Today Google has announced “Search Plus Your World.” This will be worth watching.
Anything that makes it easier to find information related to what I, personally, am looking for, that is fine-tuned to me, has the potential of being a significant help.
On the other hand, there is a significant downfall. Search that is fine-tuned to you is based in large part upon your history–what you have done up until now. It is not fine-tuned to what you might do in the future.
It can hide those “serendipitous” discoveries from you, and reinforce the “echo chamber”: bringing close the people who believe what you believe, and keeping away from you those who might disagree with you. The result of this is ideological segregation and partisanship.
In this kind of world it requires more and more effort on our part to intentionally bring close competing ideas that we can learn from.
And, unfortunately, it may very well mean the unreached are less and less on our “radar screen.”
If Facebook, Social Search, Google, Twitter, etc., are all about who we know–what happens to those who aren’t known by anyone in the socially connected world?
The need for advocates for the unreached will be greater than ever. You, the advocates, are the only connection that many in the unreached world have to those who have the Gospel.
