"You're absolutely right -- and for those of us in the social media space by profession, it's a way of work/life.
It would be interesting to know what the churn rate is on social media apps of various kinds. And whether they rank by any kind of utility or value (career networking, online dating, music or entertainment services, communication tools like twitter...)
thanks for the comment!
adrian" - Adrian Chan
"Nick, These are good questions, and you're right to suggest that brands define their objectives in using Facebook for branding purposes. That said, I have the sense that a lot of companies are still testing the waters. This doesn't mean that the bar should be set low, but brands can learn a lot simply by taking a few cost-effective steps into social media marketing/advertising/branding. So that's a benefit right there: experience. There's also the shift in thinking that comes from social media branding: from mass exposure and volume to social graph exposure. Entering the "conversation" only starts when you have something to say that's interesting to end users, and only when you have grasped the importance of listening, and of being an active partner in the conversation. Again, it takes some experience with social media to "get it," and here again I think brands have a lot to learn and from which to benefit. Another plus to getting your feet wet. Personally, I think that brands miss..." - Adrian Chan
"I hope for Techmeme's sake that Google doesnt get any faster -- but it's true that this will become the ref standard in non-tech.
Will we see a google micro-blog search out in the future?" - Adrian Chan
"Seth is stating the obvious here, but it might be an obvious that the startup industry's been somewhat oblivious too. We're in an ad-supported industry, but where our new social appliances are highly engaging, our advertising space is at the bottom of the totem pole. Where online ads fare best in the context of search, next in the context of context, and least in the context of ordinary page display banners, social media offer what is the equivalent of outdoor ad buys. Read: billboards. Online ads for social media still need to crack the context of social use and in particular the social graph and their related tastes. Should a Facebook ad speak to me, and my preferences, or should it tie to the tastes and likes of the member on whose profile it appears? We haven't even solved that one yet! However, I'm optimistic that advertising will produce the creative that is required to engage, and will find ways to approach the fourth wall that separates daily social interactions online,..." - Adrian Chan
"I like the idea behind wholetravel.com, but it seems focused on accommodations -- even the thematic searches offer little added value: "biking" doesnt provide information about bicycling in the locations listed..." - Adrian Chan
@scobleizer I agree. Their answer to the "what will you not be able to do as president because of this crisis?" during the debates was terrible. Both were completely unprepared. - JP Adams
nice.....very nice....O'Reilly should lead with this - Think Twice
JP: they can't tell the truth. The truth is that millions are going to get laid off. The deficit will balloon. Major crap is going to happen and no one will be thinking of nationalized health care if this all continues. - Robert Scoble
I bet you the sick people will still be thinking of national health care. And the unemployed people who can't afford to treat a broken arm, or the flu, or what have you. Healthcare is a base issue that will *always* be at the forefront of some people's minds. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)
Bush's final days have been called not a lame but a dead duck presidency. Whoever's next will have their hopes and plans overwhelmed by events. We're having an EmUrgency - Adrian Chan
Very nice but adding to QS catalog makes QS unusable. Moved to SugarSync which keeps a local copy and everything is hummning aling sweetly. - Think Twice
via twhirl
"Stowe,
It is certainly a time worth reflecting on -- but I'm with you that things can be done, and optimistic that we're in an industry capable of good and equipped for action. I quipped to chris heuer that we should start a social media corps -- a loose band of social media gearheads able to leverage connections, networks, and influence to lift and support efforts on behalf of a socially conscious tomorrow: renewables, conservation, global awareness, and good will." - Adrian Chan
depression? seriously? that seems soo extreme. - Susan Beebe
Alarmist sensationalism to call it depression. You don't know what you're talking about young one. - Ernie Oporto
And honestly, do you think all those startups that do nothing more than leech off Twitter's momentum deserve to live? - Ernie Oporto
sure it's going to be tough, especially for companies that in addition to experiencing funding hurdles, are little distinguished from bigger and best of breed apps... we're in consolidation phase, and too many services have settled with common practices rather than extending or improving them. copycats may have less to fear when times are busy; when times are quiet, hower... - Adrian Chan
Well, Google trends calculates searches and resulting clicks right? I don't know about you but I've never *once* searched for FF... Alexa, for all that's worth, actually shows an increase in traffic coming in starting the first week or so in September - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)
But Google Trends has Friendfeed with 40 K daily visitors while Compete has them with 500 K. Steve, were you looking at US only? - Julio F ~ @SocialJulio
what happened in November and December 2007. seems like people tried it and then gave up... perhaps this a exponential cycle. a series of users come and then leave... but each wave gets bigger. - AnotherⓃⓄⒶⒽ
I think AJ Batac nailed it - primary users jumped over to the BETA domain, which affected the live production site traffic stats. Of course, I said politics earlier and that too has it's own ripple affect - Susan Beebe
It's possible that the September drop had to do with Ed Dale's 30 Day Challenge; about 13,000, I think it is, joined FF at the beginning of August, and who knows how many dropped it in early September . . . - LJF Wolffe
summer is usually rough on tech news and commentary, as folks spend less time online... - Adrian Chan
"Never seen the originals -- Beat Takeshi did a fine one of his own a couple years ago tho -- which speaking of, check out Sonatine -- incredible gangster film with comedic moments reminiscent of pulp fiction, Japanese style" - Adrian Chan
It's a little digg at digg, isn't it? I think it's cool, tho who tweets from the browser anymore?
perhaps they can even tag up the terms so that we can see by size what's going up and what's going down.
scratch that, use red for what's going down.
;-) - Adrian Chan
via FriendFeed MT Plugin
It's a little digg at digg, isn't it? I think it's cool, tho who tweets from the browser anymore?
perhaps they can even tag up the terms so that we can see by size what's going up and what's going down.
scratch that, use red for what's going down.
;-) - Adrian Chan
via FriendFeed MT Plugin
What does getting that news 24h early do for you, Robert? I feel the same smug feeling seeing slower outlets sometimes but I'm not always sure I benefit from being so close to the news volcano. - Daniel J. Pritchett
I work for Yahoo! News - I get to see it before it happens.... - Clen Gampbell
if wsj was smart, it would have known to marry you to its online platform - and you'd be getting it there instead :) - Patricia
Guy here at work got an SMS on his iphone today from Rogers - USB power adapter recall - quick search in FF showed that tidbit 10 days ago! - Capn' "One-Eye" Longman ☠
For all those not in high-tech, Google Reader, Friendfeed, and Techneme isn't an option. Reading the news in the WSJ is the resource. - Randy Ksar
via twhirl
Robert, buy the WSJ. They cover and write the news. What would happen to aggregators like Google Reader, Friendfeed and others if there were longer anyone doing that? - Rod Bauer
via twhirl
I glanced over the front page of the NYTimes today on a coffee break and thought to myself, "geez, that's all old news already". - Brian Ries
The definition of "News" is something that is "New" to the reader. Those not sitting online all day can get a handy filtered, noise free and considered opinion in a portable format. In-depth analysis is missing from "lifestream journalism" and a good newspaper will expand "yesterday's news" - Michael Rose
The thing that the WSJ can do for someone is add in depth analysis and opinion. Something the social media echo chamber is rapidly showing itself to be HORRIBLE about. We get lots of info on FF / Twitter / Techmeme but much of it is distorted and biased almost beyond use. Don't get me wrong, I think there is HUGE value in FF / Twitter and love them both - but it is becoming clear that more in depth outlets are also needed. - Soulhuntre
Agreed. It'd be tragic for all if we lost what newspapers bring to the table. People should want to be helping them make the transition, not gleefully clapping their demise. Those are huge entities who supply jobs. Web 2.0 is quick to want the death of all things 'old' but sadly, none ever talk about or create models to replace it. At best, one out of the million blogs will be grown enough to be able to employ 30 people. Conde Nast employs hundreds and thousands. It's just a loss all around. - Patricia
I love my elitist brethren. And imagine, some people don't get or can't get news AS IT HAPPENS WORLDWIDE.app.php like the rest of the upper class. So yeah, thanks for that. - Eric Rice
the same with every newspaper in Sweden. - Svartling
Internet = breaking news, newspaper = backstory - Alex Nesbitt
This is the same reason I'm letting all my magazine subscriptions lapse. There's nothing in them I hadn't already seen. - Joey Gibson
There's still something about enjoying a relaxing Sunday morning with the paper, though. - Mark VandenBerg
My wife's allergic to legumes; since most papers are printed with soy-based ink these days, I haven't subscribed to a newspaper since the mid-1980's. - Clen Gampbell
that might be true for the news and headlines, but lengthier and more explanatory stuff often requires a bit of digging and some time to weigh and reflect -- there's much more to news than what's on the envelope. - Adrian Chan
I enjoy the paper a lunch. I don't really enjoy the laptop at lunch. And, if I spill my soda, I'm only out 50 cents. - Brian Norwood
I doubt that everything in the WSJ was in FriendFeed . There are only a few papers in America because most are really part of a homogeneous blob due to all the syndicated stories they pick up. The WSJ does not rely on syndication, and instead produces its own material; it is by far the best newspaper in the states and is interesting all the way through. If you said the NYT or LAT, yes they are all over FriendFeed and have little depth unless they are articles dealing with culture or their local domain - RAPatton
same here although I still read the WSJ (online only) - Chris Selland
Nothing new. I have stopped reading newspapers. I have my Google Reader in my mobile to take care of the news. Newspapers are yesterdays story. - Sidharth Dassani
that is the olds .. the news is what went right today - Gregory Lent
More than likely, print media will be hybrid models or go digital entirely. expect it in TV as well (already has happened, etc.). the next project i'm considering is a hybrid model in hopes to create an example that can work for both. Don't kill print media!! Just help it become more modern :) - Patricia
I'm a fan of the WSJ. They might not be the fastest, but they have some of the best insight I've found. FriendFeed, TechMeme, and Google Reader are better tools for determining what happened. I think the WSJ is better for figuring out the why and how. Different tools for different jobs. - Aaron Schaub
"Stowe,
I've been trying it too -- nicely designed, but it does have a few UX bugs -- you can't click through to see all of a member's following or followers. And when I used gmail to add friends, I had to add each one at a time, which is extremely time consuming -- and after adding a friend I'm sent back to the find friends page -- what's up with that?!
Until there's more conversation around posts on Strands, the whole thing is a bit lifeless." - Adrian Chan
I don't know, Jeremiah. He used a similar type of fear mongering to push us into Iraq. We should not be pushed into dumping 1+ trillion bucks for the promise of stability. - Peter "that one" Ghosh
Aren't you tired of a president who's always threatening the American people that his way is the only way? We'll be nuked, attacked, financially busted, morally corrupted, ousted from the Church, America, etc. etc? - Rod Bauer
via twhirl
I wasn't impressed nor convinced. More fear, big generalizations and lack of discussion that this might not guarantee a fix or 700billion woe be enough - Jim Goldstein
He talkked about his taking action, due to the bad loans by homeowners, to save us, not how the public could help save Wall Street. Should have been frank about the money being at risk. It was a very poor speech, even if he did read an Econ 101 lesson, because it didn't ask for any sacrifice from the institutions that got us into this mess. - Mitch Ratcliffe
via twhirl
+1 Mitch He should have spent more time explaining to the general public that they (we) won't be getting a bill in the mail for this. - Mark VandenBerg
It's 8 years a little too late for me to start respecting him now. Where was he a week ago? Hmm? - ::Kristen::
Fear...hmph. If you're thinking now is not the time to be afraid of where your economy is going, you're going to get an unpleasant surprise. - Shey
@Shey: Fear shouldn't be a weapon to procure assent. And we *should* be worried about the economy and our over-indulgence as a nation. But I refuse to believe Americans are a bunch of weaklings. It's gonna get bumpy and it might not be pleasant but we're not made out of glass - least we weren't the last time I looked. - AJ Kohn
His actions/policies and tolerance for Wall St. fraud got the US into the current mess. Sorry, I can't respect the guy ever. - Paul "Maverick" Denlinger
Doesn't really matter what Bush said b/c few people tuned in to listen. He's completely untrustworthy and why I'm ex-Republican. - Mike Reynolds
He waits until the last 5 weeks of his term, THEN acknowledge the financial crisis HE GOT US IN! - Shelly Weiss
I am afraid most Americans lost faith with what Bush is saying along time ago - Kim Landwehr
Just last week he was telling us that the fundamentals were sound... ugh. I think this mess squarely falls in the laps of both parties, hopefully they are finally getting some good guidance on how to get us out of the mess. - Michael Wenthold
via twhirl
@Shelly Ummm, no. He didn't get us into it, the banks, brokerage firms, insurance companies, and Wall Street Speculators got us into it. This crisis is the fault of the financial sector doing things it should have because they could. The only thing government failed to do was renew the banking regs that elapsed in 2001 that might have kept this stuff from happening. - R. Alexander Spoerer
There were facts but there was also this 'must act now' tone that reminds me of the war. It's amazing how much more effective he was last night as a communicator when he used facts, explained the idea in detail, and showed some genuine sensitivity. - Ryan
It was a well written overview and description of the state of things -- while not disclosing how dire things became last thurs, and while skipping over root causes and the impact of complex financial instruments. But it didn't feel like a Bush speech so much as a verbal powerpoint. This was something he couldn't have written himself. But that mona lisa smile at the end of it was 100% Bush -- that tic of his that makes you wonder if he understood what he just communicated! - Adrian Chan
Social media is optimized for ADD. Robert, I'm sure you're not the only one in the room. ;-) - Chris Baskind
Nah, he has multi-threaded attention disorder. Too many things processing at once. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)
Chris: that explains why I am addicted to FriendFeed. - Robert Scoble
I think he just has energy and a lot of zeal - seems to be byproduct of a happy, good life. Nice to see it! - Patricia
He's just multi-core and looking to maximize his efficiency. Next time I'll think of a more apt Seagate analogy. Oh yeah - he's multi-platter and likes to keep his drive spinning to maximize data throughput. - Aaron deMello
So if FF is the treatment for ADD, then maybe there is a business model in there. Robert, you should see if your health insurance company will pay for your iPhone and apps. :) - Dawn
I think that Robert suffers from Hyper Attention Disorder...He pays attention to software/technology/web at the expense of everything else. - Alex "Chameleon" Scoble
It's hard to know if the user's ADD when the technology being used is ADD! - Adrian Chan
"stowe,
it never ever occurred to me to plug my eyesight into my macbook in order to get 2 cameras -- have you tested whether you can assign which goes to ichat/skype, say, and which to dimdim? does the preferences even allow a couple cameras, and how do you assign audio?" - Adrian Chan
brian,
good post man, and a nice thought-provoking way to start the wk. I do think we live now not in the industrial age, nor in the information age, but in the communication age.
Social media are the socialization of information media, and enable communication to become a means of production as well as distribution.
Insofar as we adopt, coopt, and assimilate mass media forms -- in narration, presentation, image making, messaging, and so on -- we do however run the risk that we import broadcast culture and thus undermine the authenticity of social, eg. local and personal, cultures.
You're right on about the value of influence and communication to the distribution of content in social media -- but I sincerely hope we dont end up recreating mass media online.
As the volume of conversation explodes online there will again be a battle between value in the power curve and value in the tail... Let's hope we can keep the popularity fest that drives mass media from corrupting the integrity of social media! - Adrian Chan
Long post! I summarize the social media revolution like this - social media is the separation of content from its means of distribution and this means that access to information is shifting from institutions to processes. In slightly longer form I illustrate it thus - http://preview.tinyurl.com/5eo... You could call it democratisation or socialisation I guess - but I have never found these terms help me understand the fundamentals - since they are more the effects than the causes. - Richard Stacy
"dude -- that is a sweet-looking axe! I've been back jamming vigorously. picked up 5 new analog pedals -- a bit ridiculous but takes the fun to eddie van halen level...
one question on this -- where are the pickups? and what kind of guitar does it most sound like?" - Adrian Chan
"Louis -- i think Dave's method gets closer to a measure of noise, and your method, ironically, is closer to signal. Tho we'd have to fold in reciprocity, cites, and replies to really get at signal strength.
Here's a weird thought -- a white noise generator of the kind used in balancing surround sound in a room. Every day a post goes out and is @ replied to by those who wish to cite it. That would provide a measure of "room tone." Over time, it could provide a kind of constant measure of attention. If white noise post were sent out by a different member each time, we'd not only be able to get a sense of different attention levels belonging to each member, but could then avg them out and divide twitter noise by the room tone level to get a reading of noise/listening ratio.
adrian" - Adrian Chan
"I'm not a mall rat and generally-speaking I avoid them as I do unmarked freeway exits and the mid west in general. My experience with malls tends to involve headaches and parking lot exiting…" - Adrian Chan
"I've always like baked goods. I like asking friends if they want a "baked good." Sometimes I ask "Can I get you a baked good? Or a cold beverage? How about a hot one?" It's like they formed some…" - Adrian Chan
