The social networks have been there which cater to our personal/professional requirements to connect. Although, they are promising and at the top but still there is a missing element in them which is currently being explored. The exploration has taken us to have subject specific/niche networks. Niche networks are those networks which cater to specific subjects. One of such network is data.world. It is meant for the data hungry people who are looking for data or would like to share data. This network gives us functionality similar to twitter, Facebook but restricts you to have data related themes and discussions. I have termed it as Data Cloud as it can also be used to store data privately as well.
Emergence of content specific networks
Facebook, Twitter, G+ are crowded network and searching relevant information on such networks has become a headache. All these networks fulfill our requirement to connect but also give us a lot of noise in terms of advertisements, hollow posts etc. Niche/Content specific networks are here to fill that void and give us a space where we can go to look for relevant information. Another value which such networks provide is the easy reach to specific audience. Facebook’s value is from the way it connects you with friends and families. But when it comes to business/professional connect, it is only an advertisement platform for promotion. The content specific networks like data.world, slideshare.com have understood this need and given us these niche platforms.
Data Cloud – Platform for sharing data
We are already aware of having storage available on the cloud for personal/professional use. It is all unstructured data which we store on the cloud today. Data Cloud refers to having subject specific data with relevant details so that it could be reused. It gives us the opportunity to create data specific group which can be accessed publicly. It has features similar to twitter which lets you follow individuals and groups. Other useful feature is that you can even have the licensing terms defined for the data you share.
Simplified Data Views
As we have a social network dedicated to Data, so it also makes sense to have the data displayed in a simplified way. Data Cloud – ‘data.world’ shows all the data in simplest form which can easily be browsed. Whatever is the format of data you upload, it will show the data in specified configured forms. You don’t need any extra software to have a look at the data uploaded on data.world.
SQL Query execution
If you are in data business, then you must be in love with SQL. And amazingly, data.world does give the flexibility to run SQL queries on the data even if its uploaded as excel, pdf, csv or any other format. So, no need to run manual filters on excel, just execute the SQL to achieve your dataset.
Aspiring Data Scientists
If you are an aspiring data scientist, then there is no better place than data.world to hang around. You can get loads of data to fiddle and many good data scientists to follow. Instead of looking for sample data on the internet, now there is one place where you can search for the required sample data which is real. Statistical analytics is the most important skill for a data scientist, and it can only be achieved through experience. When you have a lot of data to play around, it gives you confidence to achieve your level of perfection. So, join this new community to have your share of experience.
It’s the rise of niche networks which is making a big mark on the internet industry. I am sure there are many more areas which are currently being explored and will have its own impact in the near future.