Which web are you from?

Early this morning I read and shared a post by Zemanta cofounder Bostjan Spetic. Bostjan reveals his findings that most Zemanta users are for more interested in relevance over popularity. After sharing the message, I received an instant reply from a good friend Mahendra Palsule:

It made sense to Mahendra that the community of Zemanta users (bloggers) is biased towards content relevance over popularity. Mahendra just happens to be one of my favorite social web/tech bloggers* and I rely on his perspective to enrich my own views based on trust.

Consider the correlation of social web users who prefer relevance over popularity, and how the Internet is made up of many threaded subnets, not just technically but socially. Many users may mix the definition of popularity and relevance, but to me these are two drastically different concepts. For most information (outside of major catastrophes, breakthroughs, and war) relevance is highly personal. A community which shares interests, can also share a feeling of relevance for content. Popularity is powered by raw numbers, with no consideration for individual preference. Imagine the entire world dominated by averages. Average art, pop music, average companies, average style, and average startups. It would pale in comparison to the wonderful diversity that exists today.

I wondered if there is correlation in those who prefer popularity over relevance to the number of browsers who only skim articles (85-90%)? This group would define a large surface browsing web. Of course there’s an entire sub-web with content specifically targeting that behavior. There’s also another web, where the community both publishes and consumes content more deeply. And there are many networks between and surrounding these examples. The Net continues to surprise and fascinate me as it evolves, and we change with it. Where do each of us belong in the continuum of layered webs?

Although I appreciate the global convergence of like minds, I’m terrified by the plague of group think. My interests and the nature of the web allow me to move effortlessly between communities without fear of excommunication.

*note, Just a few of my favorite web tech bloggers: Louis Gray, Mahendra Palsule, Robert Scoble, Marshall Kirkpatrick, Fred Wilson and many more.

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  • http://yorkstreetproperties.com/ Lance

    Content relevance totally beats popularity. A blog or site or article that's popular may rank high at the moment but in the long run, those relevant blogs, links, articles, etc… are the ones that really last in terms of usability, purpose and meaning.

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    Right on Lance. Popular content can be a flash in the pan, that has little to no impact. Relevance usually has measurable meaning or impact, even if it's just for one person.

  • http://twitter.com/inderpalwig Inderpal Wig

    I think it comes down to what the different users gain, or get value from – some people might find it more valuable to be connected with and on the same page as the majority, whereas some find it more valuable if the content is relevant, and for others perhaps it's a combination of both? At the end of the day, we're all spending endless hours online because we're getting something or other out of it – be it entertainment, community, connections, knowledge, growth, etc.

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    I recognize that valuing popularity can install a sense of belonging which becomes a form of relevancy for some. But there should be care taken to remember that the ideas are not equal for all user subgroups (or in all situations). Within the raging heard of popularity their lies a signal voice.

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  • igzebedze

    Great discussion! Tnx Mark for following up on this.

    “For most information (outside of major catastrophes, breakthroughs, and war) relevance is highly personal.”

    … popularity is the lowest common denominator of the public (vox populi = the popular voice), but this thread can also be turned arround to: “popularity IS relevance for a subset of the public”.

    There are users who are interested in popular stuff and there is nothing wrong with that:

    A great web enabled change in the media ecosystem is the wealth of and ease of finding niche information / content, giving much more opportunities for evolution of relevancy-oriented audiences engaged in niche subjects.

    Which means, satisfying interest in popular stuff used to be easier / more accessible. But with the online media, it is almost as easy to find information / content about our very personal, unique, quirky interests.

    Zemanta's mission is to provide part of the infrastructure required to make this flow of content and inter-connectedness work for everyone. We are leveling the content play-field and showing that popularity is just one of the content niches.

    Basically, it is no surprise that our users find popularity less important, but that is not because they are a subset, but because they are a decent sample.

    The world is moving towards a better state, where relevant is popular again. We hope to be making the blogsphere a better place. One blog at a time.

    Best, B

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    Great way of looking at the communities Bostjan, thanks for stopping by. What's popular to one group, isn't popular for the sum of all groups. I have to keep my information filtering geared towards groups/lists created by people.

    Even with highly relevant entities extracted from social streams (blogs, etc), there's a need for ranking and authority. Upvotes within the subgroup (something like reddit's architecture). Can Zemanta help there by keeping track of how often articles are clicked for a given entity (improve your keyword identification by user activity)?

  • Laurent Boncenne

    Unique thinking as a mass is what we froggies call it.
    Content relevance sure is the most important factor, but to have it you have to have the average. I sometime feel that I need to view average things to know what is then relevant for me.
    Pretty much like you would say this is one good looking car and that other is ugly as hell.
    But even if things are relevant to ones need/interest, can it be non intrusive, as in not making me waste too much of my time reading what is actually relevant to me and if admittedly is relevant and of interest for me that I can spend less time with less content for a specific subject.
    my bookmarks and Instapaper account are filled with bookmarks of all sorts, I'm never going to read half of it or return to them even though they are actually relevant for me ! That kinda bugs me in fact. Too much relevance isn't necessarily that great imho.

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    I suppose we need levels of relevance.

    Came across some incredible posts/comments at emergentbydesign.com

  • Laurent Boncenne

    I quickly went to the link, will have to check it out !
    It does bring the problem tho that it adds again another relevant content to
    me. In this case, I tend to believe (thanks to you in part, and also because
    of the few frenchies I follow who keep flooding my timeline with something
    completely irrelevant to me got me thinking…) that carefully choosing your
    social graph will help in the end of the process.

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    Just a shared find, best browsed instead of a predictable sitcom but
    not as important as “bread money”. I struggle with balancing my
    reading, blogging, day job, startup, and most importantly my fiancé
    and loved ones.

  • Laurent Boncenne

    I'm thinking of starting blogging too, but I'm willing to carefully decide which of my interests will it be. For now, Tumblr might be a good idea once I start posting stuff :)
    Since I've got some sort of freelancing jobs, i've got more time to spend on various things, but it's never easy. Always trying to find the right calendar/todo app that lets me stay organized and focused.
    I've got Doit.im for the todo/GTD app but the calendar is really missing and google calendar is not really the kind of UX I like….