
PageRank has revolutionized web search but maybe also delayed social apps for years (due to fear of out of control spam in such apps). Do you agree? - amichail

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danielha
I don't quite understand the connection. Care to elaborate?

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amichail
After seeing what PageRank can do in terms of controlling spam, VCs would be
reluctant to fund a startup that is much more prone to spamming (e.g.,
something like wikipedia, social bookmarking, etc.). So one might argue that
PageRank has in fact discouraged people from even thinking about social apps
for a long time.

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danielha
If it's on the web, spam will always be a possibility. I don't see people
getting discouraged from creating networks due to spam. Any quarter-decent
social application will have some measures for dealing with it.

Most social applications aren't aiming for the PageRank either. Their use is
grown through word of mouth approaches, not organic search. What aspect of
PageRank is doing this discouraging of social apps?

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amichail
The problem is that PageRank puts you in a mindset of creating sophisticated
algorithms that are much more resistant to spam than naive approaches. In that
sense, it discourages people from even trying out social apps.

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immad
I don't see many people being discouraged to make social apps. A lot of the
internet is based on social interaction (forums, comments, reviews, chats..)
and wherever there is spam there are anti spam-measure in place that work
reasonably well since these apps are all pretty usable. Maybe I just don't get
what you mean

------
volida
in any ecosystem there are the parasites. on the web your parasite is spam.

