From One Screen to the Next and the Next
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A good video looking at the evolution towards the fourth screen
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Networking around Pokemon Go
Byrichard
Networking around Pokemon Go is less interesting now that everyone plays the game. I have heard non geeks talk about Pokemon Go. They spoke about the large crowds that are staring at their phones in places like Ouchy. The value of social movements is to be part of a small, passionate group of players where the community is large enough to be fun but not so large as to become mundane.
With a game like Ingress players were more sparsely distributed. When we met other players there was an immediate connection because we were few and far between. You would walk around certain cities and villages and you would not spot other players for hours of game play. When you met another player you wanted to meet, you wanted to interact.
Communities are fun when they are small. Pokemon Go has risen in popularity at such a rate that old social networks may be privilieged over new ones.
I was at the Chateau de Prangins a few days ago playing ingress for a short period of time raising the level of Ingress portals. During this time I saw at least 5-10 adolescent boys playing Pokemon Go, walking and running around the park.
Pokemon Go is like alcohol or snowboarding. As everyone plays the game the opportunity to create new social groups is reduced. Why mix with new people when your core group of friends is already playing?
The Facebook, telegram, slack and Google Hangout groups are alive and well this summer so people are connecting with new people. Although a new network of people is forming around this game I feel that it is hindered by the popularity of the game. Introverts can connect online via these groups, Meeting new people face to face may not be as comfortable due to the large crowds.
It’s great that a location based game is encouraging people to run around while staring at their phones. Phone screen replacement companies are very happy with the increase in demand for their skills and external battery sales are going up. Prices are going to go down and innovation is going to go up. If you’re an introvert, bad at small talk, then Pokemon Go has reached its peak usefulness and you can revert to other less popular activities. You can skip the craze.
One Hundred Million Geo-Tagged Images
Byrichard
One Hundred Million is the number of photographs geotagged on flickr. That’s an impressive number. There’s an article about the news here but I want to explore the fun side of things.
Whenever I take photographs with my mobile phone they’re geo tagged so where ever I am in the world I can pinpoint within five to twenty meters where it’s been taken. As a result if I go for a walk every day for a year I can take pictures of the different seasons and how the landscape changes, from snow to spring to summer and more.
It also means that when you’re going on holiday to some of the top tourist destinations you can find all the images taken around there and see the area before you arrive, scouting out where you would particularly like to go. It’s also a way of keeping your own record.
We’ve all heard that sentence, “hey that’s a great picture, where did you take it” but the photographer never remembers. Now there’s no worry. You’ve automatically kept track.
Listening to a recent “This Week in Tech I heard mention of GPS units that are smaller than a nail, meaning that they could be put into all devices by default. Whether you share that information is entirely up to you, as is clear in flickr.
I’m looking forward to more geo-cached images of the area around which I live, then when you’re tracking me with latitude and I upload images to flickr they are automatically placed on the map in real time.
Keeping Twitter Private
Byrichard
Twitter has three options. You can tweet to the world without barriers and anyone can read and respond. This is great when you want to grow your network and have conversations. The second option is to send DMs to specific individuals or groups (if I remember correctly). The third option is to make your account private. The only people can read your tweets are the people who were following you when you made the account private.
The weakness of a private account is that twitter is a social medium and as such any time we @ or retweet someone they will be unable to see our answers. Any answer we write to those people will be unseen and so we will be tweeting in the wind.
My two reasons for keeping twitter private are:
A) More freedom. If we approve the people who can read what we write we can first warn them that we may be cheeky. We may something that we only think for long enough to write a tweet, and by the time it’s published we have already changed our mind.
B) The people we’re tweeting with are also private. If we answer a private tweet publicly then people may intuit what the conversation is about. We could use another IM platform but WhatsApp is part of Facebook and other IM networks have their own problems. People tend to be spread across platforms.
Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are three different types of social networks. LinkedIn is serious. I keep my profile up to date but not much more. Facebook is the network of former university friends. Due to this, I need to trust those I add. When twitter was a network of friends waiting to meet at tweetups everyone was accountable to the community so everyone had reason to behave a specific way. Now that trolls, hashtags and other issues are present keeping an account private keeps them away.
140+ characters is excellent to tell people how we feel but terrible for context. Blogging, forums and other long-form discussion websites are better suited to being public because you spend half an hour to an hour developing your idea, modifying it, and then sharing. That is long enough for an irrational tweet to become a rational post.
I’d rather have one to three blog posts by the end of a given day, than twenty-five to two hundred tweets. ;-). I haven’t tweeted like that in years for a reason.
Bullying Disguised as Satire
Byrichard
We’re in the middle of a pandemic. Some of us go without conversing with people in the real world for days or even weeks at a time. Is now the time to be offensive about people’s social media habits? For plenty of TikTok users, their only window into the social world is their phone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apvLvTQWQwg&fbclid=IwAR0DJKCl6QsV3EnurNj9j4yEvBNu_pQcpsK025DTRdktUk41gVdquig0jts
Plenty of people are lonely, and in need of human connections. Social media is a great means by which to have moments of intimacy, to flirt or even just to have a convivial moment with someone else.
If we’re going to behave like bullies then it would make sense to comment on the people who do not wear a mask, and those who do not respect the two meter distance. How about all those people going to bars, restaurants and pubs where there is no respect for the two meter rule?
During a pandemic the behaviour that is harmful to society is that which spreads COVID-19, not instagramming or TikToking, or other. If people are dealing with the solitude of a pandemic by socialising online welcome, and thank them.
Their behaviour will cut the pandemic short, at least in some cases. Solitude is a positive, during a pandemic.
Never forget that just because you’re married, with children, or living in an apartment with others, that this is a reality for everyone. Remember that we’re six months into this pandemic and that some of us have yet to give a hug or even shake the hand of a stranger.
Pandemics are solitary affairs, so give “influencers” the benefit of the doubt.
The week ahead: Blog Wars, Seesmic meetup and more
Byrichard
This week should see me dropping by the Frontline Club in London for the first time in weeks. I want to see Blog Wars which could be quite interesting. “Blog Wars provides a sharp and funny look at the explosion of political blogs, which have become the loudspeakers for a new generation of activists speaking out and picking fights across the political spectrum”
I’m looking forward to yet another Seesmic meetup and I’ve heard that some interesting people should be present although I haven’t seen this written on paper yet. The usual London suspects should be there so that should be a really good evening. That will be on the 17th and more details are to follow.
I’m not sure whether there’s another Social Media Cafe but if there is then there’s a very good chance I’ll be present. I’ll keep you informed.
Google Plus Is A Good Product Which People Should Take The Time To Understand.
Byrichard
The American blogosphere is corrupt. Google Plus is an excellent product. It provides it’s users with an elegant amount of control as to who sees which post and whom it can be shared with. It provides groups and communities. It allows you to create your own circles. In Essence Google Plus is an extraordinarily flexible space where community building should be encouraged.
Why does the American Startuposphere and blogosphere hate Google so much? Samsung has benefited from Android. We as private individuals have gained a lot through Gmail and google’s search engine. Google reader was really popular for a very long time in web terms.