The Social Matchmaker for Brands

How can we find birds of a feather?

In the science of social networks homophily is the 'love of the same' and often represents the foundation of self-organization.  Shared interests, values and beliefs bring people together.  This leads me to the conclusion that:

Common interests are the new demographics. 

The rise of accessible social interests and sharing maybe we should be thinking about matching consumers with consumers rather than consumers with products (the traditional point of view.)   As marketers can we broker introductions among prospects, customers and sales people - all based on a common set of passions?   Would this be a better approach than trying to work down a funnel?

Matchmaking typically requires aligning a set of attributes (e.g. the 29 Dimensions of Compatibility) amongst a set of people to winnow down the choices.  However, for social matching the goal is not 1:1, as it is in dating or education, but rather many:many to build a community.

The ideas around participation and engagement now become part of the mix. We need to observe what people do in addition to asking what they think.  We need to apply the concepts of 'collaborative filtering' to matching.