shawn farner|*feeding* the social web obsession

First off, I’m going to give credit where credit is due.  This great idea is not one of my own - it belongs to Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.  Darren thought it would be great if all his readers were not only connected by his blog but also by the multitude of social networks on the internet.  The ProBlogger Social Media Love-In was born, and by the looks of it, was an incredible success.

I’d now like to replicate Darren’s idea in Central PA.  Some of us have met at Tweetups, some of us have commented on each others blog, but do we really know how much we have in common with one another?  It’s probably a lot more than we think.

Here’s the deal.  I’m going to list all the social media accounts I have.  If you want, you can add/friend/subscribe to me - don’t be shy.  What I want YOU to do in the comments is the same - list your accounts on social media sites.  Everyone can then add one another and we’ll be a much more networked group.

My social media accounts:

Twitter
FriendFeed
Facebook
Myspace
Plurk
LinkedIn
Digg
Last.FM
YouTube
Flickr
Brightkite
Upcoming
Dopplr

Let the games begin!

Since the traditional sidebar blogroll takes up a lot of room, I’ve decided to devote a whole page to bloggers I find interesting.  You can find the VIPs link in the navigation menu.

If you’re a Central PA blogger and you aren’t listed, shoot me a message on Twitter (@shawnfarner) or send an email to shawnfarner[AT]gmail{DOT]com.  Chances are, we’ve interacted and I just don’t know your blog address.

The VIPs list is in no way an authoritative list of who is great and who isn’t.  There are tons of blogs that are probably fantastic, and once I find them, they’ll be linked as well.  If you’d like to recommend your own blog or someone else’s to me, feel free to contact me!  To those bloggers whose blogs I read - thank you for the great content.

Well, the new Facebook layout is here - that is, if you want it to be.  It is accessible by visiting www.new.facebook.com and logging in.  I personally have been looking forward to the upgrade to see what features Facebook would implement to take on Twitter and FriendFeed.  They had a real opportunity to turn the News feed on the Home Page into a FriendFeed of sorts by adding likes and commenting, and to take on Twitter by making status updates more of a conversation and less of an away message.

They did none of the above.

The News Feed is pretty much the same - and by pretty much, I mean EXACTLY the same.  Ball dropped.  I’m confused as to why Facebook felt it needed to add commenting to the Profile’s Mini-Feed (which I rarely look at) but not to the Home page (which some people scan religiously for the latest gossip).  They had a real chance to put FriendFeed away - Facebook’s user base easily dwarfs FriendFeeds.  A definite blown opportunity.

Status updates are primped up a little bit, but not much.  The Profile page now has a box at the top that asks, “What are you doing now?”  Very Twitter like, don’t you think?  However, that’s where the similarity ends.  First off, I don’t quite understand the rationale for treating status updates like Twitter on the Profile page but treating them like the status updates of old on the Home page.  It’s confusing - I honestly believe that those new to Facebook (and even some veterans) might not understand that these two status messages are, in fact, the same thing.  On top of that, there’s no way to communicate with others through updates (no @replies like Twitter).  To see the status updates of all your friends, you have to visit the “Friends” link at the top of the page.  However, these status updates are only that friend’s most recent - you won’t find multiple updates and it is nearly impossible to look at old updates.  Lame.

There are a bunch of other things I don’t like about the new Facebook interface, like the Wall Post/Activity mashup where a clean, uncomplicated Wall should be.  However, the News Feed and Status Update features are the ones I’m the most disappointed with.  I really felt like Facebook had a chance to capitalize on its user base and establish itself further as a hot spot on the web by implementing FriendFeed and Twitter-like features.  They didn’t, and that is an epic fail.

Why am I so high on FriendFeed? It lets you keep tabs on the web activities of your friends and/or those you find interesting.  It also spurs discussion for nearly everything.  Depending on what is shared, you can comment on blog posts, Twitter updates, Digg submissions/diggs, Flickr uploads, shared items from Google Reader, liked songs on Last.FM, job changes on LinkedIn, bookmarked tunes on Pandora, stumbled sites from StumbleUpon - yes, the list is huge, and I could go on longer if I wanted.  If it has a feed, it can probably be shared and commented on through FriendFeed.

This could change the way news is shared with the world.  If you take a look at this room I created for Central Pennsylvania, news items can be automatically pulled in via an RSS feed.  Items can be liked and commented on inside the room, which can make others more aware of a good story.  And, unlike PennLive, items can also be added by FriendFeed users themselves.  This makes news and the discussion of it more interactive than picking up a newspaper or reading an article on PennLive.  These sources push information out and don’t allow for contributions.

I seriously recommend that everyone give FriendFeed a shot, at least for a few days.  While I was at first highly skeptical of its usefulness, i find myself using it more with each passing day.  If you’re part of the Central PA Twitterati or are a local blogger, I recommend joining the Central PA room as well.  I really think that, with enough people, it could far surpass the quality found on the PennLive forums.

A conversation between a few parties on Twitter revolved around this question; is there a right way to use Twitter?

In my opinion, no.

I’m starting to refer to Twitter as a “swiss army knife” of sorts.  It is one service but can serve many different purposes.  For instance, it can be used as it was by Barack Obama (@barackobama) and Hillary Clinton (@hillaryclinton) - to send small updates out to fans and supporters.  It can be used to ask a question and poll for results, much as Darren Rowse (@problogger) does.  It can be used as a friendly way to chit chat with those you find interesting.  It can be used as a to-do list (tweet your task - you can make your updates private if you’d like).  There are many third-party web applications out there (Remember the Milk and FoodFeed, for example) making use of Twitter for other things besides communication between people.

Some believe that Twitter is starting to become IM.  I was part of a rapid-fire tweet explosion yesterday where a bunch of users from Central PA were all tweeting and replying to each other at breakneck speeds.  It required constant refreshes of the Twitter home page to stay on the ball.  While it resembled IM in a way, the open nature of the conversations (out in public for everyone to see) set it apart from services like AIM or Yahoo! Messenger.  Many conversations were going on at one time and anyone was free to jump in wherever they wished - even those we didn’t know were there.  It made for a fun time and a lot of new connections were made.  This reveals yet another use for Twitter that often goes overlooked - networking.

It all comes down to personal preference.  I don’t think anyone should dictate to someone else how to “correctly” use Twitter.  Watch the public timeline - you’ll see it being used in a variety of ways.  Truth is, there is no right way to do it.  You can’t tweet too little.  You can’t tweet too much.  You don’t have to use it just for conversation.  Twitter is a web app/communications tool that doesn’t really have rules, and I, for one, like it that way.

How do you use Twitter?

There’s a lot of hoopla around the web now that Apple’s iPhone firmware 2.0 is out.  The 3G iPhone also drops tomorrow, which ensures the madness will go on for at least another day or two.  Despite all the hype, though, I find that I’m not feeling tempted to jump to AT&T for the iPhone.  Why?

BlackBerry.

I recently became the owner of a BlackBerry Pearl.  In just a short period of time, the way I stay connected has changed dramatically.  No longer am I tethered to a laptop or desktop computer.  I can talk on AIM, Yahoo or MSN.  I can receive email.  I can be notified of new wall posts or messages on Facebook.  And the most beautiful thing is that all of these apps can run in the background and will push notifications to me.  Only being able to run one application at a time is a real detriment to the iPhone.

To me, true connectivity shouldn’t mean constantly checking all your lines of communication manually.  It shouldn’t mean having to ask every five minutes, “Do I have new email?”  It should be the equivalent of having a personal assistant tap you on the shoulder and say, “Your email is here.”

Why else will I stick with the BlackBerry?  Verizon Wireless.  In my opinion, they are the carrier to beat as far as coverage goes.  I can’t recall a time when I did not have coverage on the Verizon network.  I can recall plenty of times when friends on AT&T Wireless had to borrow my phone.

I’ll probably be alone on this one, but I’m also not a fan of device convergence, at least not between phones and media players.  I don’t really use the media player on the BlackBerry at all.  I would rather carry two devices than kill my phone battery listening to music.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fanboy by any stretch.  The iPhone’s operating system is way more user friendly and is much more polished.  The iPhone web browser is also worlds above the BlackBerry browser.  As far as connectivity goes, though, the BlackBerry is more of a web-friendly device.  Since I’m a web-friendly guy, why should I get an iPhone?

It is known now that Verizon Wireless has dropped 1938 Media from its VCast service.  What are the most followed people on Twitter and Friendfeed saying?

________________________________________.

It’s okay to be on the wrong side of a tech argument, but it seems that no one wants to be on the wrong side of this story.

I’m getting really fed up with all the FriendFeed evangelists who insist Twitter is on its way out. I can’t go one day without reading a blog post, a FriendFeed comment or a tweet (the irony) suggesting that the takeover of FriendFeed is imminent.

Let me tell you what is going on in my FriendFeed right now - lots of tweets, a few posted FF messages and blog posts. Most don’t have comments. I’m following a lot of not-so-well-known techies who are getting no love. It seems that most of this “world-wide talk show” revolves around items shared by Paul Buchheit (a FriendFeed founder) and well-known FriendFeed trumpeters (Robert Scoble, Louis Gray, etc.).

Moving over to Twitter - someone is clearing out their spam folder. A local journalist is @replying back and forth with residents in the area. Robert Scoble is on his way to HP labs. These people are telling the world what they’re doing and what they think is interesting - quickly and concisely. In Twitter, it seems to matter less how popular you are. It doesn’t matter that @problogger has thousands more followers than @floor9. Their tweets are weighed the same - unlike FF, where the popular users gain more comments, which in turn bump their items to the top and bury the rest.

Does Twitter have downtime problems? Absolutely, and I complain a lot, believe me. The truth is, though, that Twitter’s network dwarfs FriendFeed’s. The users are hooked. Think about how many times Twitter has gone down or deactivated key features. The fact that they still have such a strong user base speaks volumes. If anyone thought there was a viable alternative to Twitter, they’d be there. There isn’t. Those who insist that the Twitter exodus has begun or that FriendFeed has somehow “taken over” are being sensationalists. FriendFeed will never kill Twitter. I’ve stated this a few times, but one more won’t hurt - if Twitter is killed by anyone, it’ll be Facebook. And FriendFeed will share the same fate.

I will continue to play in both, because I do believe that each one has value. FriendFeed does a lot of cool things and aggregates social networks better than any other app I’ve seen. But FriendFeed replacing Twitter is nonsense, and I invite anyone who truly believes it to totally delete their Twitter account and put their money where their mouth is.

I want to give a thank you shout-out to Colette Cope, who got my blog listed on PennLive.com!

To find me, go to PennLive.com, click “Local” and then look under “More Local Blogs”.  Or I suppose you could just keep coming the way you always do, via my feed, a bookmark, Facebook or whatever else.  I’m hoping this brings in a few new readers, but we’ll see!

If you knew you could make someone’s day, would you do it?

I’m not even talking about someone you know.  It could be a complete stranger - someone you will meet once and then never see again.  Would you still do it?

It’s really easy.  All you have to do is the opposite of what they’re expecting.

I went through the Taco Bell drive-thru earlier today and, upon reaching the menu/speaker, I was greeted with this - “How are you?”  I know, no big deal.  Every Taco Bell employee asks this question when you pull up.  What usually happens, though, is I reply by saying, “I’m fine, how are you?” and receive an answer that consists of silence followed by “Order when you’re ready.”

Today, the answer I got was a real one.  I actually laughed a little bit because I was so surprised.  Upon hearing this, I immediately knew who was on the other end.  It was the manager of another Taco Bell in the area (Front St, Harrisburg, if you’re familiar) who had been transferred (to the Carlisle Pike, Mechanicsburg).  He had stuck out in my mind previously because he seemed to actually give a crap about the people on the other end of the speaker.  And now here he was, at a completely different store and still the only Taco Bell employee I’ve ever met who has answered the question, “How are you?”

After this, I went to Target to pick up a few items (a new whiteboard, printer ink amongst other things).  I chose to forego the use of a cart on this trip, since I was only picking up a few things.  After finding everything, it was clear I should have used a cart.  I walked up to the checkout and heaved my items onto the belt, looking quite dumb in the process.  “In hindsight, a cart would have been a really good idea,” I said.  The checkout girl, who was looking somewhat bored, laughed and agreed.  From then on, she seemed a bit more lifted, and all it required was a little bit of me picking on myself.

I know work and other routine tasks can seem a little bit monotonous, but they don’t have to be.  Imagine that every single person you interact with is having a bad day and it’s your job to cheer them up.  Even if they don’t make it obvious, you are probably making their day just a little bit better.