Social Software and Suspicious Options

By June 14, 2016Bitcoin Business

LinkedSoft.

The most terrifying slide in the investor presentation for Microsoft’s $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn features this bubble: The archetypal joke about the deal is an image of the old Microsoft Clippy saying "I’d Like to Add you to My Professional Network on LinkedIn," but Microsoft and LinkedIn, two companies that are impervious to humor, have embraced the same idea. That bubble is Cortana — Microsoft’s digital assistant, sort of a natural-language mobile Clippy — tapping into poor Jen’s LinkedIn network to advise her on her real-life work interactions. "I see you plan to interact with a human," bleats Cortana . "Have you considered talking about your shared interest in sports?" It combines Microsoft’s legacy chirpy intrusiveness with LinkedIn’s grim determination to pester you with boring information about your acquaintances.

It’s such a good idea! Microsoft and LinkedIn are the great software companies of work, of boredom, of getting on the calendar to schedule a meeting. Work is an essentially social activity; it is among our most important social activities. But most work software — even collaborative interactive whatever software — does not fully honor that social component; it helps you share the slide presentation but not your love for the Huskies. Meanwhile, a lot of social networking software seems to be designed by, and intended for, people who have never had real jobs. "Make your selfie look like a cartoon dog" is a functionality that I suppose appeals to the tweens craved by advertisers. But, to a certain demographic, "chat up this stranger about Pac-12 football so that he signs a lucrative consulting contract with your company" is far more exciting. Of course you should read Paul Ford on Microsoft/LinkedIn : LinkedIn knows a lot about what people do and Microsoft builds tools for doing lots of specific, […]

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