Blogging

Ok seriously. You turn your head for two seconds and there it is: another product from Google. As it happens, I was thinking about creating an entry based on an article I read about Googling v Binging when BUZZ, out of seemingly nowhere, pops up. Following the Tweets and FB comments along the way, the biggest questions seem to be ‘What is it?’ and ‘Are you going to use it?’

Upon its release and my discovery of said release, Buzz had not been activated on my Gmail account, but within about an hour it was (upping my Google paranoia). Since then (it’s been three days) the majority of posts I’ve seen have come from Mashable. Mashable and I are really developing quite a relationship, I’d say. Good old Pete. I commented on a couple of their posts, read a bunch of the articles about Buzz that they have posted, read a couple more articles from other sources and have basically been sitting on the topic for a couple of days.

I must admit that I’m starting to feel anxiety over the pressure to ‘get’ new products and understand their usefulness. This anxiety is greatly reduced as I read comments on FB status and within Twitter – my personal fave at the moment is from John_Cleese: ‘Do not, I repeat, do not, confuse me with this Buzz stuff’. You said it, John. First reviews indicate that it doesn’t integrate with FB, as Twitter does, and as AOL is starting to as well. However, Buzz does integrate with Twitter so your Twitter posts can automatically go out to your Buzz contacts, but that’s not 100% integration so you still have to have both accounts. The question remains, why would I start using Buzz when I already have Twitter? Because it’s integrated into my gmail? Well…hmmm. I’m already annoyed that the few responses to comments I have made have gone directly into my email (you can set up a filter and that won’t happen, but I think messages should, by default, land in a separate location. This makes me want to treat Buzz like email, or IM. And, as if to illustrate this, when I posted ‘Why would I use Buzz over Twitter?’ the response I got was from a friend (who doesn’t use Twitter) saying ‘So we can talk like this now, too’. I had to explain that if she wanted to talk, we could IM through gmail, email through gmail, or even speak through gmail, but that Buzz was meant for a different purpose. The purpose that Twitter has already established, I think. Why didn’t Google just BUY Twitter? Furthermore? Visually, Buzz is messy. Following Mashable means that I have to scroll, forever, to get to other posts from my other contacts. On top of Mashable’s posts, I also see all of the 458 comments on said post. Seriously? No thanks.

Interestingly, while Twitter’s inception was based on the question ‘What are you doing?’, it seems to have evolved into ‘What’s going on?’. That seems to be where it’s most useful. Not to digress TOO much, but this morning, from the window of my hotel room, I could see a massive plume of smoke (that was precipitated by a huge flame) and wondered if it was a fire or if I was seeing things, again. Within 10 minutes of noting it, Newyorkology retweeted a post that there had been a transformer explosion, causing a fire in the exact location where I had seen the smoke (and fire). Further proof I can be as nosy (and lazy) as I want from the couch of the hotel room.

All this to say that if Twitter can deliver that to me – faster than a Domino’s pizza? Why would I switch to Buzz. Just so I could start saying “I’m going to Buzz that”, I guess. I never have been a fan of the Twitter usage of the word ‘Tweet’.

A Neilsen study conducted in December has returned some very interesting statistics on the world’s social media usage. Apparently, it is not the Americans or the British spending the most time on sites like Facebook and Twitter, believe it or not, that title belongs to the Australians.

The global comparison study revealed that despite all the sunny weather and beautiful beaches, Australians on average spend 6 hours and 52 minutes each month on social media websites—some distance in front of the United States and the United Kingdom who spend 6 hours and 9 minutes and 6 hours and 7 minutes respectively on these sites.

Here’s the full list (h:m:s):

1. Australia – 6:52:28
2. United States -6:09:13
3. United Kingdom – 6:07:54
4. Italy – 6:00:07
5. Spain – 5:30:55
6. Brazil – 4:33:10
7. Germany – 4:11:45
8. France – 4:04:39
9. Switzerland – 3:54:34
10. Japan – 2:50:21

Doesn’t make sense, right? How can Australian’s who have such a major outdoor culture be ahead of these other countries? Well, being Australian and a social media frequenter myself, I think I can come up with a few reasons why.

Firstly, I think the biggest reason for their heavy usage is due to the fact that Australians love to travel. It’s pretty much tradition to fly off somewhere as soon as you finish your education. Actually, Australians will take advantage of any chance to jump on a plane and an interesting little statistic is that around 5% of the Australian population is abroad right now as we speak. Anyway, in the words of Andrew Weiner, “social media is to world travelling as steamed lobster is to hot drawn butter”. It simply is the best way to stay connected and share photos while you are overseas and Australians are making the most of it.

Some other reasons are Australia’s geographical isolation, its mateship culture and, I hate to say it, its laziness. Some people have also mentioned that it’s too hot to go outside while others like andymurd believe Australia’s internet speed is to blame. He writes, “Maybe Australians spend so much time on social networking sites because our internet is so slow – we’re just waiting for the page to load”.

If you want some more reasons, Ross Dawson on his blog has come up with a rather comprehensive discussion on the subject and it is definitely worth a read.

Another equally compelling statistic that came out of the Neilsen study was that social media traffic worldwide had surged 82% over the past two years. The global average of time logged onto social media has jumped to 5 and a half hours—that’s two and a half hours longer compared to the same statistic two years ago. Nielsen also reported that there are now 300 million social media users worldwide and Twitter was the fastest growing social media network.

Very interesting indeed. No doubt these statistics will have digital marketers across the world drooling all over their keyboards.

Back to Mashable again today, it’s quite the addiction, like Huffpost or Apple Rumors. I was reading through the media updates for the day and came across an entry on Bccthis, a new way to incorporate or add BCC conversations to Twitter and Outlook.

I admit I have only come to really use Twitter in the last year, though I’ve had my membership for almost three years. In fact, I just went through my posts (the first from April, ’07), it’s interesting watching the evolution of ‘status update’ a la Facebook to posts with actual content with references and links. I can see from looking at those early day posts that the reason I didn’t use it so much before was because I couldn’t see the point of it when I can use email and FB. I usually find myself asking ‘Why?’ and ‘What’s in it for me?’ whenever something new comes along. And admittedly it can take me some time to come around or find an application useful to me. Certain applications, though, like Skitch, a great screen capture tool that came out about three years ago, I was so interested in I was on message boards trying to get someone to give me one of their invites. Looking back, I can’t really imagine why I was that anxious to have it, though at least I use it often. Come to think of it, I’m a bit of a glutton for new apps, even the ones I don’t use. I loved xoopit (it compiled ALL of your pictures in gmail for easy access), I gave a real shot at using ‘Remember the Milk’ (only I never remembered to use it), and if I could remember that I have Ubiquitous installed and could remember the commands, I am sure I would be a lot more efficient in sending maps, events, pictures and doing random other things. But, yes I am a geek and yes, I have too much time on my hands.

But, here I am again and I’m wondering about this new app, Bccthis. My initial thought was that it looked pretty cool, not difficult to use (though really, do I need yet one more plug in on Firefox so it can crash another two or three times a day) and definitely rates on my ‘cool new tricks’ meter. But. Here’s the thing. Bcc already exists. And, so does forwarding. And, to boot, doesn’t the very nature of Twitter make it seem sort of silly to be sending specific bcc messages? I can see branching off being a cute thing to do once in a while, but if you are going to start a message as a bcc, why not just use email. I mean, people do still use email, right? The application looks more useful within Outlook, where you can add a bcc within an email. In any event, I installed and tested it, but if I have to be on bccth.is in order to see my responses, it’s really not worth it for me. I already tend to have two browsers and ten to fifteen tabs open at any given time. When it comes down to it, I WANT new apps, but I want them to be so integral to the way I work that I can’t live without them. And if they could make my coffee, too, all the better.

When Steve Jobs revealed the name of his highly anticipated tablet computer I think the whole world let out a collective “what the…?”.

For months all sorts of rumours flew fast and furiously around the web about the possible naming of Apple’s new baby. Would it be iTablet, iPad, iNewton or iSlate? Of the four, we were all certain it would be iSlate. Makes sense right? It sounds cool, describes the shape, blah blah blah. Apparently, Apple even sneakily registered iSlate.com a few years ago.

“We want to kick off 2010 by introducing a truly magical and evolutionary product today,” said Chief Executive Steve Jobs at the launch event in San Francisco last Wednesday, “And we call it…iPad”.

Honestly, my first reaction was along the lines of “they called it what? Cue the feminine hygiene jokes”.

Ipad? I mean, sure the name works on a few levels, but…at the same time it is like calling your son Richard Head and then sending him of to school expecting him not to be picked-on. Of course people were going to make the link.

Minutes after the Jobs announcement the jokes began to run thick and fast (no pun intended) on social media pages and blogs. In fact, the term “iTampon” quickly became the top trending topic on Twitter.

“The mocking goes along the lines of: Yes, the iPad is small, lightweight and slim. But can you swim with it?” wrote the Los Angeles Times’ tech blog.

Anyway, I could go on and on about the many jokes flowing out there, but that’s not really the point of this blog. My question is- surely Apple was aware of the connotations associated with the name, so is this all just a big marketing ploy to get the world talking?

I got thinking and came up with this conclusion. I’m of the opinion that Apple knew exactly what they were doing and simply thought the name was better suited to the product and the Apple brand than the others. Plus, what’s the harm in a bit of free publicity, anyway?

Ultimately, the jokes will get old, and the name will eventually be accepted (to be honest, even as I write this I’m starting to get past my immaturity and appreciate the name). In the meantime though, the iPad will continue to ride this huge wave of publicity that has been inflated, particularly by social media websites, because the name is a little funny. In the end, if the iPad is a good product, it won’t matter what the thing is called.

Anyway, what do you think? Did Apple get it right or wrong with the name?

Facebook announced the top 15 status trends of 2009 at the end of last year and while there were quite a few obvious inclusions in the list, there were also some interesting ones. The study was based on the top trending words Facebook people used in their status updates. Facebook labelled it ‘memology’, the study of how “memes”, or new ideas and trends, are spreading on Facebook.

Facebook says:

Status updates on Facebook help people understand their friends and the people around them–how they’re feeling, what they’re doing and what they’re thinking. In the United States alone, people on Facebook are sharing hundreds of millions of words every day, thousands per second, in status updates. When taken as a whole, these words offer a unique barometer into the issues, world events and thoughts that are connecting people.

While you would have expected the usual suspects in ‘family’, ‘I’, ‘movies’, ‘sport’ and ‘religion’ to be in there—stock-standard material for updates, right? It is also no surprise, after its boom year, that social media terms ranked right up there either. The one that sticks out for me is ‘yard’ at 13. I mean, where has this come from?

Facebook blogged, “Have all the hipsters turned to yard work as the latest fad? Probably not. A more likely explanation is that hipsters’ moms and dads are also on Facebook, and these folks have yards that require some tending”.

Mums and dads talking about their yards? Yeah right, I didn’t buy it for one second. So I did a bit of research and it seems I’m not alone in my scepticism. Howard Yeend at puremango.co.uk believes that it’s some kind of ploy by Facebook to lure “older people” to join up and buy apps.

“A cynic might suggest that facebook is trying to make themselves look more appealing to the more mature adult population who will be happy to spend their cash in a facebook appstore which I have no doubt is on the horizon for FB,” he says.

Hmmm? Interesting idea.

Another theory is that Farmville is to blame. Perhaps people are simply talking about their Farmville yard? Of the three theories, I’m going to go with this one. Though, if anyone has any other ideas, please share.

Anyway, it made for an interesting read and the by-month graphs are pretty sweet also. Notice the spike in FML (F**K MY LIFE) during exam period?

As a follow up to my post from Tuesday, we see the release of the IPad. Not for nothing, I don’t much care for the name and look forward to spoofs like the one done by Mad TV,  The I-rack.  However, the post yesterday on Mashable, “What the Web of Tomorrow Will Look Like: 4 Big Trends to Watch’, that I mentioned in my post How Far We’ve Come Since the ‘Busy Signal’ was just in time! It would appear the IPad is the first step in the direction towards our internet future. I have doubts that the first release will be worth the purchase – who wants to admit they wasted their money on the first IPod or the first IPhone – but I look forward to its potential in future (there’s that word again) releases.

I was joking with some friends last week about going retro on communication for a week. No mobile phone, no internet. Just the house phone and me. Fortunately for me, my job depends on being connected, and there’s no way I can be on the internet and not do personal stuff (on my own time, of course). This got me and my friends joking about how we never left the house when we were waiting for a phone call back in high school. We’d sweat over sisters and brothers ‘tying up the line’ and making it impossible for us to speak with our boyfriends. Those were the days.

Flash forward 25 years. Communication has changed to the point that we are starting to rely less and less on our phones – even if we can take multiple calls at once from anywhere in the world. Today Mashable.com posted a piece called “What the Web of Tomorrow Will Look Like: 4 Big Trends to Watch’. As someone who loves anything tech, anything futuristic and tech and most things internet related (just not my complete inability to get OFF of it), I thought this would be very interesting for me to check out.

Once I read through it, I got to thinking. The one prediction that got my mind running was number 4. Social Media Will Be Its Largest Component. This lead me to start thinking of cool scifi movies I’ve seen and their predictions and which, if any, ever come true. There’s ‘Minority Report’. I think we’re getting to a point where we will be identified and personally addressed by ads as we walk through train stations, yep. BladeRunner has the video calling. Oh, by the way, I am certain there are many examples that pre-date the movies I’m mentioning, but that’s not the point. From there I got to Videodrome. Virtual/Reality.

Born was a kernel of a thought. What if Second Life had been introduced more recently. Let’s say two years ago. I wonder momentarily if it would have taken off but it was just seconds before its time. Per Wikipedia, the highest number of logged in avatars at the same time was in January ’09 – a paltry 88,200. Comparatively, Facebook states that more than 35,000,000 FB users change their status daily.  Having joined Second Life and logging a total of 3 hours on it, in toto, I can say that I don’t think so. It’s a really cool application and my mind raced at the potential and possibilities. But, in the end it was too hefty for me. Facebook, on the other hand, has got me hook, line and sinker. What I would like to see, and here I am going to make a prediction of my own that this will in fact happen, is a merging of a Second Life type of application with Facebook, or the development of something like it by Facebook. How many hours do your friends (and you, admit it) spend on Gangster Wars, or Farmville, or CafeWorld. To me it seems a natural progression. So, you heard it here first, folks. Too bad I don’t get paid for correct predictions.

What disappointed me about the forecast? That there wasn’t a feature that locks you out of your own devices under certain circumstances. I’m saying that if you are too drunk to be out in public, you are too drunk to be on Skype, IM, or even email. Of course, leave it to Google to have ‘Mail Goggles’. A tiny lab add-on that allows you to indicate after what time of night and on what days you will be required to take a short math test in order to send your mail. You can indicate how difficult the test is meant to be. I found it more annoying than useful, but to be truthful on more than occasion I had to complete the test several times before I could send the email. They should have a ‘maximum attempts’ setting in there, too. These seem like such simple, yet important, features that should be included on any device that can access the web.

I was forwarded this link today on Sarkozy considering charging an extra tax to companies like Google for taking business away from established advertising/marketing companies (publishers, record labels…). This is a BEAST of a topic, so we’ll see how I do at tackling it, even if it’s just a little piece of it.

First, a little background. I’ve lived in France, on and off, for just over a year. I recently received a three year visa to live there permanently (well, three years permanently anyway) and I can say most of my discourse over the last year has been surrounding the process of getting established in France and the incredible amount of paperwork involved and hoops to jump through. As of today, the bank account I applied for in August is still not completely open and I have yet to receive my bank card (after no less than 10 visits to the bank). While this may seem unrelated to the topic at hand, there is a little relevance that will hopefully become obvious along the way. In addition to having that experience, I dj. Completely digital, I buy all of my music online. I would say I spend an average of ten to fifteen hours a week looking for music. I use blogs, Itunes, dj pools, online memberships, and any other number of sites to buy my music.

Finally, I like talking about Google. The man, the myth, the legend. The beast.

In this particular case, I find myself defending Google. Whoah. What? Yep. The Google I know and love came from a good place once. Record companies, labels and distributors are useless to me. While I will still seek out vinyl on occasion, in a store, it’s always old music.

The idea that the past should be protected at the cost of the future is ingrained in the French culture and is what makes Paris a beautiful city to this day…I think. However, a resistance of the absolute and obvious – that record companies, distributors and labels are going extinct – is both ignorant and only slows, not halts the inevitable. But the French do love to resist the inevitable. A small example: It was only about two years ago that train station ticket vending machines started taking bank cards/ credit cards. And most still won’t accept bank cards that have been issued outside the EU, which infuriates me and I’ll move on before I’ve hi-jacked my own post with absurdities about living in Paris. In New York, however (just for example), train station vending machines have been taking bank cards/credit cards since about 1999.

All of this to say, I suppose, that it’s all fine and dandy to make it difficult for foreigners visiting and living in France, though I think it would be better for their economy if they didn’t. However, protecting the recording industry from Google will help neither France’s economy nor their culture. And, it’s just too late. The website www.deezer.com, one of my favorite sites for discovering new music, comes from France. If this doesn’t encourage people to take the next step, digitally, and buy and download music, I don’t know what does. Sites like deezer, shout 4 music and the sixty one (my newest favorite for good music, even if the site is difficult to navigate) are not flash in the pan sites promoting crap music. I suspect France will keep being France, though, with or without the tax.

There have been a lot of faith-restoring stories coming out of the social media world of late. Last week I wrote about the Facebook campaign that has helped save the life of young British student Philip Pain who fell seven-stories in Mexico and was in desperate need of blood. This week I want to acknowledge the huge effort made by social networking pages to help the people of Haiti.

Only minutes after the devastating earthquake floored the tiny Caribbean nation last Tuesday, the online world was mobilised and ready to help in any way it could.

One of the organisations leading the way was The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) who have now raised over £25 million after their appeal was announced on Twitter on last Wednesday.

The DEC has utilised Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube over the past week and their Chief Executive, Brendan Gormley, has publicly praised the significant role these social media sites have had in their campaign.

Mr. Gormley said, “Social networking has proven itself as a valuable addition to the fundraising machine. I’m thrilled that we have been able to quickly communicate and engage the UK public, who have in turn responded with tremendous generosity to help the people of Haiti who so urgently need our help.

“Their donations mean our member agencies can continue to source and deliver the emergency supplies needed like safe water, shelter, medicine and food. We hope people will continue to give their support so that more emergency aid can be added to what will be a massive humanitarian effort.”

DEC reported on Facebook that Flickr has been used to host images from the DEC’s member agencies, with 34,000 views of the DEC account on Friday, while a video of the DEC broadcast appeal has attracted nearly 4,000 views on YouTube.

Not only has social media been an outstanding tool to stimulate aid and increase donations, it has also played a vital role in spreading news and remarkably, locating victims.

“This is the first example we’ve seen where that sense of global community has been expressed in action, for example using social media technology to get the story out faster, to locate victims, and to give instantaneous donations,” said James Norrie, a media professor at RTS’s School of IT Management. “That’s an amazing use of a social media tool.”

The events in Haiti, while both shocking and saddening, have reinforced social media’s undoubted ability for social good.

I think Tom Brown, writing for The Burlington Free Press, captured it well when he wrote, “I’ve heard critics of social media say that users of communication tools such as Twitter and Facebook only want to talk to, and about, themselves and their friends. The earthquake in Haiti might help change the minds of some of those critics”.

“When people can respond that quickly and in such numbers to help their fellow man, then there certainly is hope”.

To make a donation to the DEC Haiti Earthquake Appeal visit www.dec.org.uk or call 0370 60 60 900, donate over the counter at any post office or high street bank, send a cheque made payable to ‘DEC Haiti Earthquake Appeal’ to ‘PO Box 999, London, EC3A 3AA’ or text GIVE to 70077 to donate £5. £5 goes to DEC. You pay £5 plus your standard network SMS rate.