Wouldn’t it be better:
- If we could first write our posts and articles in our favourite Personal Information Management application, then publish them on our personal websites, and automatically share links on social media?
- If each of us had his own private/public professional network of contacts and friends where he could exchange or collaborate on common topics of interest based on information objects/entities, rather than data properties or bookmarks?
- If we could immediately see backlinks to our public content from users in our network?
- If we could customize and prioritize our news feeds according to our preferences, allowing us to view the content we want rather than content determined by others?
How to create more user-centric social media experiences
Many of us likely share these thoughts, yet we haven’t managed to break free from the major social networking sites. How can we address these desires and create more user-centric social media experiences ?
Well here is some action I propose:
Personal Information Management applications (a.k.a. PKMs) strongly resonate with me. This resonance stems from the potential of modern AI assistants to act as smart librarians. These AI assistants can perform tasks such as tagging, auto-completing front-matter fields, and even auto-linking in many instances.
With these capabilities, the long-held dream of having a “second brain” - one that mirrors and exposes the vast majority of information and connections we privately maintain in our minds - is beginning to materialize into reality.
Moreover, this advancement aligns with Tim Berners-Lee’s and others’ aspirations for a web of interconnected entities and objects, making such a vision increasingly attainable. From a practical standpoint, I propose a five-tier system for a local-first, peer-to-peer, linked open information ecosystem:
- ⭐ Basic Markdown files
- ⭐⭐ Markdown files enhanced with front-matter and tags
- ⭐⭐⭐ Markdown files featuring both internal content links and front-matter links to blocks of text in other markdown files
- ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Markdown files enriched with embedded or linked media files (assets)
- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Markdown files capable of organizing entities into sets and collections based on various views (e.g., grid, gallery, list, kanban inspired by Anytype PKM)