So I've actually gone ahead and built and app for Google+ to help people curate more substantive relationships on the platform - so that in principle online social networking doesn't have to be about being superficial.
The idea is that it's just a matter of better managing the relationships and expending energy in a more efficient way - on those relationships that yield the most value.
I've only just launched and have no idea if the site will fly under load - or even if it needs more work before expecting humans to use it. Wouldn't mind if some of the HN folk would be up for giving it a test run...
edit - btw - needs a webkit browser. Opera and FF latest versions will work - but performance is bad.
Assess the strength of your relationships on Google+ in terms of how often people are commenting, sharing and plussing your public posts and vice versa. See at a glance where you need to apply more energy in your G+ relationships and identify those who aren't reciprocating as much as you would like.
How does this make social networking less superficial?
I think I'd need to know what aspect of it particularly makes you say that to answer you adequately...
But the problem I have on G+ is that it's hard to remember people that are willing to engage - the ones with whom you've actually had a substantive conversation. Of course - the mere numbers doesn't capture this - and I'm not pretending that it does. I've got more features planned to build upon this basis - but it gives you a starting point and at least jogs your memory about who it is that might deserve more of your time.
The intuition behind it is similar to when you keep calling that mate of yours to go for a beer but he keeps palming you off and not returning your calls. Eventually you'll come to conclude that they aren't willing to put in much effort and you'll start expending energy elsewhere.
It's relatively easy to keep track of this economy in our offline worlds because the number of people was not very high. But it's much harder to track online - our brains just aren't designed to do it. That's why we end up frittering away our time with whatever flashes up on the screen next. An app like mine is about helping us focus our attention on the places it is most deserved.
good site idea, but the url is very hard to parse (for humans, i mean). i don't know how much that matters to your project, but the repeated doubling of letters 'tt', 'ee', 'ff' is disconcerting. good luck, though!
http://puttheeffortin.com
The idea is that it's just a matter of better managing the relationships and expending energy in a more efficient way - on those relationships that yield the most value.
I've only just launched and have no idea if the site will fly under load - or even if it needs more work before expecting humans to use it. Wouldn't mind if some of the HN folk would be up for giving it a test run...
edit - btw - needs a webkit browser. Opera and FF latest versions will work - but performance is bad.