Comments on: Freewheeling about social media

By: Jon Lister

Jon Lister — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:43:57 +0000

I think the personalisation aspect is very important and should be implemented in a very subtle way from a technological point of view – I don’t think it is easy to say “right, let’s build this platform so it can be extended in whatever ways the people using it need it to be”, nor is it easy to put these tools into the people’s hands. However, that is exactly the challenge we have to face now.

By: Hawksworx » Blog Archive » Observing Twitter behaviors

Hawksworx » Blog Archive » Observing Twitter behaviors — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 12:54:39 +0000

[...] worry that I do have though, and this was articulated by JP Rangaswami on his blog much better than I am likely to do here, is the experience of the Newbie. We should avoid creating [...]

By: Bill Barnett

Bill Barnett — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 12:34:26 +0000

Actually, the polarisation you mention (and Phil picks up on) goes way beyond the technology industry and must originate in some basic wiring in the human brain. All the way back to yin-yang and beyond. There’s probably some brilliant zen reference I could make here about the false duality imposed on the world by man’s faulty perception… but my own perceptions are too faulty to recall it exactly.

By: Proud to be a Twitter Twerp « Jay by Jay Fresh

Proud to be a Twitter Twerp « Jay by Jay Fresh — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 12:18:21 +0000

[...] Proud to be a Twitter Twerp January 7, 2008 at 12:17 pm | In twitter | Tags: gapingvoid, jprangaswami, philwhitehouse, psd, tencommandments, twerp, twit I came back to work today and have spent the best part of the morning being entertained by the buzz started by Phil Whitehouse and his “Ten Commandments of Twitter”, and later Paul Downey’s (psd) “Are you a Twitter Twit or a Twerp?”. JP has weighed in with some typically inspiring Big Picture points of view. [...]

By: Phil Whitehouse

Phil Whitehouse — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:56:44 +0000

Fascinated by your point 2 about polarisation. I think the main reason we tend to polarise in this industry is because we have to make choices about the technologies we invest time in. Linux vs Windows. REST vs SOAP. Twitter vs IRC (maybe!). And so we take polar views partly to justify the time spent not just to others, but also to ourselves.

And because we know others do the same, we know that we often have to exaggerate to make our points! Anything even vaguely neutral gets shot down in flames or, worse, ignored.

So, the Ten Commandments, started out as a bit of fun and now seems to have snowballed…and funnily enough I’ve broken several of the commandments myself. Then again, what Christian hasn’t lied or blasphemed at some point? Which is a roundabout way of making the distinction between hard and fast rules and ‘etiquette requests’. The fascinating thing about Twitter is that people can be unfollowed so easily without causing offence, but this shouldn’t be seen as an excuse to be unsociable. I still think we all stand to benefit if we exhibit thoughtful, considerate behaviour.

By: david cushman

david cushman — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:15:26 +0000

I very much agree about the potential for a golden age. And I think it’ll be uber rosey thanks to the match between two complex adaptive systems – the web and the economy (I explore this a little here: http://fasterfuture.blogspot.com/2008/01/perfect-storm-fourth-element.html )
But of course it all depends on how positive or negative your view of people. A connected world has given me a more positive view of humanity than an unconnected one. I think the very act of connection reveals the positivity to you. So it’s likely everyone who joins the conversation will think positively about the future.
I guess it’s down to us to reach out to as many as possible!

By: shani lee

shani lee — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 21:12:11 +0000

Steve,

Does it have to be directly reciprocal? Followers make their own decisions about what they consider valuable. Maybe it’s about receiving from some and passing on to others over time.

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 20:39:08 +0000

I’ve been playing with Twitter a while. I’m still learning about microformats and twitiquette. [Mostly by following references in other folk's posts!]

The biggest issue I have is follower/followee; I consider I’m learning lots, but teaching little.

Maybe that’s no bad thing, but it doesn’t seem a fair exchange to me.

By: Kerry Buckley

Kerry Buckley — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 18:43:05 +0000

For some of you, it may be about recognising the continuing existence of â€œgreyâ€.

“There are two kinds of people in this world: people who believe there are two kinds of people and people who donâ€™t believe there are two kinds of people.” – Douglas Rushkoff

By: JY

JY — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:28:20 +0000

Is Phillie the guy who did the TiddlyWiki demo at leweb3 ? I even got a USB stick :-D