RE:think

Facebook Bugging You? I Have the Answers

We live in a brave new world. For the past 5 years or so we’ve been given MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and a host of other services that allow us to share our lives, make friends and reconnect. If you count blogging, you can go much further back than that. There have been at least two constants over this period of time: 1) The services have grown, evolved and changed and 2) People have complained and worried all along the way.

Last week Facebook implemented many of the changes that have been rumored and tested over the last few months. They also mentioned new features at their f8 Conference that are coming very soon like Timeline and Open Graph. When the first set of changes were implemented there was lots of complaining and whining on Facebook. “Change it back!” “I think I’ll just quit.” “I wish Facebook would stop changing things.” We’ve seen this every time Facebook makes a major change or update. Every time though, people got used to it and moved on. The service continued to grow and all was well. Is that about to change?

Back to Timeline and Open Graph. Here is what they are in the most basic terms I can muster:

Timeline – This will turn your own profile/wall into a digital scrapbook and give you and your friends access to everything you have done on Facebook. It will also allow you to add pictures and life events that happened before Facebook. For example, I added my wedding date which was way back in 1996, before I was even blogging.

Open Graph – This is a protocol that will allow 3rd party services to report your activity back to your Facebook account. As an example, when I listen to a song on Spotify, or favorite a show on Hulu, it puts a notice of the activity on my wall.

I already have both of these features enable on my Facebook and personally like them. None of the activity that is getting reported or any of the thousands of updates I have made on Facebook contain any info that I am not willing to let those I have friended see. I have chosen to be on the service. I have chosen who to friend and not friend. And I can control even further who sees what with lists. So it’s not a big deal to me. But that isn’t true for everyone.

Tech pundits and Facebook haters everywhere are trying to stir people up and scare them. Once these features go live, all those Facebook Luddites that complained last week will lose their collective minds. These are big changes after all. They will make the changed of last week very small in comparison. Here is the great thing about it all however. Since the service is free there are basically two ways to handle this and they are quite simple:

You can embrace these changes, make them work for you, and enjoy them.

or

You can quit the service altogether and move on.

It really is that easy. Look, technology is not a static endeavor. It will change and evolve. It has to. We think we want things to never change but really, do we wish the internet still looked like this: CNN August 15th 2000 Of course we don’t. Change means we have to change and learn, but come on, isn’t that a good thing?

So, will people make it through this next round of improvements? Or will they see them as not being improvements at all and finally leave the service for another? I doubt it. Myspace is over. Twitter is not a good replacement. Google+ could be an alternative but are not in a position right now. The fact is, almost everyone we’ve ever known is on Facebook. As long as that is the case people will stick around. So since you are sticking around anyway, leverage these changed for your good.

Technorati Tags: Facebook,Social Media,Twitter,Google+

Can Google+ Sustain Growth Beyond Early Adopters? The Robert Scoble Effect?

The money shot to the snippet below from mashable.com is the last paragraph. It's very telling  that the top users on the service right now are Laporte, Rose and Scoble. How many of Facebook's 750M even know who those guys are? The early adopting crowd is a very tech-centric crowd and that is why those guys are at the top.

I suggest that Google+ take this and run. Will they? Not a chance. They want the huge numbers and not a niche group.  But I think there is a place for a service that is both "social" and tech-centric. Tech blogs are still strong, but what if we laid that content on a true social framework? Make it extremely searchable, you are Google afterall, and boom! Now we're cookin'!

Many of you have probably heard of the technology adoption lifecycle and Rogers’ bell curve. It is a sociological model developed in the 1950s to predict the normal distribution of technology adoption. Innovators and early adopters make up the first 16% of any given population that accepts a new technology. They are more risk-oriented, tend to be community leaders and aren’t afraid to try new things. However, that still leaves 84% of the population to adopt a new technology.

Let’s put these percentages in the context of Facebook and Google+. Zuckerberg said last week that he believes Facebook has hit critical mass. He also announced that Facebook has 750 million users. For the sake of argument, let’s assume that’s the potential market for the adoption of a social media service. If we do the math, that means that the first 120 million users are early adopters for social networking. That’s a long way from the current 10 million.

Whether you agree with my math or not, it’s clear that Google+ is dominated by an early-adopter crowd. Only early-adopter crowds could make Robert Scoble, Leo Laporte and Kevin Rose among the top ten most popular users on Google+. I even have a term for this phenomenon: The Robert Scoble Effect.

via mashable.com

 

When Social Networking Gets it Right

There are horror stories out there about online social networks. Most of the stories we hear are negative. We hear of sexual predators on Myspace. Craigslist has it’s very own killer. Even Ernie posted earlier today about one of the huge problems with Facebook.

But every now and then, I see see this medium get it right. Sometimes, it gets it right in a huge way.

Social networks are popular for many reasons. Some use them to pimp themselves. They post all kinds of pics of themselves and it’s all about creating an online image.  Some people actually use them to market products. Still others use them as a virtual soapbox to get their thoughts and opinions out to someone, anyone, who will read them. I do this often. But most of us are using them to reconnect and keep in touch with others. In this, these services have served me well.

As most of you know, my 10 year old daughter spent 4 days and 3 nights in the hospital with a severe kidney infection. It was a trying time for her and our family. We are still worn our from the whole ordeal and she is still in recovery here at home. But there were some bright spots during this time. We were showered with love, care and concern. We received phone calls, visits, emails, and yes, notes of encouragement via Facebook and Twitter.

I was able to keep most of the people we know apprised of the situation. I posted updates as I could and asked for prayer. And guess what? BOOM! We were getting encouragements and notes from not just a few people, but dozens! Every time one of you would send in a kind note, I would look over at BeBe in the hospital bed and read it. Some of you she knows, but many of you she does not. It didn’t even matter. Every time we got one she’d smile. It made her feel important and special.

So good on ya Facebook and Twitter. You’ve created something that allows us to report and receive in a way we’ve never seen before. I am very grateful. Thank you.

And one more time, and probably not the last time,  I want thank all of you who called, visited, tweeted and posted notes during our trying time. It was awesome and helped more than you know.

Technorati Tags: Facebook,Twitter

My Awesome Wife

This past week my wife allowed me, with some extra money, to buy a couple of things for myself. One I needed, the other I really didn't. That isn't so surprising, because she's awesome that way. What is surprising is that I actually did it. I never buy anything for myself and can be quite the tight wad. Buyers remorse is a way of life for me. So far so good on that front. A kind and supportive wife goes a long way to helping with that.

So here's to my awesome wife who let me buy what you see above. Yes, that's a MacBook and iPhone. I love her dearly and pray that I don't hear about it later. :) Just kidding babe. Now everyone join me in letting her know just how great she is!

(p.s. Before you start to envy me too much, this is like Birthdays, Christmas', and Anniversaries for the next upmteen years for me. Or so I'm told.)

And here she is. She's pretty hot.

Technorati Tags: Awesome Wives, MacBook, iPhone

Mac Surprises?

I was pleasantly surprised to find you can use a regular old two button scroll wheel mouse with a Mac and that it even adds a right click menu when using that button. That may be sacrilege for diehard Mac users, but I sure do like having the added function. And the scroll wheel works. I bought an Apple Mighty Mouse as well and find it to be a good tool as well.

So far I totally see why Mac lovers love their toys. I found my new machine to be easy to use, fast, and just plain fun. Garageband is exactly what I have been needing to get a Podcast off the ground.

I am missing my Windows Live Writer for blogging, but I am trying Ecto right now and think it may be a good alternative.

I'll keep you updated on what my buddy Chris calls my "new girlfriend".

Technorati Tags: mac, mighty mouse, new girfriend

I am Posting From MY MAC

Well, I have finally crossed over to the other side and am posting this from my new MacBook. It totally rocks and I am excited about learning the ways of the Mac.

Tags: Mac, MacBook

Google me this Batman...

I think this article is tongue in cheek. I sure hope so. I loves me some Google.

Link: Official Google Blog: Do you "Google?"

Usage: 'Google' as noun referring to, well, us. Example: "I just love Google, they're soooo cute and cuddly and adorable and awesome!"

Our lawyers say: Good. Very, very good. There's no question here that you're referring to Google Inc. as a company. Use it widely, and hey, tell a friend.

Usage: 'Google' as verb referring to searching for information on, um, Google. Example: "I googled him on the well-known website Google.com and he seems pretty interesting."

Our lawyers say: Well, we're happy at least that it's clear you mean searching on Google.com. As our friends at Merriam-Webster note, to "Google" means "to use the Google search engine to find information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web."

Usage: 'Google' as verb referring to searching for information via any conduit other than Google. Example: "I googled him on Yahoo and he seems pretty interesting."

Our lawyers say: Bad. Very, very bad. You can only "Google" on the Google search engine. If you absolutely must use one of our competitors, please feel free to "search" on Yahoo or any other search engine.

Windows Live Writer Beta

The Windows Live Writer Beta is out and I am trying it with this post. I've tried Ecto, Qumana, and Performancing in the past and want to see how this one stacks up.

One thing I like, and the others may do, is the WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) interface that has a view that looks just like your page. The others have WYSIWYG but not as it will actually look, design and all, on your page.

I'm gonna test a photo too and post one from the show the other night... I'll go all Adam Cleaveland and post a pic of me. :)

   

Ok, the controls for pics is pretty sweet. We'll just have to see how it looks online.

So far I don't see an auto tag option. That is not so great. Maybe it's here. If not, I am sure they will add one.

It's looking pretty promising for someone like me and other folks who don't care to put alot of time into the design of their individual posts. We shall see...

Net Neutrality

If you haven't heard about Net Neutrality, you'd do well to educate yourself. It's a storm brewing. Here are some good thoughts from the guy who invented the WWW.

Link: Net Neutrality: This is serious

The Internet is old news?

Interesting article by Mark Cuban. Tech-wise, this guy is a genious and on this issue, I tend to agree. The net is boring. That's not to say it's not useful, but we are running out of things to do on and with it. I am waiting on the next big thing. Web2.0 has been a bit of breath of fresh air, but it's not unbelievably groundbreaking. As Cuban says, if PCs, Memory , Storage, etc were this cheap 5 years ago, it would be old news itself. Good quote here: 

I cant wait for my daughter to ask me why people used to get so excited about the internet and I can tell her that after the first few years it made no sense to me either.

Link: The Internet is old news and boring.. Deal with it - Blog Maverick - www.blogmaverick.com