Twitter stumbles, and there goes the neighbourhood
July 13, 2008
Witness the emotional committment of Twitter users. Wow, people love it, really want this thing to work, and really love to moan about it as the fail whale displays more and more often.
Twitter looks back on track after a shaky few days back there, which shows that all is not well in microblogging land, and there’s something wrong with the microblogging model, but that’s a topic to take up later.
Having Twitter get slow, turn off features, or just not respond has started to get really annoying. We’re inclined to include Twitter as an emerging tool to use to build and attract community. But without stability, it’s not going to work predictably . How can we recommend building twitter into a social media campaign? Well, we can’t really. Or we have to accept Twitter as a somewhat flaky, sometimes useful tool.
And worse, with Twitter going up and down, there goes the neighbourhood. People pick up and leave to one of the fifty other microblogging services that are growing up in the shadow of twitter and waiting for users to fall out of the Twitter tree.
Trouble. We’re never going to find each other if we’re spread across tens of different services.
But then again, we want Twitter, in its lovely cuteness, to work. But that makes it a monopoly with a secret or currently secret business model.
Tricky.
So, my big needs in microblogging are:
- I want something reliable that works
- I want something that accesses most people (that want to be involved)
- I want it to be long term sustainable, not a monoculture or monopoly with a secret business model
To meet these three, we’re going to need to do some internet-level architecture work to support microblogging and ambient status. Basically, we’re going to need to:
- Develop some standards for microblogging messaging
- Develop standard ways to connect microblogging services together
- Allow users to migrate from one service to another easily– and use more than one service at once
- Ensure some level of reliability in messsaging
- Make sure the whole thing can scale up to the current level of global SMS usage and beyond
This looks a lot like what we have for the internet email architecture. It took a long time to get organised, and it has some problems, but it is a mostly universal service with lots of servers, providers and clients.
There are a bunch of people talking about these sorts of standardisation. I’ll review the efforts in a later post and see where we are headed. My guess this is going to take a while and we are going to have some early-adopter pain in the meantime.
Key point: At some point Twitter is going to have to open up and interwork with other microblogging services. And that is the moment, in my opinion, when they will really succeed.
Why I Love Social Media
July 8, 2008
Sometimes (like now) I am up late tapping away, when I could be back in bed with Ian McEwan - or my husband at least. I start wondering why I’m so big on this social media stuff. Well here’s a response I wrote to a post on Will McInnes’ blog that reminds me why.
It started a long time ago.
Welcome to Nodestone - What does it mean?
June 16, 2008
Dear friends, colleagues and extended community
Here it is. Our new entity, website, direction. Nodestone. What does that mean? It’s a made-up word that just felt right. We did branding workshops and brainstormed and came up with all sorts of kooky ideas.
But Nodestone was what came to pass. My dear Mum (a great wordsmith) Jenny Davy had a good go at explaining it:
“The name Nodestone for me resonates with Lodestone which is something that has a magnetic attraction and a node is of course a part of a computer network - so Nodestone is a part of a computer network which will have a mega attraction to people!! .”
Here are some other reasons we chose it, or accidental associations:
- Lodestone’s:
- were used in China in the 12th century as a compass for navigation.
- long associated with the “lore of attraction” and considered by many as a “magical” stone.
- magnetite, a mineral related to the coating on magnetic disks and tapes used by computers.
- Nodes:
- connecting points on networks where information comes together, is refined and retransmitted.
- the point on a stem from which the new leaf grows.
- Stones:
- solid, reliable, of the earth. Good for building things with. Good for making strong foundations.
- found as pebbles all along Brighton beach and make beautiful (if a little heavy) business cards.
- They rock, and roll, and gather no moss. But actually, we like a little lichen ourselves.
You know when something just fits? We couldn’t believe the .com was still available, and pounced.
You can read about what we do, who we work for and what’s coming up all around the site. Hopefully the venture will live up to the name as we travel along.
Looking forward to sharing the journey with you.
Libby
Let’s make our minds up for the future
May 23, 2008
I love Howard Gardner, as only a pedagogy geek can. I love the way his mind works, about how he helps me see others for who they are. His theory of multiple intelligences has been helping personalised learning develop for decades.
Howard’s work first came to me attention when studying early learning in Italy - in the Reggio context. The fact that he has maintained a deep, ongoing dialogue with the Reggio teachers makes my faith in his wisdom as solid as gold.
Today, I was delighted to hear of a lecture series he gave at our new “guild” - the RSA in London last April. Thanks to Teachers TV, Howard’s examination of “the mental capacities needed for the future in a globalised world” is available to all.
The kinds of minds he suggests should be cultivated are three cognitive ones: the disciplined mind, the synthesizing mind and the creating mind, and two that deal with the human sphere: the respectful mind and the ethical mind.
Gardener discusses how these can be best nurtured, and points out some of the inevitable tensions created between them.
After the lecture a group of teachers discuss how these ideas are used in practice in the classroom today.
Social media is dying. Long live social media!
February 1, 2008
So social media has truly hit the mainstream. It even has it’s own comic strip. Are we all onboard and up-to-steam? Thing is, this new way is meant to be real. It’s meant to come from a genuine desire to connect with others (customers, stakeholders… fill in the blank).
I’m starting to cringe about the whole thing. The hype. The hyperbole. Sure, Google’s algorythms (currently) love blogs. Sure we can optimise search and get “seen”. But who’s actually going to be listening?
Some emerging thoughts here about how the cream is going to rise to the top.
Many early adopters are already screaming for the off switch.
We are reaching a new point in the adoption of social media. Something’s gotta give (she says joining Dopplr). There is another tipping point approaching.
Time for some great editing and aggregation. Time for some trusted sources to filter it all for us, and I don’t mean the USA Today Bloggers & Podcasters Guide (even if we do keep ranking 1). Or even cool geek individuals like Scobelizer. I’m looking for something all about my interests, the blogs I want to follow, but more visual. Definitely NOT Google’s Blog Reader.
What do we think Gra… time for a chinwag. Oh look, there’s my husband blogging in the room above me. Time to STOP all this and go find him.
(With a big, loyal nod to my old mate and first boss Errol Considine, then-MD/Owner of Hill & Knowlton Perth - who asked Gra and I to geek up his people in 1997, well before anyone else was starting to get the plot. But he was always a cool guy, and a demon with a red pen.
What’s the web 2.0 equivalent of the editor’s razor sharp twirling red pen, held like The Sword of Damocles over your copy? Note to self: better spell that properly in case he’s discovered Google Alerts, or is it my mother the English teacher haunting me…)
Here’s the original post World Has Changed; PR Agencies Haven’t from Will that spurred us all on, to get stuck in. He says what he means. No bullshit allowed in the Will-osphere, which is rawther refreshing, innit.