Social Filtering has been going on forever – the people you use in your life as sources of trusted information; people who help you make decisions (the maven on baking when you get stuck with a recipe, your friend’s cousin who is a walking consumer reports and gives you vital information on that camera etc.). These same options have been applied online for some time now (ratings and reviews, recommendation sites like Yelp etc.). The next phase of social filtering is occurring with Twitter – where you can selectively follow people (some you know, some you come to know by their association or the quality of their content). These people pass along valuable information in the form of sharing links, recommendations, insights. These people are serving as filters for what I should be reading and paying attention to right now. In my previous post I discussed how I now follow people, not publications – that is, I use people as my filter on what information I should be reading.
The operating premise for all social filtering is simple; we trust the opinions of people more than companies. We build relationships with individuals (people) more easily than with companies. It is easier to be loyal to a person than a company. So when it comes to needing information people will more readily turn to people. This Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious (BGO) reinforces why companies need to continue to move towards a social model of business and a culture that empowers more employees to build relationships with the outside world. In a networked world communication choke points are lost opportunities.

Related posts:

1. I Follow People – Not Publications
2. Subscribing to People – Not Magazines. One More Reason Why Twitter Matters