Jonathan Abrams from Nuzzel on mobile applications

It was great to speak with Jonathan Abrams ofNuzzel this week. He claims to be a simple engineer, not into VC-style pontificating — but he does have some deep thoughts to share on the future of content, and where Nuzzel fits into it. Jonathan is an internet OG: from Netscape through Friendster to angel investments, and is full of insights.

While it is tempting to get onto the latest technology (VR, AR, drones etc.), the profound secular shift to mobile Internet still has consequences that must be dealt with.

One of these consequences is a complete overload of content. The cloud makes content generation cheaper by the day, social media makes it easier and easier to share that content and mobile gives you access to it 24 hours a day — often pushed right into your face.

The problem now is not finding content, it is finding the right content and hiding from the wrong. This is what companies like Nuzzel hope to offer: curation as a service, putting a filter on the great fire-hose of content, and the opportunity for context rather than just more news.

To install a free app should be no barrier to entry at all, but in a world where content is not scarce, attention is. Consumers standing in front of the content fire-hose want to save their attention for chosen sources, and getting a place on the phone screen is more and more difficult.