The web is chock-full of information but what we are really after as people is not information but other interesting people.
Is that really what people are after? An awful lot of the internet has been built around getting people the information they want. Wikipedia. WebMD. Online payment sites have been built specifically so we don’t have to interact with other people: we can sit in our underwear at 3 in the morning and get things done.
But we have a whole ‘nother side of the web built specifically around letting people communicate: facebook, twitter, chatroulette, reddit. In fact, a lot of the web 2.0 companies are based on bringing people together, whether it’s the latest incarnation of match.com or groupon.
The latter seems like a much better business to be in. There’s only so many processes you can automate and dehumanize. There’s an infinite number of relationships that could be built.
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