Google +1
Got Google + 1?
Google + 1 is touted as a way to help your family and friends find more relevant content when they search. The idea is that if you've already found somethign relevant and your friends respect your opinion you save them time.
That sounds great.
To get it to work you have to have a Google profile, and it has to be set to public.
Okay, so we have control over our privacy, but not if we want to use Google +1.
That's the smaller of two issues, in my mind.
If you haven't yet watched TED speaker Eli Pariser talk about the dangers of filter bubbles, this is a good time to do that. In many respects, this kind of social filtering takes filter bubbles to a whole new level. Unless we actively and consciously seek out those with alternative view points, unless we actively seek out friends and family who understand how to evaluate content from online sources, this is a dangerous path.
Imagine if you will, for a moment, that I'm fanatically liberal in my politics (big stretch, I know). Now imagine that I'm not all that capable of evaluating accurate sources from inaccurate ones, those with a left leaning bias from a right leaning bias. I surround my self with like-minded thinkers.
I ask: is that scenario all that unusual?
What Google +1 has the potential of wrapping me in my own warped political perspective wrapped in a blanked of ignorance.
So look in the left-hand column of this site. Am I using Google +1? Yup. As a technologist, I feel like it's my job to use new tools, but that it's also my job to think about how we use those tools, and how those tools shape us.
At the moment, i'm not yet convinced that Google +1 is intended to 'do good' -- or if it is, I'm concerned, very concerned that it may be a misplaced sentiment.
Stay tuned for more on this topic as we see how successful Google +1 is. It could be another Google Wave.