Social Discovery

Social discovery is becoming a buzzword in describing new technologies, including but not limited to social networks and mobile applications. Social discovery can be defined in two way. The first definition is applied to resources where one user finds out information about another. In a more general sense, social discovery can also mean that a user gets information about anything based on reviews, advice or other input from another user.

One use of social discovery is in established social networks like Facebook. Whenever users access data about another person, whether it’s the name or user name of the individual, or aspects of the individual’s profile, that constitutes social discovery. In other kinds of social discovery, Facebook users can promote causes, recommend goods and services, or share other opinions through the social platform. Other technologies can also facilitate social discovery in many different ways. For example, a site that lets users review restaurants could be called a "social discovery resource" because other users can choose restaurants based on previous input, which can be considered a "social".

It’s a collaborative process that takes advantage of current social technologies. Today social discovery is mainly conducted via social networking and social data technologies. Through these social platforms, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, LinkedIn, and Yelp, social discovery is possible! Innovation with this relatively new technology began in the late 1990’s – just a handful of years after the Internet was first being available to the masses.