Disqus - Latest Comments for colinwalker

Re: Early adopters and a social media experiment.

rifchia — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 12:35:29 -0000

We must have a balance in our content. Our followers whom share similar interests such as SEO, may also be interested in daily life issues too. For example, i do upload pictures on twitter when i am enjoying myself with friends. The word "Annoy" is too strong to be used on social media.
Rif Chia

Re: Wow There Is A World Beyond Social Media

colinwalker — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 06:52:21 -0000

Amen to that brother!

Also, totally agree on the new theme, a real online newspaper type feel. Looks good.

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: IE8 Not Ready For Prime Time Unless You Like Self-Abuse

colinwalker — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:52:50 -0000

Steven,

Don't forget about the whole IE in standards mode stuff.
You might like to add a meta tag to your template and try your site in IE7 compatability mode:

<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=7" />

See if that helps (you'll most likely have to click on the little button that appears at the end of the address bar to use the right rendering mode.

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: Hiatus?

colinwalker — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:37:57 -0000

Thanks everyone.

I'll definitely enjoy the time off. I think that we can put ourselves under too much pressure to churn out the posts and can lose the enjoyment sometimes so, who knows what tomorrow brings.

Re: Getting too social?

robdiana — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:47:10 -0000

I understand your point, and spammer was definitely the wrong word to use. The concern I am trying to express is that FriendFeed seems to be a community, and if you do not comment or like, you are not participating in the community. Granted I am going on what I think the "spirit" of friendfeed is.

One minor nit with your argument about FriendFeed purely being an aggregator. They use "share" throughout the site. There is also no guarantee that what is shared is your stuff either. So, your digg submissions are streamed to FriendFeed, do you consider that "your stuff". Granted this is outside the scope of what you are talking about, but our discussion is headed there (and may be good fodder for your next post). A blog post is slightly different because you did "generate" the content. Activity streams (like Digg, Mixx, StumbleUpon, etc) do not have the same connotations as the blog post, though it probably could be argued that even that is true.

I have totally forgotten whether I had a point or not, so I will leave it as is :)

Re: Getting too social?

eng1ne — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:13:14 -0000

Understood. I get your point, sorry if I used your post as a soap-box of my own ;). I could actually make the argument that there may be too much blow-back actually.. for example, plurk *does* tell people how to use their service, but that doesn't stop people from using it any way they like.

I think maybe the greater point is for a social service to be truly successful, it has to limit through functionality rather than rules.

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: Getting too social?

robdiana — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:27:33 -0000

Well, like any social site, there is a sense of community. If you just dump your feeds, you are just self-promoting. Why even sign up for the service at that point if you are just going to spam it? I find it hard to believe that people could read their friendfeed river and not at least "like" one post. I am not saying that people have to comment a lot or even be that active. Just showing a little interest in some items on friendfeed qualifies as "activity".

Think of it as if you are submitting stories to Digg/Mixx/Reddit. If you only submit stuff but don't comment, vote or anything then you are basically considered a spammer. That is generally accepted on those sites, what makes friendfeed any different?

Re: Getting too social?

colinwalker — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:09:31 -0000

But do you actually have to be 'active' anywhere? If FriendFeed is only being used as an aggregator why is there a need to be active? As you say, it is personal choice and some choose not to be active in certain locations.

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

colinwalker — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:15:19 -0000

Follow up post now up:

http://colinwalker.me.uk/2008/07/19/guest-post-...

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

colinwalker — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:40:25 -0000

Thanks for the comments folks.

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: Is the world binary or digital?

MarkDykeman — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:28:23 -0000

It's not always a case of "If you're not with me, you're against me."

Re: Is the world binary or digital?

colinwalker — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:57:15 -0000

The world is definitely analog but it is unfortunate that many feel that they should confirm to one position or the other rather than have their own opinion. We feel pressured by society to subscribe to the extreme opinions and herd behaviour also takes over. To be different is often to be ridiculed or abused and we often would rather go with the flow that put ourselves in this position.

Re: louisgray.com: To Blog, or Not to Blog - That is the Question

jessestay — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 04:24:02 -0000

Great points Colin!

Re: louisgray.com: To Blog, or Not to Blog - That is the Question

colinwalker — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 04:11:03 -0000

There are always times when we have a down turn - whether collectively or individualy. I've been there and at one point didn't blog for months. Burn out, or just other stuff happening? Sometimes this just don't seem as important. Blogging also goes in cycles: we get the same topics roll round the blogosphere and seeing the same things again and again reduces the enthusiasm.

Blogging certainly isn't dead but a lot of people are realising that the blogosphere isn't the Elysian Fields of our dreams. Our sphere of influence is actually very small (even for the biggest of names) and there is an inherent frustration over the message being restricted to a small audience regardless of the quality of work. The desire to constantly reach a wider audience is what drives the need to be perfect (I am as guilty as the next man) but you have a point about being "good enough". If we realise that no matter how brillaint any pieve of work it's influence is limited then th epressure is off to a degree. We are always our won worst critics and put more pressure on ourselves than anyone else can.

Now, if I can just finish this post I've been working on for 3 days....

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: louisgray.com: Apple's Own iPhone Apps Create Concerns for Independent Developers

colinwalker — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:12:40 -0000

With all of the arguments over Microsoft having a monopoly and Apple being at a disadvantage, in the past ,I have always said that it is not strictly in Apple's interests to grow to an equitable position. Microsoft is a target due to its monopoly and the playing field has been artificially leveled to give the little guy a chance.

Now, if Apple were to achieve a significantly higher market share they would indeed face the same kind of scrutiny as Microsoft and IBM before them. Could you imagine Apple being forced to split their hard and software divisions into separate companies?

It was interesting when Apple dropped "Computers" from the company name, almost as if it wanted to indicate that they were more intent on becoming a consumer electronics company rather than a genuine competitor to Microsoft. It is probably this focus (rather than the enterprise) which will enable them to stay as they are but any serious moves into the corporate market will change the rules considerably.

Re: I wish FriendFeed or Google Reader would tell me who’s sharing my stories

ebrage — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:53:58 -0000

Yeah, that'll be a staple of how I use FriendFeed with relation to my own stories from now on, thanks !

Re: Loren Feldman, Verizon And Free Speech

sbspalding — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:08:43 -0000

What's interesting is that I have had a year to consider it. I remember seeing the videos a year ago. At that point there was some reaction to it but nothing like this. In the last year, I wonder what has changed. I think we all would do well to consider that things have.