Disqus - Friends of afhill

Re: Colin Walker » Lessons learnt or common sense?

colinwalker — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:32:40 -0000

Kyle,

Thanks for the comment and, I must say, I've been reading some of your recent posts with great interest.

I'm not sure how often I'll be posting at the moment but it will be more a case of posting when I've really got something to say rather than due to a misguided need to make sure there's new content.

Re: Colin Walker » Lessons learnt or common sense?

colinwalker — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:44:26 -0000

I always said it was just a hiatus and had planned to see how things were after August.

Re: louisgray.com: Relax, Bloggers: Nobody Is Keeping Score, and There's No Quota.

colinwalker — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:49:57 -0000

Nils,

Your navel gazing point is exactly where I was looking but the desire to expand beyond navel gazing can be self defeating at times. We have to achieve a balance with the things we, as individuals, discuss and the people we follow - just saying "I want to follow more people talking about different things" doesn't work as you end up with a stream full of stuff you don't care about. We have to manage the signal to noise ratio but it is very hard to actually find the right blend.

As the number of users increases the ratio grows ever in favour of 'noise' which is of course relative to our own interests but, also, the level of banality increases. If anyone is guilty of being protectionist about anything then it's about keeping healthy disussion rather than filling social networks with rubbish.

My previous experiement on Friendfeed with a new account showed that people are posting far wider reaching things than just the social web but not much of it is actually getting discussed - it is more of an aggregation thing than a medium for conversation but this will continue to change over time as people see the value.

The concept behind social media is great but we must avoid looking at it as some kind of Utopian system - current services are over-hyped and will come and go. Everyone has their own agenda and requirements so there will never be a 'one size fits all' paradise and the sooner we wake up to this the better rather than thinking everyone should use service X in a certain way just because others do.

Social networks haven't failed - maybe our initial perception is what is at fault.

Re: Getting too social?

colinwalker — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:58:02 -0000

The difference with sites like Digg etc. is that they are specifically platforms for sharing and the implication is that you will sharing other peoples stuff. You would not be called a spammer if you submitted hundreds of links to other blogs etc. You are only considered a spammer if you fill them up with your own.

The point of aggregation, however, is that you are gathering all of YOUR stuff in to one place so that it can all be accessed together rather than jumping off to multiple sites. Even if you don't like or comment or even follow anyone else how can using a core function of FriendFeed be considered spamming?

Re: Getting too social?

colinwalker — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:54:19 -0000

Phil,

I completely agree that those that aren't active shouldn't be listed as recommended people to follow on FriendFeed and, yes, I over-simplified your post but it is a worrying trend that people consider there should be a right or wrong way to use these services.

Re: louisgray.com: Is There A Way Back From Free?

colinwalker — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:41:48 -0000

By the same token as with developers, many users will rebel against the introduction of fees if there is a viable, free alternative. We then, however, enter a viscious cycle: how will THAT alternative support itself, and so on.

Re: Is the world binary or digital?

colinwalker — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:55:25 -0000

Indeed, but we are often so polarised by opinion that this is the way it feels. There appears to be very little middle ground as issues become more and more emotive until we reach the point where it's 0 or 1 or abstaining from making a choice.

In response to one of your questions: there is definitely no "one solution" as every case must be taken on its merits - what works in one circumstance will cause additional friction in another.

Re: Dispensing with the trappings of technology.

colinwalker — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:54:21 -0000

Matthias, it's not even an issue of cloud computing or not - it's a case of simplifying things, cutting back and taking stock both from a core technology standpoint and how that technology is used. We have to achieve a balance in everything and set a good example so that those outside of the early adopter circle (as Julian says) can see a positive impact from whatever we are using.

Re: Loren Feldman, Verizon And Free Speech

colinwalker — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:07:43 -0000

Steve, got caught up writing my other comment so excuse me being presumptive in answer to mark's point ;)

Re: Loren Feldman, Verizon And Free Speech

colinwalker — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:01:21 -0000

Mark, I think that it has been framed in American terms due to the constitution and the right of free speech. Yes, this has global implications but for the best result we should stick to what we know and in this case that means the position in the US.

Steve, I think it was a good choice to delay the posting until it was framed correctly - we always see a little clearer with hindsight and, while there have been some thought provoking posts on the subject, an immediate, emotionally charged reaction is not always the best one.

Re: Escaping the echo chamber.

colinwalker — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 10:52:52 -0000

Matthias,

Yes things take time to develop but I'm not specifically talking about FriendFeed here - that was purely an example and it illustrates that people get hung up on the tools rather than what they can be used for.

Social media has been around for quite a while now with sites like Facebook and MySpace having some good traction - good enough that Vodafone are using Facebook as a pulling point in a national ad campaign in the UK. But herein lies the problem: people divide the concept up in to walled gardens (my Facebook community, my Twitter friends etc.) rather than embracing it as an entire online experience. Forget what service you are using and instead concentrate on the people, on the connections, on the potential.

The potential of social media is incredible and the range of discussions possible between the diverse people on the web should be almost infinite but our segregation in to distinct groups is holding us back, although it is unfortunately unavoidable.

As I have said before, though, just SAYING things will be different in 2 years does not make a difference, we need to be sowing the seeds now and giving a reason that social media should be adopted if we ever want to see it go truly mainstream.

Re: An Ultimate Guide to Social Media Simplification

colinwalker — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:19:49 -0000

There are no conclusions per se but the post is up: http://colinwalker.me.uk/2008/07/09/social-medi...

Re: Social media: casual user or addict?

colinwalker — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:15:59 -0000

Although there is some debate over the real value of subscriber count it is one of the few ways we have to identify our "worth" as it indicates those who are willing to make an investment in what we do. Rather than being dissapointing I think it is more frustrating when we apear to lose part of an audience that has taken a while to grow.

With time away from the blog it is expected that active subscriber numbers would drop and this example was more for illustration of the point rather than a specific rant about losing blog subscribers.

Re: Freedom of conversation vs social responsibility.

colinwalker — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:57:23 -0000

Ryan,

Perhaps you need to look at why you lost contact with those "friends" in the first place and then ask whether you really expected following them on a social networking to be a cure all. I think you'll come to quite a predictable answer.

There is no doubt that social networking can enhance current real life relationships and spark new virtual ones but I am not convinced that it is really able to revitalise old relationships that faded on their own and died of natural causes.

We are friends with people due to circumstance and environment, once those change it is often inevitable that we will go our own ways and the glue which holds the relationship together comes unstuck as we no longer have our environment in common.

What do you think?

Re: Freedom of conversation vs social responsibility.

colinwalker — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:52:57 -0000

There may be no real expectation in general but what about the expectations we put upon ourselves and the standards of behaviour we set? By being involved in online conversations such as blogging and social media we are putting pressure upon ourselves to stay involved and maybe this is something we need to get out of.

Once we have invested our time in these activities it's almost like reading a good book: you want to know what happens on the next page, in the next chapter, at the end of the story. It is often not human nature to just walk away from something we don't consider is finished and perhaps our online relationships fall in to this category. While we can and should put the book down we feel compelled not to.

Re: The private messaging divide.

colinwalker — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:32:26 -0000

I agree that services shouldn't try to be all things to all people but, by the same token, I think there is a convincing argument for some form of basic functionality to avoid the need to go elsewhere.

Re: MooMag - real world social media.

colinwalker — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:08:24 -0000

Thanks mate.

Re: The private messaging divide.

colinwalker — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:00:05 -0000

You'd expect it to be in the room settings - nope!
Doesn't look like it's possible at present.

Re: The private messaging divide.

colinwalker — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:55:09 -0000

In my idea above the room would be destroyed when you end the conversation - totally ad-hoc. Or were you asking in general terms?

Re: The five C’s of social media.

colinwalker — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:49:18 -0000

Perhaps it's because social media is detached from our "real lives". We are under constant pressure at work etc. so may be more guarded whereas, for most, the internet is a means of escapism - perhaps many are more relaxed in this environment without the aggravation of the daily grind.

Re: What is the real aim of social media?

colinwalker — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 03:33:11 -0000

I agree, which is why I say that we should use SM to enhance existing relationships and create new ones which we can take in to real life for proper face to face interaction. SM will,hopefully, just make it easier for us to connect in the first instance and keep in touch when we cannot get together in person.

Re: What is the real aim of social media?

colinwalker — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:45:05 -0000

Yes, the concept of social media (rather than any given service) will have a big impact but just SAYING it will is going to achieve nothing. It is the steps we take to increase adoption and influence that will determine the way forward.

Re: Take time out - gain perspective.

colinwalker — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:26:11 -0000

Agreed - Facebook just doesn't cut it.

Yes the image was on Flickr - thanks for making it available.

Re: Early adopters and a social media experiment.

colinwalker — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:20:39 -0000

Robin, very valid point but I think there is an element of not wanting to annoy our followers with potential noise. We generally have a group of 'friends' who expect to see a certain type of content, if there is too much noise are they going to stop following us, or are we just too narrow-minded about what we are doing?

Different types of content will no doubt be shared by the same source so it is hard to hide those items we don't want to see without also hiding those we do. This is why we need semantic or tagged based filtering - perhaps then we will extend our range of discussions without fear of upsetting those around us.

Re: Ask not what social media can do for you…

colinwalker — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:02:42 -0000

Ryan, I was, of course, semi-referring back to your post: http://tillingthesoil.wordpress.com/2008/06/04/...