This is a topic we'll probably need to return too many times, it's a big area and is culturally and historically dependent. One thing is clear though, Authority is determined by the individual, and when a collection of individuals agree on a form of Authority then it can have an impact across the whole of society. The same principle applies when we look at the Societal Web.
One of Miriam Websters definitions for Authority is "power to influence or command thought, opinion, or behaviour" and although there are other definitions we'll stick with this one for the context of this discussion. In a society then someone who, in the consensus view, has authority can derive it because they command thought, opinion or behaviour. In the Societal Web then the decision on who has been granted 'Authority' depends, in part at least, on the impact of that person on others based on their level of influence and ability to set opinion.
Steve Rubel comments in his Micro Pursuasion blog that some sites might be confusing Authority with popularity, and that's clearly a risk, but if those who are popular are influencing others then, by definition, they have been granted authority. That doesn't mean they are knowledgeable, or skilled, but they have to be influential.
Twitter, amongst others, is beginning to recognise this, and, by using (possibly proxy) measures of authority they are beginning to develop code that utilises the level of derived authority they calculate to define what is returned by searches. Get this right, and there is a big prize, very big.
Micheal Arrington wrote about this in his post on TechCrunch here>> where he talks about those with the biggest set of followers having the greatest authority. We aren't convinced that the number of followers alone is the right measure, but pretty sure it's a reasonable proxy nonetheless
Google won the search engine war because it was good at getting the search results we needed back first time, even from poorly formed questions. Being best at giving authoritative answers back comes from developing the understanding of the semantics of the content and the authority with which it is given. It's a critical development in the Societal Web, and one that wil change the way we interact, not just on-line, but in our networks and businesses too. Watch this space.
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