Branch: Information Overload
Information overload is a hot topic as new applications and social services seem to launch every single day. Many of them promise to deal with some form of overload but often I find that they just add another “to do” to my list.
Email is one primary service that people continue to try to solve. Chris Dixon, a well known investor, recently tweeted, “Your email inbox is a to-do list created by other people.”
The challenge is that email remains the preeminent tool for online communication. One writer for Fortune Magazine noted, “Unless a communications tool is adopted by everyone, becoming the cultural norm, it is useless because users can’t trust their messages will be received.”
The problem, in my view, is that most of the email reforms that have been attempted are taking small bites at a larger problem. As discussed in the Fortune Magazine piece society needs a new communication protocol. Email is broken.
Beyond the need for a new communications protocol to fight information overload, conversations continue to rage about curating all of the social content and publishing that now flood blogs, Twitter, Facebook and more. Dave Pell, a leading internet curator and publisher of The Next Draft, told TheVerge.com, “People need some kind algorithm to help them cut through the clutter and I’ve realized that, for some folks, I am that algorithm.”
I am not sure that anyone has the answer for information overload yet but I wanted to utilize new communications platform Branch.com to launch a debate. Please follow along as the Branch will update in real time as people add thoughts. If you want to join the debate all you have to do is click “Sign In to Contribute.”