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As MSNBC's acquisition of Newsvine demonstrates, social networks are gaining influence in the national media. As raw information sources grow, the ability of any individual or even any corporate entity to adequately sift through the rising mountain of data is fast diminishing. Social networks offer an advantageous and cost effective solution to this problem of scalability, but present problems of their own. Can media outlets count upon the crowd to produce consistently high-quality information? A quick spin through Digg and its sister networks reveals a conglomeration of articles on niche technical specialties scattered amidst radical political literature and an assortment of amusing videos, images, and other diversions. While social media has proved itself as an enjoyable means to wile away the workday, its ability to stand alongside more traditional methods of content identification and production is in considerably more question.
On Wednesday, December the 5th, this columnist and influential contributors and entrepreneurs in social media enterprises will participate in a Software and Information Industry Association panel on the role of users as editors in socially powered media. The panel will address questions from the mundane to the subtle and complex but will focus primarily upon the ability of social communities to adequately differentiate quality content from... well... the other sort.
The problem of content identification is one that is as much software as it is community culture. Generally speaking, social systems rely on votes - a proactive form of user moderation - to promote the "good" content over the "bad." Vote are purely normative judgments, entirely unshackled from the actual type of content involved. For networks like Digg this is ideal. Lacking a specific focus beyond that brought by the community, Digg's software seeks to identify simply those links and sites that the Digg community likes. The actual thematic of the content is itself irrelevant so long as it draws enough votes.
While some other networks mimic Digg's model, most recognize that the market for a general amusement link trading service is pretty well filled. Other more niche services have arisen to fill perceived gaps inDigg's coverage focusing on a wide verity of subjects. It is this subject mater focus that is problematic. Software is incapable of making the subtle distinctions necessary to differentiate between a brilliant political cartoon on the state of the Iraqi insurgency and - for example - a collection of kitten photographs with intentionally misspelled but humorous captions. While the community that grows around a particular niche social network is generally enthused and dedicated to the desired content profile, as the community grows and the site gains popularity it inevitably attracts new members from other more general interest sites.
Social media tends to have a "long tail" as the statisticians would put it. A very few users make up the power-users of a given network while the overwhelming majority simply read with no inclination towards more active participation. Somewhere between these two groups, however, is a group of would-be power users some of whom will seek prominence on newer and less established networks.
The alignment of these circumstances creates an influx of general interest posters to a traditionally niche network. General Interest users typically mimic the standards of content set forth by the major players in social bookmarking and the result is a dilution of what the older and more niche users would consider "good content." While software can help enormously with this conflict, the real resolution must come from the community. A clash of ideologies is almost inevitable once a niche network takes off and to the victor goes the soul of the community itself.
Compounding the problem of identification after the boom is the issue of astroturfing. As networks grow their ability to shove content in front of millions of faces expands. Advertisers, marketers, and other less scrupulous businessmen are quick to take notice of this untapped power. Networks enjoy a trusted status amongst their members, provide a global distribution system, and are typically free to use - making the decision to co-opt them for commercial purposes a very easy one. Because the more savvy abusers of the system make some attempt to hide such activities under the guise of a legitimate user's "grass-roots" support for a product or company, the practice is sometimes referred to as "astroturfing."
Astroturfing is a real threat to social networks, but unlike the clash of cultures, it is something that far more expressly involves the network's business interests. Administrators are more commonly used to deal with astroturfers and while very effective, such measures oftentimes overstep reasonable bounds and draw fire from the community at large. Digg , by way of example, is extraordinarily overzealous when it comes to account deletion policies for perceived astroturfing and maintains a "ban now ask questions later policy" on the subject.
While Digg might like the answers to be simple, they rarely are. Newsvine in particular hosts an interesting example of how astroturfing can turn into something altogether different. While there are perhaps several thousand spammer and advertiser accounts blocked, banned, and deleted from Newsvine's system one attempt at astroturfing has become an unexpected fixture in the community. PETA, the Norfolk VA based animal rights organization, maintains an account on Newsvine for the publication of press releases, opinion articles, and the like. While the published content is classic AstroTurf, the organization is up-front about who they are and what they are doing and, more importantly, they interact with the community openly and enthusiastically, answering questions, debating issues, and contributing to the overall atmosphere of camaraderie and knowledge.
All of which gives some hope for the future. There is a lot to be said for an open dialogue between companies, special interest groups, and the general public. Maybe social networks can be a place for that to happen. One thing is for sure, something like that would certainly meet any standard for "good content."
