natecooper.net

For reasons I cannot go into at this time I have been advising over the course of the pass several weeks a person older than myself in the ways us younger people (can I still claim that?) use social networks. Most specifically we’ve been looking at Facebook and Twitter.

I’ve been hesitant in my advice for a few reasons: 1. I am basing my lessons purely on my own personal observations with no real outside citations and 2. I have had at length conversations with others my age (I’m 28) about how we don’t fully understand how people who are younger than us use these resources.

However, in thinking about these things I have just proven correct one of my tenets of social web sites. I had been telling my tutee that Facebook is more casual and merely an extension of real-world relationships and twitter is a bit edgier in that it does not rely on approval for connections to be made. Instead Twitter is less about friendship and more about reputation. Browsing around the web today I just discovered some evidence which seems to prove me correct.

I just read an article from Kottke.org about Facebook and Twitter and decided to look Jason Kottke up on both networks. Given Jason’s status as an internet celebrity it’s not surprising he has a large number of Twitter followers (nearly 10,000 as of this writing). A glance at his Facebook page is quite a contrast, however. He has a mere 13 friends. Interestingly he does have a public profile meaning that anyone can browse through a large amount of info on him — that’s something for a separate post.

This probably comes as no surprise to anyone who regularly uses both forums but given that I have been teaching someone social etiquette on these sites it’s nice to have outside verification of my assumptions. I wonder if anyone has done a comprehensive book on how people use Web 2.0. I suspect that it would be outdated shortly after writing it. Until then we’ll have to live with Internet Party as a singular source on the topic.

A compelling argument for why companies shouldn’t be avoiding social media. Statistics seem to indicate that individuals want a more open dialog but only a small number of Fortune 500 companies maintain a blog.

(via britopian.com)

Click the pic for more photos. Kind of an interesting installation from a layout perspective.

(via badbanana)

The NY Public Library Blog has an interesting article on compulsive collecting. What medias are worth collecting? How much is too much? Interesting thoughts from a librarian + what to do about VHS.

From the article:
“Several years ago, the New York Public Library received someone’s huge home library as a bequest. Along with several colleagues, I went to assess exactly what kind of collection we were dealing with. Stepping through the doorway of that apartment was like encountering some nightmare possibility of my own future self. Each wall was completely taken up with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves; each bookshelf was double and sometimes even triple shelved with books; the wooden floors were piled high with tottering columns of books that left only twisty little passageways to walk through; books filled the clothes closets, kitchen cabinets, and every other available bit of surface space.”

Near Future Laboratory has a great article about the problem of trying to integrate everyday things into a computing paradigm.

“There’s a weird conceit in here, that the activities and practices of normal human beings will involve data processing and algorithms of some sort, which is an awfully big assumption. So big, in fact, that it has distilled down to a way of seeing the world as consisting of bits of data that can be processed into information that then will naturally yield some value to people.

Why not start with people and their practices and follow this through, without the assumption that something computational or data process-y is meant to fall out from that.”

Very powerful challenge to developers and criticism to those who exploit it. Check it out.

Crave…

About a year ago (wow! I’ve been blogging pretty consistently for over a year now with nary a hiccup!) I posted about the overabundance and annoyance of Facebook invites due to their inclusion of an apps interface.

A year (and a Facebook redesign) later the problem is still persistent.

43 Folders has a post that poses a pretty simple question: What Makes for a Good Blog? | 43 Folders

Following this logic I’d have to conclude I have a pretty good if not good blog if I do say so myself though I always feel I’m not living up to my potential for “via” posting.

Here’s a taste:
“Good blogs are weird. Blogs make fart noises and occasionally vex readers with the degree to which the blogger’s obsession will inevitably diverge from the reader’s. If this isn’t happening every few weeks, the blogger is either bored, half-assing, or taking new medication.”

heh…

Found this nifty little muxtape-like site on pan-dan. It has a much better interface, graphics and is easier to share [on facebook and all over] than muxtape as well (rest its soul).

Not sure what is cooler. The fact that there is a post on Near Future Labratories detailing an opening in the History of Consciousness department at UCSC, my undergraduate alma mater in Film and Digital Media or the fact that one of the main contributers to the blog Julian Bleecker is a graduate from said program.

While a T.A. at UCSC I met quite a few grads in this program. As I prepare for applying to graduate school I keep finding that there are a many connections I didn’t even know to graduates.

So close and yet still so far away.