Tag Archives: Facebook

Radio stops with the listener

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What do you do when someone sends you a good video, a photo, or a link to an interesting news item? You share it. Maybe with a link on Facebook or Twitter; a blog if that’s your thing; or you simply email it to everyone in your address book. And some of them will do the same. It seems quite natural after 15 years of life on the net.

Now, what do you do when you hear something interesting, amusing or important on the radio? Assuming you’re not recording, your options are limited. You could call a friend, but by the time you reach them the song/interview/comedy bit is likely to be over.

All the good stuff you hear on the radio (or TV) pretty much stops when it reaches the listener. That never bothered me before because… well, where else _could_ it go after reaching me? There WAS no practical way to share it.

The web changed all that. Even the dumbest cat photo goes on and on and on.

Before hitting the record button or opening the mic, we should ask ourselves, “Can anyone link to what I am about to create?”

TED Talk: Clay Shirky: How cellphones, Twitter, Facebook can make history

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From the TED Blog: “NYU professor Clay Shirky gave a fantastic talk on new media during our TED@State event earlier this month. He revealed how cellphones, the web, Facebook and Twitter had changed the rules of the game, allowing ordinary citizens extraordinary new powers to impact real-world events.” [via @greatdismal]

“creativity thrives on constraints”

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The always insightful Amy Gahran poses a little thought experiment that I believe I’ve posted on a few times:

“What if social media (Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, Google Earth, etc.) were the only tool you could use to deliver the benefits of journalism to your community? You could still gather information however you choose (through in-person interviews, phone, Web, archive research, etc. — even social media), but you could only deliver your work via social media. How would you do it?”

I suspect this experiment is already out of the lab and we’ll see more and more examples. And I especially like the notion that “creativity thrives on constraints.” 140 characters. 30 sec of video. Boiling a story down to its essence.

Everybody is on Facebook

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“For a long while—from about the late ’80s to the late-middle ’90s, Wall Street to Jerry Maguire—carrying a mobile phone seemed like a haughty affectation. But as more people got phones, they became more useful for everyone—and then one day enough people had cell phones that everyone began to assume that you did, too. Your friends stopped prearranging where they would meet up on Saturday night because it was assumed that everyone would call from wherever they were to find out what was going on. From that moment on, it became an affectation not to carry a mobile phone; they’d grown so deeply entwined with modern life that the only reason to be without one was to make a statement by abstaining. Facebook is now at that same point—whether or not you intend it, you’re saying something by staying away.”

— Slate

Facebook disclaimer

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I’ve started paying a bit more attention to Facebook in an effort to stay closer to my nephews (18 and 16). After mentioning this in an earlier post, I’ve been getting a lot of “Friend Requests.” I have “confirmed” most of these. But I confess I’m not all that taken with Facebook and all this “friend” stuff reminds me of trading Valentine cards in fourth grade.

So please don’t get your feelings hurt if I ignore your “Friend Request.” Doesn’t mean we can’t be pals. Just know that I’m not taking Facebook very seriously. If you want to keep up with me, you can do it here. If I want to keep up with you, I’ll bug your house or hire a private dick to keep tabs on you.

Email is yesterday. Maybe the day before.

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If you want to glimpse the future, spend time with those that will live there. Back from a weekend with my brother and his family. The kids are 18, 16 and 12. They’re back in the states for 6 months to help Ryan get settled in college.

RyanspencerUncle Steve was a big hit with his belated graduation present, but after giving Ryan his new iPod Touch, he was a little distracted the rest of the weekend. I also miss a lot of birthdays so we did a little catch-up with the other two. They opted for PSP’s (Play Station Portables).

The family is international with friends all over the world. But the kids do not use email to keep in touch (“Uncle Steve, please!”). The primary comm tools are SMS (texting) and Facebook. I had read that but it was interesting to hear it straight from the teenage horse’s mouth.

I’ve had a Facebook page for a while but never use it. If I want to keep in touch with my nephews and niece, that has to change.

Oh, and those PSP’s? Wifi ready so when they’re not gaming (or while they are), they can keep in touch with friends.

PS: On Saturday we stopped by the local Apple store. Packed. An iPhone class was underway and there were more gray heads than mohawks.

Will everyone need a web page?

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WSJ’s Jason Fry wonders if we’re getting closer to the day when everyone will need a web page. He starts with the question of how we’re to find each other in a rapidly evolving future.

“…landlines are disappearing, yet there’s no “white pages” for cellphones. And we don’t want one — the rise of email, IM and other forms of messaging have transformed the phone call into an intrusive way to communicate, best reserved for certain situations between people who already have a relationship. Which is fine, but raises the issue of how we’re supposed to get in touch with people we don’t already know. The most likely solution to the problem is a single point of contact, with additional levels of contact information unlocked by us as we deem appropriate. A Web page — whether it’s on an outpost such as Facebook or LinkedIn or a site built out with communications tools — can serve that function pretty well.

A personal Web page is an opportunity to tell your story and balance out other narratives that you can’t control.”

I found this piece very interesting. When I google “steve mays” I want this blog to show up on the first page of results. Ego? Sure, for now. And it will probably never have financial or business implications for me but that might not be true for a twenty-something.

Role of social media in Obama’s success

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Podcating News points to (and excerpts) CIOZone article that takes a look at the IT strategy behind Obama’s campaign, which includes Chris Hughes, who was one of the three co-founders of Facebook and now runs the campaign’s my.barackobama.com, which itself is a sort of social network.

"The Web site allows the campaign to be “owned by the masses,” Spinner says, but he encourages even big donors to complete the transaction through the Web site, saving himself the time it would take to drive to their home or office to collect a check. Although hillaryclinton.com eventually matched most of the features of barackobama.com, the Obama campaign embraced the Web more enthusiastically and fielded many of those capabilities about six months ahead of the competition, Spinner says. “The DNA of everyone working on the Obama campaign is very much a startup mentality, where what matters is how you build it, how fast you roll it out, and how you tie it together.”

Six months. A long time in the online world. Will be interesting to see how the McCain campaign does in this space.

Will Twitter be bigger than Facebook?

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The guys (no gender implied) at AdRants are big fans of Twitter:

“Writing on Entrecard Graham Langdon makes the argument Twitter will be bigger than Facebook. He’s right. Twitter is many things but it lacks the baggage and some of the “creepy” aspects of Facebook. All within 140 characters, Twitter is IM, email, mobile app, chat room, focus group, news source, a wall on which to bounce ideas, a research resource, presence indicator.

It’s usually the simplest of things that have the most value. Facebook is bloated. Twitter is Internet Lite (I refuse to dub it anything with a 2.0 attached). It’s a simple but ever so powerful interface that brings so many things together and functions as a jumping off point to an endless collection of resources and information.

It’s pretty much guaranteed you’ll interpret this as idiotic puffery but until you use Twitter, really use it for a while, you won’t really understand what you’re missing and you don’t realy have the right to comment. Seriously. Give it a try.”

I confess I’ve given up trying to explain Twitter. And it took me more than a year to come around.

Quick decisions… little data

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“Quick decisions based on the smallest scraps of data. It’s not fair but it’s true. Your blog, your outfit, the typeface you choose, the tone of your voice, the expression on your face, the location of your office, the way you rank on a Google search, the look of your Facebook page… We all jump to conclusions and we do it every day. Where do you want me to jump?”

— Seth Godin