social
FriendFace
27/December/2008 09:52 Filed in: Entertainment
A week (or so?) ago there was an insanely great
parody of social networks on the IT crowd (a british
sitcom). The social network? FriendFace! Have a look
at the YouTube clip of the ad
for FriendFace.
Also have a look here at the company's (employer) response to friendface
Also have a look here at the company's (employer) response to friendface
Connection Madness?!?!?!
06/November/2008 06:46 Filed in: Education
| Technology
I've been experimenting with many web 2.0 services
lately. Each one of them requires its own username
and password. Admittedly using something like
Hellotxt allows one to setup a service and then
blog/update from hellotxt, so updating isn't that
problematic - even though you aren't fully utilizing
the service you signed up for because services like
hellotxt and ping.fm allow you to use the lowest
common denominator of services (i.e. text)
I've been thinking that I have way to many logins for all these services. I really wish that I could use openID for all these services - it would make life so much simpler!
I've been thinking that I have way to many logins for all these services. I really wish that I could use openID for all these services - it would make life so much simpler!
Will you connect with me?
05/November/2008 06:44 Filed in: WTF?!
I've been lurking on LinkedIn, myspace and facebook
on the weekends, and I can see some of my contacts'
contacts have TONS of connections. OK, some people
are more liberal with who they call a 'friend' than
I, but I've noticed this thing called LION on linkedin.
LION stands for LinkedIn Open Networker. In essence it's the social networks promiscuous user who will connect with anyone for any purpose. Now let me come out and say this so no one misunderstands me:
Connections matter for squat if there is no trust or lack of trust!
The reason why social networks work is because I know someone, and I trust them enough or know them enough to connect with them. These people might be coworkers, employees, friends, family and classmates. If I need something, I can be assured that if I look in my social network I can find someone with the credentials to help me out (such as a good plumber). I will know that that person is trusted, so I won't have any issues hiring this plumber.
If I see that I am connected to someone through a LION or similar idiocy (like toplinked.com), then I simply won't seek out that person's services unless I am one level away from them and I can ask a trusted source over the phone or face to face of that service provider's abilities.
Why? Because most of these open networkers connect to people in order to boost their connected count. The number of people you are connected to does not imply that there is trust in that connection. LIONs are like the ENRON or the credit crunch of the social world - sooner or later they will collapse.
The best way to network is to join a group or a community of practice online, or join a local organization like your local toastmaster's chapter. This is quality networking.
LION stands for LinkedIn Open Networker. In essence it's the social networks promiscuous user who will connect with anyone for any purpose. Now let me come out and say this so no one misunderstands me:
Connections matter for squat if there is no trust or lack of trust!
The reason why social networks work is because I know someone, and I trust them enough or know them enough to connect with them. These people might be coworkers, employees, friends, family and classmates. If I need something, I can be assured that if I look in my social network I can find someone with the credentials to help me out (such as a good plumber). I will know that that person is trusted, so I won't have any issues hiring this plumber.
If I see that I am connected to someone through a LION or similar idiocy (like toplinked.com), then I simply won't seek out that person's services unless I am one level away from them and I can ask a trusted source over the phone or face to face of that service provider's abilities.
Why? Because most of these open networkers connect to people in order to boost their connected count. The number of people you are connected to does not imply that there is trust in that connection. LIONs are like the ENRON or the credit crunch of the social world - sooner or later they will collapse.
The best way to network is to join a group or a community of practice online, or join a local organization like your local toastmaster's chapter. This is quality networking.
Leveraging my strategic assets for a synergistic paradigm shift
28/July/2008 08:38 Filed in: Other
I was looking at various people on LinkedIn a few
weeks back to see if there are any acquaintances on
there, and I came across an individual who had this
in their blurb about themselves (changed mildly to
protect the innocent):
“PMP certified IT Project Manager with over fifteen years of experience with the ability to leverage her proven record of strategic leadership in solving complex business problems, increase ROI and decrease CTO, as part of a collaborative work environment.”
Maybe it’s the fact that I am sensitive to business bull after having listened to the Bullfighter’s guide, but all I can say is WOW! I can’t really believe that she speaks about herself in the third person and has one sentence so fortified with business bull. Now, I don’t know this person, but if I were a hiring manager I would say that there is a lot of smoke blow from her direction. I personally prefer to more personal blurb. You can be a high powered whatever, but making your blurb more personal shows that you are a person and thus, in my opinion, more valuable to the organization than a business bull automaton.
Just my two cents…
“PMP certified IT Project Manager with over fifteen years of experience with the ability to leverage her proven record of strategic leadership in solving complex business problems, increase ROI and decrease CTO, as part of a collaborative work environment.”
Maybe it’s the fact that I am sensitive to business bull after having listened to the Bullfighter’s guide, but all I can say is WOW! I can’t really believe that she speaks about herself in the third person and has one sentence so fortified with business bull. Now, I don’t know this person, but if I were a hiring manager I would say that there is a lot of smoke blow from her direction. I personally prefer to more personal blurb. You can be a high powered whatever, but making your blurb more personal shows that you are a person and thus, in my opinion, more valuable to the organization than a business bull automaton.
Just my two cents…
Goodbye Hi5!
29/April/2008 19:13 Filed in: Technology
I was dragged kicking and screaming into the whole
social network thing (yeah, I know, Mr. Technology
here should have been an early adopter, but
anyway&hellip
Friendster bit the dust for me earlier this year (I think). I decided to unsubscribe because I only had a handful of friends on there, and I never used it. Hi5 I used more than Friendster and I had about 20-30 friends on there, so I decided to keep my account during the first social purge. In recent weeks I kept getting invites from people I did not know (sorry, I don’t connect with strangers), far worse was that most of these strangers were not legitimate users, they were spam bots! Since more of my friends are on Facebook anyway, I decided to kill my Hi5 account and move on.
Ciao Hi5!
Friendster bit the dust for me earlier this year (I think). I decided to unsubscribe because I only had a handful of friends on there, and I never used it. Hi5 I used more than Friendster and I had about 20-30 friends on there, so I decided to keep my account during the first social purge. In recent weeks I kept getting invites from people I did not know (sorry, I don’t connect with strangers), far worse was that most of these strangers were not legitimate users, they were spam bots! Since more of my friends are on Facebook anyway, I decided to kill my Hi5 account and move on.
Ciao Hi5!
Facebook apps have really gone off the deep end!
14/April/2008 20:38 Filed in: Internet
Jeez! Every day I keep getting invitation for
facebook apps that are…for all intents and purposes
useless for me. I’ve been blocking certain apps that
I will never use, and I’ve been declining other apps
that I may want to use in the future.
People’s facebook profiles are starting to remind me of MySpace. Facebook is still cleaner than MySpace (thank goodness that Facebook does not allow themes), but my friend’s pages are getting cluttered. I just want to go on and post on someone’s wall sometimes, but it’s hard to find! I don’t want to post on the FunWall or the SuperWall… just the Wall…
Facebook really needs to reign in these apps and stop people from sharing. This excessive sharing is annoying!
People’s facebook profiles are starting to remind me of MySpace. Facebook is still cleaner than MySpace (thank goodness that Facebook does not allow themes), but my friend’s pages are getting cluttered. I just want to go on and post on someone’s wall sometimes, but it’s hard to find! I don’t want to post on the FunWall or the SuperWall… just the Wall…
Facebook really needs to reign in these apps and stop people from sharing. This excessive sharing is annoying!
Facebook frustration!
05/April/2008 09:55 Filed in: Technology
For a while now I have been exporting my contact
information from LinkedIn (in vCard format) and I
have been importing this information into my MacOS X
addressbook, which for all intents and purposes is my
main repository of contact information. LinkedIn
makes it easy. One vCard download, import into
addresbook, and voila! There is your information,
which can be easily synched with Google contacts,
Yahoo contacts, my phone, my PDA, DotMac, heck even
Plaxo with Plaxo’s plug-in.
Recently I have been discovering a lot of old friends on facebook, people who are now on my Friend’s list. I spent some time looking around facebook to see if there is a way to download vCard files of my friends (for easier access), but there is none.
Thus the only way to get all this info is go to through my 200 friends, family and acquaintances and manually get all their info (phones, AIM, email, and so on)… I wish there were a plug-in that created a group in your addressbook called ‘facebook’, and the contact information in that group were automatically updated with all the current information of your facebook contacts. For that matter, I wish that LinkedIn offered that functionality too
Recently I have been discovering a lot of old friends on facebook, people who are now on my Friend’s list. I spent some time looking around facebook to see if there is a way to download vCard files of my friends (for easier access), but there is none.
Thus the only way to get all this info is go to through my 200 friends, family and acquaintances and manually get all their info (phones, AIM, email, and so on)… I wish there were a plug-in that created a group in your addressbook called ‘facebook’, and the contact information in that group were automatically updated with all the current information of your facebook contacts. For that matter, I wish that LinkedIn offered that functionality too
The best social network, ever!
31/March/2008 21:49 Filed in: Technology
Yesterday I stumbled upon the world’s best social
network.
Is it facebook? No!
Is it MySpace? No!
Is it Hi5? No!
Is it LinkedIn? No!
The new kid on the block is called ncludr (get it? Includer!) and it can be found at http://ncludr.com/
Go on, have a look! You will instantly be able to connect to many individuals just like you (and other ones not so much like you)
Yes this is a joke!
Is it facebook? No!
Is it MySpace? No!
Is it Hi5? No!
Is it LinkedIn? No!
The new kid on the block is called ncludr (get it? Includer!) and it can be found at http://ncludr.com/
Go on, have a look! You will instantly be able to connect to many individuals just like you (and other ones not so much like you)
Yes this is a joke!
How many socials????? (part 1)
03/February/2008 09:21 Filed in: Technology
I used to have a friendster account, my first social
network. I had about ten friends and after a few
years a closed my account because I never went there
and didn’t feel like hassling my friends who were
already on facebook, myspace, orkut, or any of the
other social networks to join Friendster. I joined
other social networks, where most of my friends were,
and I created a ‘ring’. I use linkedIn for my
professional social profile, and I use facebook for
my general social profile. Because I have friends on
Hi5 and MySpace I decided to join those two as well
and provide links to the my two main social profiles
so that I don’t have to repeat information. My
cardinal rule: Try the service, if you have less than
30 friends after a year – quit the service.
Now I get invites to other social networks, but why bother (other than geeky curiosity of course)? I will just have to re-invite all my friends from other networks, or search for new ones on the ‘new’ service, and then I will just put a pointer to my facebook and linkedIn accounts. What we need is a mesh service that allows us to join as many social network sites we want, manage our info from one central location, and not have to go to ten different sites! It would also be nice if our friends from one social network can connect with our friends from other social networks without the need to join that competing social.
I hope the DataPortability thing catches on…
Now I get invites to other social networks, but why bother (other than geeky curiosity of course)? I will just have to re-invite all my friends from other networks, or search for new ones on the ‘new’ service, and then I will just put a pointer to my facebook and linkedIn accounts. What we need is a mesh service that allows us to join as many social network sites we want, manage our info from one central location, and not have to go to ten different sites! It would also be nice if our friends from one social network can connect with our friends from other social networks without the need to join that competing social.
I hope the DataPortability thing catches on…