The Limits of Social Media

Like it or loathe it, social media is here to stay. But is it really useful? Sites like Twitter, Yelp, and CitySeach can certainly help tell you what people are talking about, but that doesn't necessarily mean the information they're relaying is honest. For businesses, using social media can help bring in customers or get the word out about their products or services, but getting useful information back on customers can be daunting.

Enter Bundle.com, which bills itself as a "social finance site" and which has the backing of Microsoft, Morningstar, and Citigroup.

"Perception isn't always reality," Bundle CEO Jaidev Shergill said during a presentation this morning at the Web 2.0 Expo conference in New York. Just because lots of people say they like a restaurant, doesn't guarantee that the place will be good, and the greater amount of chatter about that eatery doesn't mean getting an answer will be easier.

"Where are we going to be five years from now. Are we literally going to be at a point where we can’t digest the information?" Shergill asked.

The way to cut through that commentary and come up with something truly useful, Shergill said, is through data. Bundle.com, which helps consumers with personal budget planning, is using data to show spending patterns. Beyond a personal interest in finding out how you fare against your neighbors, Shergill said the site can be of use to businesses trying to determine what their customers are really doing.

"We think businesses can use this information in a way that helps them create new products faster than for the problem to actually hit then and they say, 'Oops, we have to do something about this,'" he told Portfolio.com after his session.

Bundle, which is still in beta, has a number of interesting studies online: how America spends money on food and where the best places are to get sick. Shergill said he views the site's main competition as rating sites like Yelp, though the approach of the site owes more to Intel's personal budgeting site Mint.com.