Palo Alto-based Tacit Software has announced that they will release a new program called Illumio. It is designed to search for expertise within networks of friends.
How does it work? In a nutshell, people who belong to a network give the program permission to search the contents of their computers. Based on the documents, drivers and software found there, the program extrapolates their areas of expertise. When any of the users in that network ask the system a question like, “which of the new point-and-shoot digital cameras is the best for the money?” or “Is the used car dealership on the corner of Lake City Way and 85th reputable?” it scans all the users’ computers to find out who might know the answer. The best part is that all of this information is kept private until the user(s) that the system has identified as experts reveal themselves.
There are a lot of potential applications for this kind of software. I wonder if the sofware that makes Illumio tick could be paired with systems like the one Toshiba has released in Japan that allows users to find out what bloggers are saying about a product by scanning its bar code with their cell phones while they’re in the store. Perhaps the same bar code readers could scan opt-in networks like the ones Illumio uses in addition to scanning the blogosphere.
This software could also be used to consolidate the expertise of networks of bloggers, giving users the opportunity to search thousands of blogs in a single topic area for the answer to one single question. Or it could be used for dating, pairing users whose computer contents indicate that they have the same taste in music or interest in historical fiction.
When we talk about “Web 2.0″, we often talk about blogs, mashup Web applications and social networking. But what all these new uses for the Internet have in common is the ability to organize and disseminate information in new and useful ways. Illimio represents another important advance in that arena, giving users access to information that might not be publicly available on the Web.
If blogs put the power to determine a brand’s future in the hands of ordinary people, then Illimio represents an intensification of that trend. It makes word of mouth marketing even more important to the success of a business than ever before. And even if Illumio doesn’t rely on the blogosphere to get information, you can bet that its early adopters will. The existence of this program makes reaching out to the blogosphere an even more essential part of any business communications plan.
Via Digg.
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