[1] http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/02/16/dell-pays-tribute-to-digg-with-new-ideastorm-site/

[2] http://www.mozilla.pk/blog/2007/05/02/linuxopensource-grows-ubuntu-to-be-packaged-in-dell-desktops/

[3] http://atomiq.org/archives/2006/01/how_much_wisdom_is_there_in_digg.html

As the semester is winding down, the latest topic to arise in the course is voting, and its implications within social networks. A great example of this, and its influence on contemporary social networking, can be viewed with Dell’s new IdeaStorm site. [1] The site, opened in February, has given the public the ability to vote on what it feels should be the company’s direction or next endeavor, a la digg.com. Although the site has only been open for two and a half months, it has already proven to have an effect on the company. On May 1st, Dell announced that it would support Ubuntu Linux as an alternative to Microsoft Windows on its desktops and notebooks directed towards home and business users. This announcement was not only an important step in the open-source movement, but a direct result of the IdeaStorm website being “deluged in its first few weeks with requests for Linux PCs.” [2] Allowing the public to vote on what it feels should be the company’s direction, gives an incredible amount of control back to the consumers about what they want and how they want it. It has become popular within online social networks to belittle how companies have recently been doing business by blaming them for not listening to the consumers. Such has happened with the recent launch of Windows Vista, as well as with Facebook’s modifications late last year. Other companies, like Yahoo!, are experimenting with social voting to determine new desires and trends within technology.

Although Dell’s decision to go with Linux doesn’t stem just from the IdeaStorm website, the site proves how valuable voting has and will continue to become in social networks and consumer-company interactions. The IdeaStorm website proved to Dell, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Linux was gaining popularity was in demand, something the company’s CEO, Michael Dell, was unsure of back in 2005. The implications from voting still haven’t been fully realized, but some issues, like cascading information problems can be seen. Just like with digg.com, others can see the total votes garnered so far by each topic, fostering people to be swayed by already popular topics, although this hasn’t been researched fully yet. [3] Like with any kind of voting, however, problems arise and as discussed in class, there is no guaranteed way of reading the rankings, as discussed in the Arrow Impossibility Theorem. Also, since the companies haven’t divulged how voting is tabulated or taken into account, right now it’s a gamble as to whether the public’s desires will be fully realized. However, as with the Linux adoption by Dell shows, there is hope.

The combinations of information cascade, social and blogging networks, as well as voting bring in all these aspects of this course as well as point us in a direction to see the future unfold and changing paradigms, not only in networking, but in how consumer-driven businesses operate and research.