Well, not really, but while I am adventuring around Europe this northern summer, I’m using Friend Feed, a useful aggregating service to suck in all of my shares on Flickr, Twitter, Seesmic, Tumblr, del.icio.us and elsewhere on my growing social network. And I wondered why I wasn’t getting so much (proper) blogging done lately!
I’ve been using Friend Feed for a week now and find it immensely useful to track my own friends’ postings from diverse services. Once travel proper commences this weekend, posts via any of my services wll find their way here. Kind of cheating I know … but it’s the (so-far) easiest way I’ve found to keep faith with entries here whilst away.
My connectivity tools of choice this summer are the iPhone and my G4 Powerbook laptop.
Here then is an embedded link to my Friend Feed where postings via aforesaid social networking sites will get posted. My diary appears as key events in the Facebook widget in the left sidebar.
‘Aloha’ or should that be ‘bonjour.’
PS I’m going to be out of the country when the new G3 iPhone launches here in Australia! Wonder will I be missing scenes similar to the ones we’ve been used to from the US in recent times.
I didn’t think I was a party girl, not until I got sucked into the ongoing party that is Seesmic this past week. Just as in the real world, too much partying means other work doesn’t get done. There’s been a bit too much fun joining in conversations that range from the brilliant through the banal to the just plain silly! Just like any old party really. Time to sit down and reflect on the experience in words … and a few moving pictures. Have a look in the sidebar over on the left. You’ll see a new widget which I proudly built myself using Sprout Builder. I got a little help from a new contact Duncan Riley who I met and have now friended on Friend Feed. I’m liking Friend Feed by the way; it’s a great way to aggregate all your socialising round the web. All this mucking round in social applications is a sure way to get social!
Lest you think I was too involved in the banal side of things, let me say that eavesdropping or joining in on conversations has yielded a treasure trove of ideas and a confirmation that this kind of social networking has the goods. A thread (conversation) from today (which is also yesterday for some of the commenters) began digging into the educational value of video conversations … from signing for deaf through language study and outreach for the ’shut-ins’. People are sharing aspirations, ideas … there was a great thread stimulated by Ken Robinson’s TED talk from a year or so ago on whether schools kill creativity. Then there are birthday wishes with songs, favourite hats, pets who wander by and are introduced, mashed up images and music … little art-works on the run, and even sharing a glass of wine together … I’m sufficiently interested in this to be checking out the labels you’ll be pleased to hear. But you only have to ask and the label is held up close to the camera accompanied by a wine-appraisal! By the way, wine appears to be the beverage of choice in the evening. It’s a bit unnerving when you’re drinking a wake-up coffee to see the north Americans chugging their chardonnay the night before. It’s probably the same when the French contingent start Bon-jouring to see us already on the plonk … ahhh ‘les aussies … le binge’ you can almost hear them thinking.
It’s surprising how quickly those performance anxieties disappear when you’ve been ‘on’ for a while. Conversation flows, and the community appears to be extremely tolerant and supportive … with the exception of an idiotic spam post from someone yesterday … quickly dumped by the Seesmic moderators … it’s been a most pleasant experience. And that absolutely valid bit of censorship sparked a great thread on how to self-moderate, which spun on to censorship etc. etc.
Check it out. Lurk for a bit and join in if you feel up to it. You, your hats, your ideas, and conversation in whatever accent or language you choose will be welcomed.
It’s been a busy couple of days for me. Ignoring the beautiful weather outside, I’ve been engaged in video conversations with the Seesmic community. My previous post outlined some of the challenges I faced at the outset.
I’ve been interested to see how others on Seesmic deal with video commenting. The style is eclectic; some are better on camera than others. Some of the conversations are light banter and chatter … a bit like real-life conversation. And then a post will come along that gets everyone going, and this is within seconds!
Cathy Brooks on Seesmic began a thread a couple of days back which simply asked ‘How will video conversation change the way you comment?’ I came in late with my 2c worth, and thought this was too good not to share with you. So below (and also on Cathy’s blog and using the new Seesmic embeddable thread player) you can read what has been said so far. At the time of posting, mine was the final comment in the thread.
Without in any way gazumping the commenters, and no you probably couldn’t anyway … the expression and nuance are the meaning in many if not all posts … here were some of the issues raised:
comment anxiety
authenticity and commenting
personal appearance
difference between writing and speaking
the implications of viral commenting
the courage to be bare-faced about it all
Sound familiar? Some of these emerged during the conversation recently in the 31 Day Comment Challenge.
Comment systems are the latest webb apps to intrigue me, but boy are they volatile. I had pretty much decided to let go of CoComment and throw in my lot with Disqus both regular, traditional comment systems … you know, the kind where you use words and write sentences? At the same time I was lamenting the fact that old Wordpress comments won’t show up in Disqus.
I’d been experimenting with Seesmic, the video commenting system during the recent 31 Day Comment Challenge, but found the jury to be out on using video comments; most prefer to comment and to ‘read’ written comments. Undaunted I persisted, but suddenly and for about a week, Seesmic (which had become a secret favourite of mine) wouldn’t record comments; I was saddened as you are when a friend inexplicably stops calling you … but mostly I was frustrated. And then, somehow, somewhere the Seesmic gods took pity on me, and it all started working again. Aha.
Within a day or so what should happen but along came the integration first of Disqus and then CoComment with Seesmic. Okaaay …. moving right along. But wait, there’s more. I woke this morning to find that a new Seesmic embeddable player in blogposts enables threaded comments. This is a bit of a big deal I reckon.
Have a lookie below. This blogpost is embedded using the new Seesmic player. I recorded it at the Seesmic site and pasted in the code here. The neat thing is that once people start commenting back (either here or at Seesmic) their comments show up. Just mouse over the pane and you’ll see them appear in a time-line. You can reply directly to the commenters or add your own thoughts by hitting the reply button. Your comment will then get added!
If you follow the conversation, and it does feel like a conversation, you’ll see that people helped me out with some of the problems I was having. We also talked about walking a dog, interior decoration, the potential video commenting systems hold for retirees and other ’shut-ins,’ as well as hats! I’ve also met some new human beings.
Is this a step forward? I think so. And yes, I do feel as though I’m running on a treadmill, but I love the sensation.
I was searching this morning for an image of a toolbox or a playbox to sum up how I think about Web 2.0. I found this one on one of my favourite Web 2.0 sites Flickr and via a Creative Commons search. The toolbox is branded Google, but of course Google is one part of the whole Web 2.0 world. I think you’ll get the idea.
Web 2.0 is a great big toolbox of opportunity. It’s important that we try out the tools, find the one that works for us, and share it with others. And enjoy along the way!
