The Google+ vs Facebook debate is irrelevant.
Yes, they both are in the spotlight for social networking, right now.
Yes, both companies are going to be very likely to be in an arms race over the next six months to a year to see who can offer the better social product.
And yes, I do have my opinion on who will be victorious.
But opinions aside...
Consider the broader implications of the historical event we are witnessing.
Since the Phonecians invented the alphabet (from which all major modern alphabets are derived) in 3500 BC, to the sending Homing pidgons from Greece in 776 B.C, to the invention of the first long distance telegraph line by Samuel Morse (yes the Morse Code guy) in 1843, one thing becomes abundantly clear...
People want to connect.
Humans are inherantly social creatures. And we're the only of which who are always creating new technology to help deepen that connection with each other.
What we're seeing with Google+ and Facebook right now is the next iteration of how we connect.
Will either company be around in 50 years?
Furthermore, if they dissolve will people in 50 years know who they were? Who knows...
But what's happening at this very moment in history, are events that will have a resounding impact on our global society in ways that we can only begin to fathom.
The fundamental shift
Since the first message was written in cuniform on a clay tablet all the way to sharing links over twitter, communication has essentially consisted of 3 components
- write message down
- pass along to secondary party
- secondary party accepts message
The most relevant example is, you go to your Twitter, scan the headlines, and read the articles that appear the most intresting.
Right now you'll always be receiving way more messaging than you'll be creating.
But what both Facebook and Google's longer term goals are to help filter the content that everyone else is writing down and deliver what it thinks will be the most relevant to you.
If that doesn't seem possible, they will do this by either +1's or "likes"
What this looks like for you
At first, when you type in "Movie" in the search bar, movies you're going to be most likely to be interested in will show up with showtimes. In this example, movies, you've shared, +1ed (or "liked") will be cross referenced with movies currently in theaters and delivered to you.
The next iteration of this will be predictive. Around the time you're most likely to go to the movies, you'll get a notification about 1 hour before the movie starts, and you'll be asked if you want to reserve tickets.
Beyond that, you'll be asked if you want to invite friends who have similar tastes, who you've most recently interacted with online, who are also likely to go to the movies at that time.
Similarly, your music consumption will also be tracked and to the system your use patterns will emerge.
This does three things for you:
1.) You don't manually select music. By default, music you like, at the time you like it, will be playing for you. Of course you have the ability to change it, but by cross referencing music tags, time of day, day of week, and keywords in your most recent status update or an article you've recently shared, the system will be able to select the music that's going to best suit your mood.
2.) When you're made an offer to buy the track, because it will no longer be available, you're going to be much more likely to make the purchase
3.) Based on yours and others with similar interests purchase history, the system will use this as a signal to slowly alter and evolve your musical library to reflect your ever changing tastes in music.
Now apply this same approach to sorting the rest of the world's data...
And the web becomes a very different place.
Your interests actually hold weight when it comes to filtering the content that you're exposed to.
And your purchasing decisions will be based on others like you too.
When you look at where the internet has evolved from, using all of your data to filter content only seems like the next logical interation in how we communicate.
But here's the real question...
What about the people without "data", the people who are born into this system?
How could these types of networks we're building now influence them?
And what happens in the iteration after that?
Tommy Walker is an online marketing strategist, and is excited to see where the future is headed.