Orlin Monad's Library tagged web2.0 →  View Popular

While on one hand, it’s nice to see something we know intuitively - that things already declared popular receive more attention than items without that distinction - on the other, the experiment as performed dramatically over-simplifies the situation for one very big reason: positive feedback loops.

The most successful emergent systems, those where valuable order arises by individuals acting autonomously, are successful through a balance of positive and negative feedback.

“the long-run success of a song depends so sensitively on the decisions of a few early-arriving individuals, whose choices are subsequently amplified and eventually locked in by the cumulative-advantage process”

This is more true or less true, depending on the type of network.

In networks that confer greater advantage to the most advantaged, this is more true. But in networks that limit the advantage of the most advantaged, this is less true.

By reducing the amplification any given individuals receive, we increase the probability that the message, whatever it is, will be filtered by people who are actually qualified to do so.

a brief summary of the benefits of
OpenID :




• SSO for the web
• Simple and lightweight
• Easy to use and deploy
• Open development process
• Decentralized, Free
• People are already familiar with URLs
• User control of information
• Site specific hacks are possible - use AOL user name to sign-in.

• Building open platforms instead of stand-alone apps (self-distribution is
  key);
• Spreading your product beyond the boundaries of your site;
• Building on the shoulder of giants (leveraging APIs from Yahoo!, Amazon, etc
  ...);
• The automated mass servicing of markets of low demand content and
  functionality (Long Tail).