When Social Networks Become ‘Diversity-Aware’ Research Platforms PYMNTS

Bigger, better, faster — those are often the guiding principles for innovation, disruption and change in the digital and mobile worlds. What about smarter, and more diverse?

Those traits could find their way into more social media and online research interactions — and the payments and commerce associated with them — in the coming years, if Dr. Fausto Giunchiglia, project coordinator for Italy-based WeNet, gets his way. Launched one year ago, and now involved with some 18 global pilots with a variety of aims, the project is meant to enable better web connections and interactions among a more diverse group of users than is often the case with current social media. In the words of the project, WeNet “will seek to develop a diversity aware, machine-mediated paradigm of social interaction, exploiting the complementary competencies of humans to solve problems that are beyond the skills of any individual.”