Chorus, which is free, allows you to see which apps that your friends have downloaded and rated highly. It then uses algorithms to make recommendations based on those preferences. The idea, Mr. Jha said, is that app suggestions aren’t too far off from film or restaurant recommendations — people want informal endorsements from people they trust have good taste.

Jeff Howe has promoted the term crowdsourcing, which emphasize the potential of internet communities in developing knowledge. Friendsourcing in some way can be seen as opposition to crowdsourcing. Friendsourcing is based on the potential of relatively small networks of friends, which have similar interests and common professions. There is no wisdom of the crowd, but wisdom of a carefully collected network of people, which becomes a high quality source of information.

The other night, I said to Jeff, "I wish I could share my googling with my Twitter list, so they’d know what I’m trying to accomplish, and they could jump in." That’s friendsourcing. And when I need help, I am looking more and more to a blend of humans and machines. True cyborgs.