Week 2 (Part 2) - Emerging from Social Networking this week
As well as spending time discovering new theories and technologies (well for me any way). I have taken great delight in being at the right place (at least the right website) at the right time to encounter some of the latest technologies to hit the Social Networking community.
It has been a busy week with the launch of two new technologies with very different types of community reactions and very different approaches.
Chronologically the first was the launch of pip.io a new type of aggregation tool that aims to provide a full experience in a variety of technologies rather than just being another listing interface. The second was the launch of Google Buzz which is an extension of Google Mail (GMail) that allows more real-time discussions and the ability to view media without having to open new browser pages. Lastly although by no means a new technology I had an opportunity to further explore the music world through theSixtyOne.
Pip.io (My Page)
Pip.io is a new Browser based utility that aims to bring together various forms of social networking media into a single location. Unlike many of the others on the market it aims to provide a richer more engaging experience. For example it has its own chat engine but this can be used for visual chat as well as Instant Messaging. It promises lots of richly featured apps but currently only provides an RSS reader (in addition to the chat capability). I linked up with an old friend from Lites Ltd who now lives in Germany while reviewing some of the output of a number of my favourite blog writers.
The visual experience is definitely richer than usual but most of the functionality seems to be missing at this time. There is lots of noise about its possibilities but still too many "coming soon" banners. The problem with this plethora of Social Networking facilities and the even larger number of aggregators is that it is difficult to know where to go to look and often if you use two or more you find yourself reading posts you have.
Google Buzz (Introduction)
There does seem to be a lot more interest in this compared to Pip.io, probably because its Google and its seems like it has more functionality. Some people seem to have jumped in with both feet and are getting very excited by it. But me? not so much.
So what is Buzz?
Well its kind of a social extension for e-Mail. It is another attempt by Google to storm the social market. Google Wave seems to have stalled and so now Google are trying to find another way to get their mass of e-Mail users to utilise their tool to access the social scene.
The principle is that Buzz will look at what you do and provide you insight into what other people do that you may have missed. For example You follow person x, person x follows person y, you do not follow person y. If person y says something interesting you will usually miss it because you do not follow them. In Buzz, if person x says I find this interesting Buzz will show it to you because you have said you find person x interesting.
Do you get the idea? do you get the math? There are thousands (probably millions) of people using social tools if you calculate the number of indirect connections you have (LinkedIn like to do this for you) even a small number of direct followers will give you millions of indirect ones. The result is a barrage of words, not information, not value just words. This makes the product name very apt. It creates a buzz rather like the effect a night in a rave has on your ears.
Despite this buzz, or maybe because at the beginning the buzz was just a hum. Using Buzz resulted in the receipt of a very kind e-Mail from Richard Kottler who, along with Colin Linsky, was responsible for my employment at SPSS five years ago. Through buzz he had found my blog entry (No Product is just One Man) and agreed that it was good to see that IBM SPSS Data Collection has continued to prosper once he had left as captain of the ship. Richard was one of several people who created the concept behind Data Collection and ensured that that concept became a reality. His reality is as far away from market research as you can get these days as shown by is latest venture (www.holidayrentalmanagement.com)
Overall I think that Buzz is going to have to calm down before I see any real value from it. Maybe you could change my mind for me by providing comments on this and my other blogs via buzz so that I can understand its value.
TheSixtyOne (My Page)
Those that know me well know that my hearing is terrible. This is probably attributed to the fact that there always seems to be something stuck in my ears. I am firmly attached to my iPod and a firm follower of the music podcast scene. My interests are primarily around ambient, chill, electronica and get most of my daily sound from podcasts. One of my favourites (the chillcast by Anji Bee) introduced me to TheSixtyOne.
This website recently was ridiculed by its followers for dramatically changing the look of its site. I like the new look and I like many of the sounds it makes. It allows independant artists to share their music and for listeners to explore and support these artists.
Although I like the overall look of the site its capabilities are far from intuitive. It has taken me some time to get used to how to use it and I probably have not yet mastered it all (for example I do not seem to be able to replace the image of route 66 with something distinctly more English).
I am considering writing an online manual in a future blog to tell everyone how it works. Lets see if I manage it. In the meantime if anyone knows how to change the background image, please drop me a line.
