Buzz, Wave, Facebook and Twitter
I have been working hard to understand the Buzz behind Google’s latest product. While Wave, their previous offering, has not be of any productive use for me so far, I do not know how can one make use of this Buzz!
Social Media on Internet has become too many of ‘me too’ type websites. With the improving bandwidth and technology, it has been easy for companies to get inspired by Facebook and start websites to ‘connect’ people. VCs have been investing the money and the Entrepreneurs have been burning it on crowd-sourcing. No doubt there are various web communities that have added value to the people. I have been really impressed by the likes of Mint, which have helped people in learning from the best practices of others and improve their financial situation.
Twitter have become a place for link building and sourcing more and more traffic to the websites. Every time I login, I find people sharing websites and content that is mostly not developed by them, but is RT or just shared. There are less people who are getting into a conversation, and even if they have conversations, they can always use IM, which is real-time! Why would someone use a service to shout out to the world, ‘what have you been doing’ and then raise all the hue and cry about privacy with Buzz.
Facebook, which started as a place to connect people, has turned into an online gaming site. There are more people who login only to play games than to reconnect with old lost friends. More and more people are getting on to Facebook but probably they do not know what is the purpose of signing up. They are getting on to the Facebook bandwagon because everyone they know is already there, or signing up. Most people on my friend list have not responded to any wall posts or messages because they do not login that often. It is easier to call them!
Social Media has to have a purpose. It is supposed to be an aggregator where people from different walks of life can come together and create, discover, collaborate and contribute. Websites that are only a place for people to signup and forget why they created a login are no good for the internet or for the society. Email has a purpose, IM is for real time conversations, VoIP is cheap telephony, Social Media similarly has to prove its mettle before it can be considered a medium. Social Media should be used as a facilitator to provide the solution to a problem. We have not identified any problem but are creating websites for people to come together and… do nothing!
Social Media is about engaging visitors in something that is productive for them. It is about providing a service, a solution to the visitors’ problem. It is not the ultimate panacea and neither is it the solution itself. It is only a medium for providing solutions.
My point of the post is: If you believe that a particular website or web-app can solve one of your problems, signup. Rest all is noise.
The ‘Social’ in Social Media
There is so much to do all the time, I think that a day should have more than 24 hours!
Internet has made information so accessible that if someone is looking for it, it is readily available at all times. Google has become a verb and life’s so easy with information a couple of clicks away, I wonder why did they have books in the first place! I realized in the past few weeks that it was much easier to find out what’s happening around you, by using twitter! For those who joined us late, Twitter is a website that lets users share 140 character messages with the entire world.
Unlike SMS, twitter is a broadcast service. SMS is meant for an intended list of recipients, while twitter messages are for everyone to see, making it public, and therefore social! It is funny the way the meaning and definition of ‘Social’ has changed. Anything, which is not private, can be considered Social. The more open you are, the more Social you are.
If you can share the dirtiest of your secrets in public, chances are that you will have a good fan following!
Websites like Facebook, MySpace etc have brought everything in the users’ life in public domain, all in the name of Social. It is easy for people to know things about others that otherwise would never be in the public domain.
What makes life worse is the number of companies that use the API of these Web Applications. In user language, these companies are providers of the numerous quizzes, cute quotes, comparison reports, photo tools, games and all that jazz on Facebook and MySpace.
People continuously add these applications, opening up their profiles to the providers, and also allowing the provider to access the information of all their friends.
This means that if I want to protect my profile from potential spammers, ID thieves or just want to keep my private life private, I will have to ask my friends to not use these applications. With the increasing number of people getting on to the Social Networks, it gets all the more difficult to keep a tab on how and where can your information be distributed. Currently, I do not know how many people read the TOS and Privacy Policy and all the other fine print of these applications. I think most people don’t even realize that these parts require any attention.
The next posts will have the details of protecting profiles in Facebook for a start.
Please protect yourself and help others.
Facebook Status, Twitter and Micro-blogging
How much can one write in 140 characters? Not much?!? There are millions of people who are posting their thoughts on Twitter daily, in 140 characters. There is yet another set of young netizens, who login to Facebook only to update “What’s on your mind” and share it with the rest of the world.
Micro-blogging has been around for a while and has started to catch up recently because of the ease of venting the increasing frustration in the youth. A crashing economy, pink slips, lower pays and higher taxes have led to a situation where the current generation can not think about anything but work. The hectic schedules and omnipresent stress doesn’t allow people to interact with each other and spend quality time with friends and family.
Micro-blogging is the easiest resort for this community to interact, discuss, shout, tell, share – What’s on your mind! When I update my status on Facebook, I know that it may be read by 150 people. These people may sympathize, appraise, help, comment, suggest or just add to my emotions.
It is a nice way to connect to the world and the best part is that you do not have to speak to anyone about it. It is personal, discreet and yet so public! It helps people in getting rid of their emotions, or enjoying them more, and that’s the reason it became so popular in such a small time.
Follow me on twitter @ranaonline or let me know if you like micro-blogging!
