The images are then uploaded to instagram and other services. Friends can quickly and easily see them, share and comment. It is a form of micro-blogging with images.

There were too sessions focused on this. One of these sessions was more of an introduction whilst the second brought a more informed discussion into being. People do see the use of social media but it will take a little more time before people feel at ease.

NewsXchange twitter participant list

It’s filmed in High definition so it’s great to watch on a nice High Definition television set but it’s also taking advantage of some social media tools. In particular their website offers access to episodes that have already aired so that you may watch them. Most interesting though is that these videos are not geo-locked. In other words I don’t have to be in the US to watch them.

In itself this is excellent. Another feature I find are interesting are the vlog presented by the show’s presenter as well as the forums attached to the site. It’s got a strong presence online and I look forward to when more shows of this type engage their audience in such a manner.

If ever there was a video to demonstrate the ordinary person’s prejudice against social media and facebook this is the video. Rather than take an academic look at how Facebook can help build and preserve social networks from different parts of your lives it decides to satirise them instead.

This though, is a satire of late adopters, rather than early adopters. Early adopters will join a network when non of their friends are there and experiment with strangers, see what they can do and how to do it. Over time more as more of their friends join so the interactions become more familiar, more reflective of social norms.

It’s at the moment that mid to late adopters arrive on a service that you find the situation described in the video above, the situation where you’re too open about your activities. As a result of this people may de-friend you or simply chose not to receive so many updates from you.

It’s also about real life friendships. I don’t know about you but the first two to three hundred people I added to facebook were university friends whom I had spend thousands of hours with over three years of university. As a result of this they know who you are, what your quirks are and more. They also know each other. This affects how you behave on facebook, reflects the quality of the friendships you had with most of those whom you decided to keep as friends on facebook.

The use of the megaphone in the video is exagerated. How many of you have posted on someone’s wall to show off, to say “Hey look at me, I can post on a wall”. Social dynamics on the web are like social dynamics in the living room. Some people love to talk and everyone overhears them (wall posts) and others like to listen via the newsfeed.

What would this same person say about twitter or seesmic, especially how we used it when still in the Alpha phase? What would she say about those all night parties via video instant messaging (seesmic). When is she going to satirise twitter, plurk, seesmic and jaiku?

In Switzerland though twitter is far more abstract. I find hardly anyone uses the service and when they do they are very negative about it, saying that it’s a waste of time and questioning why you would make all this information available to people you don’t know.Their questions are justified. Why would you? Well that’s the problem, that’s the reason that twitter is so week in many countries in Europe, especially outside of major population centres.

Both Loic Le Meur and Mike Butcher have recently written comments to a Forbes article detailing how Europe is out of love with twitter (paraphrased). Of course Mike Butcher didn’t like what I said. “how cute” was his initial word in a comment to that post. Of course that’s because he lives in London, a city where there are well over ten thousand users of the service at this time. Friends of friends use twitter so it leads all these social media people to believe that these sites are popular. of course that isnot a reality.In Switzerland mention twitter and people will have heard of it but none of them will have used it. As a result what’s the point of using the service.

Even I don’t want to be a part of twitter when it means I have to travel three hours to get to meet fellow users. Three hours to Paris, three hours to London, three hours to Zurich, so there you have it.

The thing I must ask myself now is which social media platforms are useful to meet people. Facebook probably, for the simple reason that it has the most users around the world, even among the technology less savvy.

I will be getting some footage of the events taking place in Geneva but so far there is no communal location on youtube where to share that content.

A friendfeed room is already active so enough people participate then it could be fun.

As more laptops become prevalent and as more mobile phones are capable of going online via wifi so the appeal of free wifi in different venues becomes interesting. Brasseur for example have free wifi although I’ve never tried it.

Described as a games arcade on one website the America Salle de jeux have changed their layout to accommodate a different clientèle. A few years ago the bar was filled with pool tables and that was the primary activity. Now though at least a third of the location is given over to a cyber cafe style section where you can either use your laptop or the desktops provided.

Social media are very time consuming according to some, and require a lot of time in front of the computer for others. If the place where you interact with the social media is a social setting then there’s a chance that the stigma attached to the social media, at least in Europe will start to fade. As a result of this we may see more “social media” websites springing up and being used in Europe.

It is the quickest and simplest way to get news out to those concerned that you’re okay. In a sense this is an extra reason to use twitter. Faster than calling everyone to say you’re okay.

Seesmic Christmas cardsSocial media friends and Christmas cards, who sent you some?

Have you received any? Come and share with us.