content vs people: what's important to you?

[kaigou]

I came across an article comparing several different linking applications (delicious, diigo, pinboard, etc) and the author raised a question that I hadn't considered before, but I think is pretty interesting. Feel free to signal-boost, because having some sense of what's important to fandom-users will probably be important down the road... and this kind of "what's important" is one of the most basic issues.

I'll explain more in a later post, but I don't want to bias anyone. For now, just have a poll.

Poll #8248 linking intentions

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 46

View Respondents

When you're using a bookmarking application, which path do you prefer/most-often take?

View Answers

Mostly I look for content I want, and that introduces me to new people
29 (63.0%)

Mostly I find people to follow, and that introduces me to new content
5 (10.9%)

I do both equally.
12 (26.1%)

Comments

[kaigou]

In other conversations (and thinking of my own patterns), it seems like Delicious was almost perfectly designed for that. I mean, you see a list of links -- let's say, the most popular -- and none of them catch your eye, but a tag or two does. You click on that, and you get more links, and you try another tag, and eventually you realize you're seeing some of the same names, so you start clicking on those names, too. The primary/opening pages were link/tag driven, but as you moved down through the levels, you got into the user level.

That's what I meant by the idea of using content to find people -- as opposed to a site like, idk, Linkedin, where the emphasis is on people. You see a list of people in your region, or your industry, and that's your route to finding something further, like someone's website or blog or whatever. You follow the names to find content.

[qem_chibati]

It really was which is why so many of us miss it. :(