Dave's Design of Consensus
I interact with Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn on a regular basis, mostly looking for angles to market my various inventions. I'm also on Twitter, but cannot attract followers to any degree.
With all this SNS experience, here is what I want to see on my wall:
A choice between how I want to see my posts: 1) in chronological order and 2) posts I have previously commented on. Depending on my mood, I will choose which of these two formats I want to see.
I want to see all the posts from my relevant contacts. This includes businesses, organizations, arts & entertainment, and whatever else THAT I HAVE CHOSEN TO SEE ON MY WALL. They should not be forced to advertise to get my attention.
I want to see about 25% of posts from my less relevant contacts. If a contact becomes more relevant, I can promote them to my first group of contacts whose posts are not filtered. If the posts are becoming more irrelevant, I can remove the contact from my list. BUT I DECIDE ON THE LEVEL OF FILTERING FOR EACH PROFILE I SUPPORT.
These are just what I would like to see in SNS. However, I'm going to leave the actual design of Consensus to the project manager and his/her advisors. These people will grok social networking much better than I. They will gain some very useful insights when consulting with the NGO and NPO world. In essence, the PM can put in whatever features are necessary for launching an attractive and viable SNS.
I should just add that while Consensus will be designed for the benefit of the NGO and NPO world, it should still be open to all. Educational institutions, governments, social-economic movements, arts & entertainment, sports, recreation & hobbies, religions & philosophies, and commerce. should be allowed to set up their own pages on Consensus and build up their supporters. And of course, friends and family should use Consensus as a place to connect with each other.
However, I believe Consensus should refrain from allowing certain elements of society using Consensus as a communication tool. For example, Consensus should ban pornography, like many other SNS's have already done. While some of these censorship decisions will be easy to come to, other decisions will be controversial within Consensus. I put in the “Rules” committee at the low ring level to start this discussion and develop some policy for the high ring to enhance and implement. I predict the high ring will establish a decision-making group within Consensus just to deal with individuals and groups who step a little too far away from the “betterment of the world.”
