-years isn't very long, though. I also wonder whether we'll see "Gen Z" or whatever is next so jaded with social media they'll go back to reading and listening to classical music! We can dream, I guess.
It hasn't gone away yet, has it? I still use Tweetdeck, and there seem to be plenty of clients which will service a range of social platforms. Depressed to think this is the future, though.
There's also the chance that an entirely new network will spring up, I think. All the existing networks face the "Facebook problem" which is that the have to make money and thus will alienate their users!
I think it's more likely that we'll see about three major social networks, separated by demographic. Individuals will likely use only one, and base that choice on where their friends, and family are. Some will choose Facebook, others Twitter, others Tumblr.
Also, we'll see special-purpose social networks continue, places like LinkedIn devoted specifically to business relationships, as well as communities for hobbies like sewing, and business specialties, like lawyers.
A more optimistic outlook -- which could happen -- is that openness will win. It won on the Internet and Web, after all. In that case, you would be able to post to one social network and everything would be aggregated together from other networks.
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In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M.
The smartphone market reached a significant milestone, a breakthrough that may cause vendors to celebrate but could strain the capabilities of IT service desks.
In the fall of 2011, around 160,000 students in 190 countries enrolled in a Stanford-sponsored online course about artificial intelligence. About 23,000 completed the course and got certificates, including 248 who got a perfect score. The university offered the same course the old-fashioned way to students sitting in Stanford classrooms. None of the those students got a perfect score.
As Mitch Wagner discussed today, Yahoo is acquiring Tumblr. The big Internet debate at the moment is whether Tumblr will be good or bad for Yahoo. Regardless of their stances on the future of Yahoo itself, many claim that Yahoo will somehow ruin Tumblr.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
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M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE