Innovation/Strategy

An article that does a quick run down of lifestream aggregators

Posted on by charlie

The list of names of the companies in this TechCrunch article looks like my own watch list.

If you are curious why I think 2008 is about lifestreams, then just see how many folks have popped up or added lifestream aggregation.

Link: Yahoo’s MyBlogLog Adds An Activity Stream Feature

If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the startup feature du jour. Facebook first popularized the news feed in late 2006. Later others took the idea and opened it up, creating a news feed around activities on a variety of social networks. FriendFeed is the most popular, and recently raised a $5 million round of financing. Plaxo, Soup.io, Iminta, Spokeo, ProfileLinker, MyLifeBrand, Fuser, 30Boxes, Mugshot, Readr and Second Brain all have variations. Party planning site MyPunchbowl recently released its version. And now, Facebook is planning to open up their NewsFeed and allow users to add other services as well.

Innovation/Strategy

A semi-FAQ from Socialthing

Posted on by charlie

I’ve been playing with Socialthing for a few weeks (link to blog below). They recently outed themselves at SXSW, and were blessed with a barrage of traffic from TechCrunch.

Of course, they are not he first on scene, and are now being compared to FriendFeed (which I have also played with).

My take on FriendFeed is that they are too focused on ‘me’ and ‘pubilc’ instead of ‘friends’ and ‘private’.

For example, the only reason I would want to aggregate my own lifestream is to show it to someone else (FriendFeed). The reason I want to aggregate my friends’ lifestreams is to follow them all from one place, hence I don’t want to see my own stream (SocialThing). Ok, so I might be simplistic and egotistic here, but it’s what I am looking for in lifestream aggregators (though I’ve been mulling over some earlier comments).

I, so far, like the way they have it set up. It dovetails with a lot of my thoughts over the past years.

Now, they mention ‘post stuff back the network’. I need to learn more.

Link: A semi-FAQ

Socialthing! is and always has been about making your digital life easier. We bring your friends into one interface, make it easy to post stuff back to the networks, and just in general, try to make social networking easier.

Innovation/The Narrative

Cringley waxes anti-social

Posted on by charlie

I haven’t been up on my Cringely, but reading one of my Tweeps, Oliver, led me to his recent commentary on social networks.

He makes a reference to the rise and collapse of CB Radio, and then spells out in his usual thoroughness, that the social networking emperor has no clothes (hm, not sure if that’s a good metaphor).

In my comment on the post, I mentioned that I too have been saying:

1) We don’t need another social networking service

2) He who brings the pieces together holds the attention – pointing to the opportunities for for social network aggregators (strong influence I was able to bring to Ovi.com)

3) Facebook has become an annoying Julie McCoy.

I keep seeing it this way:

  • 2005 was the year of the blog (like TypePad)
  • 2006 was the year of the content aggregator (personal home pages like Netvibes)
  • 2007 was the year of the social network (like Facebook)
  • 2008 will be the year of the lifestream (social network and social media) aggregators (I’ve been playing with them, like SocialThing and others)

What do you think?

Uncategorized

links for 2008-03-10

Posted on by charlie
The Narrative

It’s about the stories

Posted on by charlie

Most of you know that I am working on setting up the Nokia social media communications site (uh, a blog for now), to be called Nokia Conversations.

One thing that we want to stress is not product features and service stats, but stories – stories about how things come into being at Nokia, stories about things Nokia is doing beyond products and services, and stories about people from the ‘Nokia neighbourhood’.

An example of a kind of story we would write about (I am actually not sure if my editorial team will actually be writing something on this) is about these two guys who drove a ‘banger’, a banged up old Mercedes, from Plymouth, England to Banjul, Gambia. It was a fund drive for the Macmillan Cancer Support.

Nokia donated a Sat Nav 330 and a Nokia 6110 Navigator to help these guys wend their way down to Gambia.

Link: The Cambs Times – Tough ‘banger’ miles for Macmillan smiles

A DETECTIVE and his brother-in-law from March will embark on the challenge of a lifetime when they travel 4,000 miles unsupported from Plymouth to Banjul. And to make the task even more daunting they will be doing the whole thing in a ‘banger’. The duo, Det Sgt Sean Gladwell, from the serious and organised crime department, and his brother-in-law Tim Cox, who is the director of ROI Distribution Ltd, a software distribution company of Norwood Road industrial estate, March, have been trying for three years to take part in the ‘Banger to Banjul’ challenge to raise money for charity.

One more thing: As soon as I posted this, I got another email telling me about another Nokia-sponsored navigation challenge that is related to fund-raising, this time James Cracknell’s Cross-continent Challenge. Must be a British thing.

Uncategorized

links for 2008-03-09

Posted on by charlie
Uncategorized

links for 2008-03-07

Posted on by charlie
General/The Narrative

Ty Burr on ‘10,000 BC’: Yabba-dabba-don’t

Posted on by charlie

Ty Burr is great.

Link: Yabba-dabba-don’t – The Boston Globe:

How can a film that features a poorly shot attack by giant tree-climbing killer chickens be said to be good? Which rippeth off the ending of ‘‘Apocalypto,’’ pyramid and all, such that the great shaman Mel Gibson could sue?

And I saith to you, verily, it is a bad movie, with foolish racial politics, and indeed it may someday be spoken of as the worst of the year 2008. But I also saith to you that I had a strangely good time, and whether that is from laughing at ‘‘10,000 B.C.’’ or laughing with it I knoweth not, although I strongly suspect the former.

And it should be pointed out that Roland of the clan of Emmerich, who hath fashioned this tale, hath not ascended once more to the level of ‘‘Independence Day’’ but hath instead settled comfortably in the Valley of the Saturday Matinee B-Movie, a land once inhabited by giants named Roger Corman and 1950s special-effects magician Ray Harryhausen, whom the giant killer chickens doth seem to honor in their stop-motion jerkiness.

So, yea, it is a stinker. But it is prophesied that in six months time you shall come across ‘‘10,000 B.C.’’ in the land of Pay-Per-View. And you shall say: ‘‘Pass the popcorn.’’

Uncategorized

links for 2008-03-06

Posted on by charlie