The hype surrounding CakePHP is obvious. This open source web application framework is gaining widespread exposure and quickly becoming the framework of choice for many new websites. As I have stated in previous blog posts, I am not a programmer. For this reason, the discussion will take place at a high level.
Social media is extremely powerful and scalable. It leverages the crowds to spur rapid growth. However, the very mechanism that enables this growth is often exploited in a counterproductive manner via cheating and “gaming”.
The basis of social media revolves around user participation and crowdsourcing. The ultimate goal is to provide the best quality content via a combination of user-generated content (UGC) and a filtering process. In theory, the larger the user base, the more likely the best content gets highlighted.
There is a fundamental problem with Digg. The site tends to favour content from big blogs and media publishers. Meanwhile, content from less prominent blogs and web-publishing entities remains in the shadows, unknown to most. This isn’t the fault of Digg itself, as the site relies entirely on user voting and participation. The flaw in the system can be traced back to the perception of users.
I read an amazing article the other day that reflects my thoughts on the blogging world to a tee. Famous author and blogger Doc Searls distinguishes the difference between blogging and flogging. It all comes back to the short attention span of bloggers and the high output of thoughtless posting.
Aidan Henry is an Internet strategy consultant, designer, and web entrepreneur.
aidanhenry (@) hotmail.com
You are currently browsing the MappingTheWeb // blog archives for April, 2008.
