This blog is about enrichment of data value, how easy do you want to have it. And in such a way that you don’t need to do it yourself but that your contacts themselves will provide you the enriched information.

Number 6 in Gartner’s top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2009 is all about Social software and networks. Their focus is mainly on the benefits of using the growing virtual social networks for commercial reasons. For Data Value I see 2 observations:

1. The data value within and accross social networks. Within because it becomes harder and harder to find the right person, e.g. LinkedIn and search on Henk de Ruiter you will see actual multiple entries for the same person, and … no wonder you will find actually the same person via the ID Henk deRuiter. The cause for these duplications are as for any other datasource. Users (the actual individuals) didn’t know how to use the system (e.g., make a new ID per company that you worked for) or the systems cannot handle the linguistical and cultural challenges of the world. Since a couple of years we see more and more of these networks in coopetition. Where the networks ‘smartly’ use the ID – firstname + lastname – to collect personal and network information. This is not always correct. The challenge is even more in the synchronization, nobody changes things on all networks and everybody trusts that ‘the systems’ will do the right synchronizations. Initiatives of OpenSocial can help in this area.
   
2. The data within the social networks can be used to enrich your view on your contact. Mind that the data in the networks is not always that accurate, but for the most part, and by combining networks via OpenSocial, you can really bring more value in yur contact data – and that’s the value of enrichment. The moment you automatically link your contact data with the social networks it will be your contact that will enrich your data – every time he or she updates one of it’s networks. As that data is used for multiple purposes it will also give you some guarantee on the content as well. Let’s hope that OpenSocial or any other alike standard can circumvent their technical challenges and will be fully adopted in this area.