shawn farner|*feeding* the social web obsession

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.

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?

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.

A few days ago I wrote a post about why I’d rather be here than in Silicon Valley.  While people there are more apt to become early adopters, Central Pennsylvania’s rate of adoption for new technology is much slower.  This basically makes those of us blogging, tweeting and FriendFeeding here the Robert Scobles, Louis Grays and Darren Rowses of the area.

Pretty cool if you ask me.

Now we’ve taken another step forward.  blogHarrisburg has been online previously, but today received a sweet new redesign that takes it to a whole new level.  What is blogHarrisburg?  Basically, it’s a web site that aggregates all the posts made about the area by local bloggers and places them conveniently onto one site.  This will do worlds to promote blogging in the area and will put much deserved eyeballs on some of the great work that local bloggers are doing.

Speaking of local bloggers and Twitterers, you can meet some of them Thursday (5/22) at the blogHarrisburg/Twitter meetup!  It’ll be going down at Appalachian Brewing Company on Cameron Street in Harrisburg from 6-9 PM.  I usually play volleyball during that time, but I’m going to try to make it anyway.

Tomorrow I’ll be looking at a promising Central PA web site that hopes to be your one stop for event information - Spotobe.

Since Twitter has once again bitten the dust, a lot of discussion has taken place on FriendFeed as to whether or not Twitter is running out of chances. Some believe that FriendFeed will ultimately replace Twitter. Personally, I feel that the two services have two very different aims. I don’t think I could leave Twitter solely for FriendFeed.

So what would I leave Twitter for, then?

• A well-planned service run by people who truly believe they have something special on their hands. These people would build their service fully anticipating that it will be the greatest thing since sliced bread. Downtime would be extremely minimal.
• Direct messaging between users, which FriendFeed lacks.
• The ability to update via SMS or IM and to receive updates via those as well.  And please, if you are going to support IM, support AIM.  It’s one of the largest services out there, if not the largest.
• Friend lists and the ability to send direct messages to just those people.
• The ability to easily import friends from other social networking sites.
• The ability to add friends to SMS who are not members of the service (that person would have to verify that they do, in fact, want SMS messages from you).

That’s all, really!  I like that Twitter is such a simple service.  It has its niche and it serves its purpose.  Unfortunately, it seems that they are down more than they are up lately.  If a service came along and did all of the things above, I’d join in a heartbeat.

Does the above service exist already?  Let me know about it and I’ll pimp myself out, mentioning it every chance I get.

Of course, a lot of me wants to say yes.  Scobleizer interviews some pretty high-profile people in the world of technology.  He also gets to fly all over creation.  He has a multitude of eyes and ears hanging on his every word.

Unfortunately, I feel that being fully immersed in the startup world and the ever-changing landscape of the web has put him out of touch with those who will make or break many of these ventures; the every-day guys and gals.

That isn’t a knock on Robert at all.  I’m totally envious of what he gets to do, and if things go my way, maybe one day I’ll have as many eyes and ears on me.  You can call my BS if you want, but if I had to choose between being a voice among tens of thousands of voices in the Valley or being one of just a few here, I’d choose here.

I’m located within spitting distance of a state capital that is severely lacking in web presence.  There are not many people on Twitter in Harrisburg - how else would a college student be able to chit chat with local news reporters at will?  We have very few serious bloggers, but these bloggers consistently scoop our newspaper writers on a regular basis.  There aren’t many people here who get it yet, and to me, that’s exciting.

Those few of us bloggers/early adopters that do exist here have the opportunity to do something great, something not a lot of people can say they’ve done.  We have, in our hands, the opportunity to transform an entire city.  We have the chance to completely change the way this city communicates, consumes media and sees the world as a whole.

I would guess that 97% of Harrisburg’s citizens have never heard of Twitter.  They’ve never heard of FriendFeed.  Some might think that Google is the only search engine in existence.  These people use email, AIM, Myspace and Facebook.  They read their favorite sites using bookmarks, not RSS feeds.  They find new music through the radio and word of mouth, not sites like Last.FM or Pandora.  The early adopter pace is just too fast for them to keep up.

I do not look down on these people at all.  Many early adopters seem to think highly of themselves for having been on something “first”, before it was cool.  I do not think that way.  For me, these people are not a heavy anchor holding us back.  Instead, they are the sails.  When they flock to a service, then you know you have something special.

I look foward to helping introduce them to this new world.  And Robert, next time you go to Tel Aviv, save me a seat?

Guess who’s back?

I’ve scrapped my earlier plans of taking a course on campus at IUP in favor of taking an online class and coming home early.  Not only does this mean I get to enjoy nightly volleyball, I also get to start work immediately on my various projects.  I’ll get to start posting more heavily for WebpageFX and I’ll also get to work on (re)launching Be of Service.  Even more, I’ll get to roam about Harrisburg, eat sushi with cool people, Tweet-up with my fellow Central PA Twitterfolk and write more about this area.

Sweet.

By the way, is anyone looking to hit up Blogworld in September?  Las Vegas?  Let me know.

Last week of classes!  Well, for most of us.  I’ll be hanging out at IUP until May 30 to take a LBST class about Iraq.  So in the “summer vacation” sense, I don’t have much of a reason to be excited yet.  I am, though, and I’ll tell you why:

I landed an internship!

It’s with a web design company in the Harrisburg area (Carlisle, to be more specific).  Basically, my job is this; blog about web design, internet marketing and social media.  Yes, I already do that, and that’s all the more reason to be excited.  To me, it isn’t even a job!  It’s a hobby I’ll be getting paid for.  So, here are two links to check me out on pretty soon:

WebpageFX
Keystroke Marketing

I have some conferences I’d like to attend over the summer, mainly Internet Week New York, Web Content 2008 and the New Media Expo.  I might try to drop a subtle hint to my new internship employers (pssst.. you should send me to those!).  The dates for those are June 3-10, June 17-18 and August 14-16, respectively.  If you’d like to keep tabs on me trip-wise, DOPPLR is the place to do it.

And please, please, join and follow me on Twitter.  And friendfeed.

Til next time…

As most of you know, I’m involved in a service fraternity on campus called Alpha Phi Omega.  This organization has been on the IUP campus for decades, and while its members have stayed current with technology, the fraternity itself could use a push.  Therefore, I have taken it upon myself to “Web 2.0-ify” Alpha Phi Omega, not only to benefit and grow the cause, but also as a case study for others to apply to their own clubs and organizations.

A transformation like this will probably not be easy to pull off.  There are already systems in place to take care of certain processes, and people are sometimes not open and accepting to change.  Here are a few examples of the way certain things are done currently:

• Meeting minutes are sent out via email
• Events (service, social, fundraising) are signed up for on paper
• Contact lists are either sent out via email or are distributed on paper
• A phone tree is currently in place to spread important information

There are a few other examples I could add, but the basic point is this: there are systems in place now that get the job done, but incorporating Web 2.0 would do those same jobs much better and much faster.

One area Alpha Phi Omega lacks in is web presence.  The fraternity’s territory online is staked out in the form of a Facebook group.  I’ve spent the last month and a half or so exploring the ways this could be improved upon.  One obvious solution is a web site, which I have in fact been working on and hope to complete in the very near future.  I’ve built the site using Wordpress, mainly due to its ease of use and adaptability.  In the future, I envision minutes not being sent by email, but instead being added as a post.  This would solve the issue of lost emails and would also unclutter many inboxes.

As far as signing up for events, I’m certain there is a web app that could make this a breeze.  It would be easy to simply create a Facebook event for say, a service project, but we then run into the issue of certain people not having a Facebook account.  I would also like to get those who sign up to go immediately on a printable list, making things much easier for whoever is in charge of the event.  If you know of such an app, fill me in!

Google Docs and its “publish and share” feature solves my issue with the contact list.  An excel spreadsheet can be added to Docs very easily and a shared URL can be distributed to fraternity members.  This link could also be included on the APO web site.  Not only would this provide a contact list that will never be lost, it is also incredibly easy to edit on the fly, ensuring members have access to the latest contact information.

As for the phone tree, I feel that somewhere, Web 2.0 provides a much better way to spread a message quickly.  I’ve been contemplating whether or not to introduce Twitter as a possible solution, though I have a gut feeling people would not like the hassle of signing up for an account and activating their phones to receive texts.  I would also be higher on Twitter if they supported AIM, but they currently do not.  Does anyone else know of a web app that allows you to add users to a list and simultaneously send them all a text message?

That’s all for now.  I will continue APO 2.0 every few days, highlighting the latest way I’m trying to bring Alpha Phi Omega up to date on newer web technologies.  If you have anything you’d like to add, feel free to shoot me an email (shawnfarner[at]gmail[dot]com), hit me up on Twitter (@shawnfarner) or simply leave a comment.

I came across a pretty good post on HackCollege addressing Twitter as a communications tool for student leaders.  I’ve actually been contemplating Twitter as something that could possibly be of use for an organization I’m in, so finding that post couldn’t have come at a better time.

Kelly Sutton (the author) sees Twitter being used like this:

Okay, but let’s say you put this in the hands of the tech-headed student body leader. With the proper promotion and hopefully some word-of-mouth spread, you can get your campus instantly connected. Twitter allows updates to be sent out via SMS and IM, 2 of the easiest ways to get in touch with just about any student. With enough students signed up, any information could be spread around campus in a few seconds.

I feel this could also apply on a much smaller scale, say, to a student run organization.  In the case of the one I’m in, Alpha Phi Omega (a service fraternity), Twitter could effectively replace email and the telephone as a means to make sure everyone gets an important message; a meeting has been canceled, a service project postponed or some other dire message that needs to be relayed quickly.  As the above quote states, tweets (updates) can be received via the Twitter web site, a separate Twitter client, IM or via a text message.  A Twitter feed can also be embedded into Facebook profiles and the organization’s web site.

I’m thinking about the possibility of a trial run, just to see if it would be worth the trouble.  It seems a little too late to fully incorporate such a system for this year, since there is only three or four weeks of class remaining in the semester.  I really feel as though it would get the word out much faster when needed, and it would help keep everyone more sane.

Would you consider doing this for your organization?