Sick of seeing the same boring viral video posted on Facebook? Maybe you PVR’d the World Series Final and want to get through your day without seeing the results posted on Social Media. A new add-in called ‘Rather’ may be the answer to your prayers. The relatively recent introduction of hash-tags into Facebook allows Rather to scan your Facebook and Twitter for user-specific filters and swap out the topics you don’t want to see/hear about, with ones you do.
There are currently a few barriers that are keeping Rather from becoming a huge hit with consumers. Firstly the program works based on scanning words through hash-tags. As a result if someone uploads a photo of the final score of the World Series without any of the keywords you have highlighted, there’s no way for the program to pick it up. Additionally, many users are not using Hash-tags for their proper and intended use. So, similarly if someone uploads a photo of the World Series scoreboard and says ‘#gametimewithfriends’ or ‘lazyFriday’ Rather has no way of filtering out the photo.
Consumers these days are inundated with commercials and advertisements. Recognizing this, companies are making more and more use of targeted paid-online advertisements. Whether it be promoted tweets targeted to your geographic area, Facebook ads targeted to your age and gender, or pop ups based on your previous searches you can be reasonably sure they there specifically for you; however, the difference between targeted ads and Rather is that many consumers aren’t typically aware of that they are being targeted by certain ad agencies, whereas Rather requires users to consciously select what they see.
No doubt Rather is a unique program that will catch the attention of many users; however, I can’t say I’m convinced it will have long-term impact on our social media channels. Personally, I would be more frustrated by seeing photos of rabbits or cute babies that had been filtered in to replace a Rob Ford press conference video. Surely you are connecting to people via Facebook or Twitter because you’re interested in what they have to say, it’s a part of social media. To me, Rather is the social equivalent or yelling ‘CUTE PUPPIES’ when your friends are talking about a topic you’re disinterested in. So, while I am impressed with the innovative technology, I can’t help but to feel that Rather is discouraging the authenticity that makes social media such a unique and interesting part of our daily routine.