Making it social.

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It's unclear, to me at least, just what the people at Lijit viewed as their original model. I saw it through my own eyes and my own needs, and those needs were a tool that did something for me, collecting together the various pieces of my internet identity that I'd created via the various tools I use. But as desirable as a personal service of this sort might be, it's not really in the Web 2.0 style which boasts a rather collectivist spirit of "help yourself by helping others". I certainly can't object to that ethos, but on the other hand, in this particular case it's not exactly what I need, nor what I was looking for.

At present, Lijit seems to be putting a greater emphasis on the social aspects of their tool. We're told that by using Lijit we can find an expert in a particular field, and even learn from the way he or her uses other tools. There's more than a bit of the superbrain concept here. Each of us plays our small role, and in the end we build a whole much greater than the parts. I'm in favor of finding experts from whom we can learn. Well before Web 2.0 tools it was in our interest to find someone who'd built a site on a particular topic and to follow him or her. Instead of always running a search for new materials via a search engine search, we'd have someone whom we could trust who was doing the legwork for us. But at present I've got more than enough social tools, so what Lijit wants to give me isn't really what I think I need.

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Go to: It's a bit lonely there, or
Go to: One tool to rule them all?