Creating awareness of online communities by automatically connecting people performing similar activities
Xoost.com connects you with people searching for the same thing you are (via eHub).
It’s not necessarily creating communities, but creating the awareness of the possibility of a community.
The same principle can be applied to almost any activity. For example, if you have a database of users on your news site, each story can list who has viewed it and how many times, if this doesn’t violate privacy expectations/agreements.
What strikes me about Xoost is the passive nature of the creation of the connection; machines watch you, then connect you to like-minded folks. That’s handy. That’s scary. Make it optional and maybe most people will be OK with it.
No doubt this kind of service will become a standard layer of information experience on the Web. I suppose it is already is with Google (and others) tracking your information habits, though I don’t think Mr. G offers a list of other Googlers who are searching for the same things you are.
Distraction provided by wooden spoons and human skulls:
