Being new to social media means that you won’t hold it against me if I call February 10, 2010 as a tipping point. In light of the relatively small purchase of $50 million by Google of Vark.com (Aardvark – The Mechanical Zoo), I believe this is indicative of the shift from an objective web to a subjective web. A relevant search engine is very effective at addressing objective questions. However, human beings continue to excel in answering subjective questions and they have the added benefit of being able to help in the physical world. I am yet to see a computer provide food, clothing and shelter – much less something as intangible or valuable as love or true friendship.
I made the decision to launch an entirely new social media strategy simply because I thought Vark.com would give me the feedback loop I needed to make use of the web (see the early posts on this blog). I have been using the web since 1997. Until I found a human feedback loop I viewed social media as this gigantic scaling blob of rapidly diminishing relevancy to the individual that would collapse upon itself somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 followers. It was an efficient broadcast method, but was more suited to the voyeurism of Entertainment Tonight than a peer-to-peer relationship tool. Obviously the management of Google must think that Vark.com is worth something too, even if it’s only pocket change.
I know for certain it is worth a lot because I am already helping people on Vark regularly in a very focused non-invasive manner. Vark brings questions to me that I can easily answer and help people. That’s an abundance model if I have every seen one. Like I have said before, Vark is the freecycle.com of search engines; real stuff that you need from real people and a sense of satisfaction, thankfulness and gratitude that you will never get from an algorithm.