Information is blasted at us every day in a multitude of electronic formats. Embedded systems designers have been early adopters of these electronic communications since the dawn of computers. The Internet serves as our primary conduit of technical information, providing search engines and RSS feeds that allow us to customize our news updates. Wikis let us collaborate with interlinked Web pages where we can add information based on our own areas of expertise. Blogs keep us enlightened and offer the potential for commentary. We all enjoy sharing our opinions and value the perspectives of others who are experienced in whatever topic we are researching.

Social networks are all the rage now. The choices are numerous, with tools such as LinkedIn and Facebook being embraced by the business world. Here we can create our own profiles and invite others to share information with us. The developer community is especially familiar with online community forums, the precursors of social networks and blogs. We’ve come a long way since the days of Usenet and various user forums.

The emergence of Twitter has the world a’tweet, providing the ability to hold two-way conversations with a large number of followers. Twitter is causing some interesting conflicts as it allows us to communicate quickly but with “overly simplistic sound bites,” according to social media expert and author David Seaman. In his opinion, “Twitter has some good uses, but it’s making us all a bit stupider.”

Aside from possibly lowering our intelligence level, all of this information creates some credibility issues. Anyone with an Internet connection can call themselves an expert on the information they post, regardless of whether or not they are a reliable source. Few are held accountable for the information they disseminate. Most have no editor or publisher challenging the facts or prioritizing the stories. Information on the Web also has tremendous sticking power, forever adding to the clutter and confusion. No one is policing the data to determine its relevancy.

Delivery of information is also an issue. Some of it is pushed to you on a schedule of your choice. Some of it is pulled by you when you determine that you need it. Much of it is just thrown out there with no consideration of your time. While having information available anywhere and anytime is beneficial, that information needs to improve in quality. Who has the time to wade through all the comments and feedback posted by others to get to the real facts?

We need better delivery options that let you filter information to fit your demands. Many new tools enable users to create more effective profiles by monitoring their habits. Unfortunately, this opens up a whole new set of privacy issues that lets peddlers (spammers) target you even more aggressively. My problem is that I like to try them all in hopes that the Chosen One will emerge. For now, I’m cursed with too much information.

What do you think about this barrage of information being hurled at you every day through social networks and other electronic media? Feel free to share your comments through e-mail or visit our blog at www.embedded-computing.com. To learn more about using Twitter and LinkedIn in the embedded marketplace, visit www.budurl.com/embeddedtwitter.

Jerry Gipper

Editorial Director

jgipper@opensystemsmedia.com