Info 202 Fall 2011

Article : http://mashable.com/2011/09/08/facebook-news-feed-changes/

Information overload is a big issue and consumers today are constantly looking for tools to organize - "Less is more". I like this Norton ad video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNb8w9dX0NU (not endorsing Norton here, but the bit about 'so much stuff'). There is just so much going around and and so many things to be taken care of - stacks of bills, rent, emails and not to forget that free ice cream sandwich coupon that expires in 2 days! Fortunately there are several Personal information management (PIM) web services today that can help us keep track. An article on WSJ recently listed a few useful PIM apps like 'Mint.com' - personal finance manager that keeps track of how much money you spend and where (my personal favorite). 'Manilla.com' organizes your bills, statements and balances. Websites like CityPockets.com keeps track of all your daily deals and coupons. 'Simplee.com' and 'Avado.com' - help manage your medical bills and health care records.

  The most successful internet websites are the ones that do the filtering for the users and present only the pertinent or interesting material. Conversely, internet companies like Yahoo who were late in recognizing the appeal of social network and reorganizing are losing out in the race. Lot of content doesn't translate to lot of value anymore. Filtering the ever expanding social network circle seems to be a developing trend. Taking a page from Google+, Facebook is introducing 'Smart list' that will intelligently organize user's friends into groups based on work, school and proximity. Users will now to able to receive and post 'News feed' to select groups from the smart list. Let's wait and watch how the feature turns out!