Data Portability and Your Personal Brand
Jan 14, 2008 Uncategorized
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The biggest news of the last week has been about Data Portability. After Robert Scoble got banned (temporarily) from Facebook, a huge debate was sparked about who owns the data. And a few days ago, Google, Facebook and Plaxo all joined the DataPortability group.
I didn’t want to write much about it, because I couldn’t really decide on what it meant for you as an individual. But I just wanted to point you to Mitch Joel’s post: Should You Be Frightened By What Facebook And Google Know About Your Personal Brand?. It’s a good article about the whole issue, and what it means for your personal brand. Great insights (as usual) from Mitch, and worth the read.
[?]Tags: personal branding, relationships, social networking, web 2.0
Facebook Update
Jan 11, 2008 Uncategorized
Apparently Facebook is about to announce 3 new important features.
I think the first update is going to be really significant. It’s something I alluded to a couple of posts ago, and I’m glad to see this being done. This could be a big step towards really developing a ‘friendship’ model that reflects life more accurately. Especially since Facebook is (arguably) the leader in networks, it might spur other networks into doing something similar as well.
Either way, it’s just nice to see developments in this area.
[?]Tags: relationships, social networking, web 2.0
Yes/No Friendships
Jan 5, 2008 Uncategorized
Doc Searls posted an interesting comment on his blog:
A few years ago, when Google’s Orkut presented the first of the truly useful and enjoyable “social networks,” Rael Dornfest one night at a bar jokingly walked up to a series of people, pushed his face into theirs and yelled “YOU ARE MY FRIEND! YES OR NO!”, to mimic the extremely clunky way that Orkut failed to replicate the nuanced methods by which humans have always formed and maintained friendships.
It got me thinking about social networks in general. That friend-ing mechanism hasn’t really changed since then. Even now, on Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, whatever network you go to, it’s more or less still the same way of friend-ing people.
Yes, features have changed, we can do more things to our friends. But the basic idea of it hasn’t changed. And personally, I think it needs to. I think the “Yes/No” nature of social network “friendships” is far too shallow. And especially as we move more and more of our lives and relationships online, we need a system that goes deeper.
Something that captures the “Friends vs friends” question that CC Chapman asked, and his listeners responded to. For those of you who haven’t yet, I recommend you listen in to that podcast.
In real life, friendships have a lot of nuances. There are different levels of friendship. Different types of friendship. There are different ways in which we make friends. It’s not just the “yes/no” thing that social networks make it out to be.
How can we reflect these nuances online, though? That’s the question. I don’t have a clear answer to it. Just thought I’d throw the question out there. I think a good first step would be having ‘groups’, and having the ability to show different information, and interact in different ways, with the different groups. Maybe almost something like “sub-accounts”. I don’t know how (or if) any of this would work, but I do think we need to think about this, and how this will change.
What are your thoughts? Any ideas on how the ’social networking’ space can develop further?
[?]Tags: relationships, social networking, web 2.0
Social Media - Changing the World
Dec 21, 2007 Uncategorized
Yet another inspiring story about how social media can make a difference. Blogs, Twitter, Podcasting, etc aren’t tools being used to waste time. They aren’t just about being heard, and getting your voice out there. It’s about relationships. Connecting with people.
I personally haven’t gotten involved in this too much partly because I haven’t been on Twitter that much in recent weeks, and partly because I personally don’t know how I can really help (can’t donate online because I don’t have a credit card).
Susan Reynolds is an artist, author and just a really creative person. She’s been quite involved in Twitter and Second Life, and just building relationships in these digital realms. Recently, she has been diagnosed with cancer. After a “full afternoon and multiple stab wounds”, as she put it, she needed something cool to help keep bleeding down and relieve the pain, and finding traditional ice packs too heavy, she decided to use a bag of frozen peas. She took a photo of it, and shared her story on Twitter.
A few days later, Cathleen Rittereiser suggested that people donate the cost of a bag of frozen peas to fund cancer research. Susan’s friends took that off-the-cuff remark, and ran with it. And as of today, we now have the Frozen Pea Fund, which will be raising money for breast cancer research, in Susan’s name. Lots of people are contributing in different ways. Spreading the message by inserting peas into their avatars (pea-vatars as they call it), building the wordpress site, and many other ways I’m probably unaware of.
You can read more from Connie Reece. Or you can go straight to the Frozen Pea Fund and donate.
I just thought I’d try to help by spreading the word. Social media, all this blogging and Twittering and all, is about real people. It’s about real connections being formed. It’s about a real difference being made. Why don’t you join in?
[?]Tags: blogs, change the world, contribute, make a difference, social networking, web 2.0
Social Media 100
Dec 4, 2007 Uncategorized
Chris Brogan has started a Social Media 100 series. It’s a series of 100 posts, where he’ll share his thoughts on how to use social media effectively. It’s going to be great, so head over to [chrisbrogan.com] and check it out.
You guys may have noticed that lately I’ve been writing a lot more about social media - stuff like Twitter, Social networks, etc. It’s partly because I’m personally getting really involved in that at the moment. But it’s also something that I think we can all gain from. Social media is a great way to express yourself. It’s a great way to share your thoughts and opinions. And more than that, it’s a great way to build a community.
Those are things that Sui Generis has always been about. Letting your true colors shine through. Expressing yourself. Connecting with others (like-minded and otherwise) . And that the combination of those will enable you to make an impact on society.
Social media is great for that. And that’s why I’ve been writing so much about it, and encouraging you guys to participate.
And on that topic, what tools are you using to help connect with others and build community?
[?]Tags: Conversation, relationships, self expression, social networking, web 2.0
Why I Love Twitter
Dec 2, 2007 Uncategorized
Ricky Van Veen presented us with the case against hyperblogging last month. And Fred Graver gave us his response.
Both of them seem to make the similar point that services like Twitter provide too much information, and lack intelligent messages. I think that’s missing the point of what Twitter can be great for. So here’s why I love Twitter (I’m using Twitter as a specific example because I use it regularly, unlike things like Tumblr).
Personally, I think that the “too much information” argument misses the point. You wouldn’t complain that in when people call you for a chat, there’s too much information (in that short period of time) and the person doesn’t think through (with drafts) about what he/she is saying, would you? Or an IM conversation? And to me, that’s what Twitter is about. It’s a place for conversations. It’s not as much about information as it is about connection and relationships. @loudmouthman defined it quite well, as “the open plan office water cooler conversations“.
To me, Twitter is all about community. It’s a great place to hold conversations, to build connections and get to know people. It’s a great way to just build friendships and relationships. The story of @kosso and @01000101 is a great example (they met and fell in love via Twitter, and are now engaged).
I love the community built around Twitter. I’ve had so many awesome conversations. And twice already, I’ve posted questions (on two vastly different topics), and gotten offers of help within a couple of hours. Things like what Chris Brogan did for Noell’s birthday (he’s never met her, by the way) are just amazing.
Queen of Spain’s post sums it up really well.
“So I’m done with talk of ‘what is web 2.0?’ and ‘what is social media?’It’s life.”
If you’re not on Twitter, yet, I encourage you to join it. It’s an awesome place. If you are already on Twitter - or after you join, as I’m sure you’re about to ; ) - feel free to follow me.
[?]Tags: Conversation, life, relationships, social networking, web 2.0
The Real World’s Guide to Social Networks
Nov 29, 2007 Uncategorized
I’m on quite a few social networks (more than average, but nowhere near the likes of Chris Brogan). I’ll write more about why I’m on places like Twitter, and why I think you should join, in the near future. But for today, just wanted to share a wiki I just started. Inspired by a conversation from Twitter yesterday. It’s free for the public to edit, so if you’ve got any ideas about other networks and all, add them in! You can get the full wiki here, but it’s embedded below for you, so you can edit it right from here if you want. For those of you reading this through a reader, you’ll have to go directly to the wiki to view/edit it, sorry.
[?]
Tags: social networking, web 2.0
