Posts Tagged digg
Is Google Buzz the Twitter Killer?
Posted by Paul Holmes in blogging, business, internet, social media on February 16th, 2010
Will Buzz Kill Twitter?
Some have compared it to FriendFeed, some have called it Google’s answer to Facebook, and some are just annoyed and can’t wait to turn it off (in GMail, you can scroll to the bottom and click on “turn off buzz”, by the way).
Others have predicted Google Buzz will annihilate Twitter! They make a compelling argument.
- It’s a sophisticated broadcast notification system, much like Twitter.
- It’s public.
- You can send images (and you don’t need third party applications like TwitPic).
- You can automatically feed Buzz from other services (Blog RSS Feeds, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Digg, etc.).
- Your Google profile is now your Google Buzz profile, and has much more information than a Twitter profile (yet, uglier).
It’s overwhelming like FriendFeed, but this is offset in part by neatly integrating right into GMail (which is certainly the most open tab on my browser). This means you can have a peak, or you can completely ignore it – but it will always be at your fingertips, beckoning you…
And does anyone have any doubt that “Buzz” will very soon be searchable (and from Google, no less)?
Will Buzz kill Twitter? Maybe. Maybe not.
What do you think?
Top 10 Social Media
Posted by Paul Holmes in blogging, business, personal, social media on December 1st, 2009
I have written various articles on social media in the past, and a few people have asked what my favourites are. The following list is not “the best”, nor specifically “the best for application X”, rather my favourites – those I enjoy using or gain specific benefit for using.
10. Ning’s (like Your Canada)
Ning is a really cool product that allows you to launch your own social networks around specific themes. Your Canada is an example of one I launched to add a social component to our popular Your Canada website.
9. FriendFeed
Everyone was getting excited about FriendFeed, the ultimate social media collaborator. It’s a cool tool because it let’s you tie all your social media activities into one stream. It can be a bit overwhelming though, so I find myself using it sparingly these days.
8. YouTube
Anonymity is still the name of the game on YouTube. As a result, you get poorly spelled and otherwise idiotic comments on videos all the time. This is too bad, given that it otherwise is the best place for exposure, and the tools to connect people socially are actually pretty good. The social aspects of video are still developing, and I suspect a number of other sites may take the lead in “social video” while Google focuses YouTube more on commercializing what they have (and doing this primarily by pushing sponsored videos, vs. an advertising model). Some to watch include Vimeo, DailyMotion, 12seconds.tv, Ustream.tv, blip.tv, and about a few dozen others.
7. Flickr
Yahoo! has one product that kicks ass and totally owns it’s vertical, and that is Flickr. Flickr is the best social medium for sharing photos/images. Picasa is Google’s alternative, and it is OK. A few others are Photobucket and Flixya, but they are a long way from successful at this point.
6. Digg
The DiggBar has revolutionized Digg (much to the chagrin of the ol’ skool Diggers). I use it all the time, and am a bit of a Diggaholic now. It’s a great tool for sharing interesting stuff you find on the web. It also has some great integration tools to very easily share “Dugg” stuff on Facebook and Twitter. I use Digg every single day.
5. Instant Messaging
Three years ago this was number one (followed by blogging and online forums). Three years ago, I did 100% of my instant messaging using MSN Messenger. Two years ago, 80% was MSN and 20% was GoogleTalk. Today, 50% is Facebook, 30% is GoogleTalk and 20% is MSN. As always, ICQ and AIM are 0%. Instant messaging is still a great way to get ahold of people in a hurry.
4. Blogging
I love to blog. I have at least 5 blogs I update regularly, and I love posting comments to other people’s blogs (which is what makes it a social medium). I also love WordPress; I am a total convert to the platform. I even organized a WordCamp in Victoria a few weeks ago, which was tonnes of fun.
3. Facebook
I was a Facebook holdout for ages, but have grown to like it. I like it because almost everyone I know is there. The platform itself is annoying sometimes, and frustrating at others, but they have the critical mass, so it remains a tool I continue to use, even if I use it despite itself.
2. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is great for business. At a recent presentation I gave at the University of Victoria to all of their business students, I asked several hundred students how many of them were on Facebook, and almost every hand went up. I then asked how many were on LinkedIn, and about 5 hands went up (I think a few of those hands were faculty, too). This is ashame. LinkedIn is a great tool for business, but also for career building. The guy sitting next to you in class today might be CEO of some big corporation in 10 years. Stay in touch and add them to your network on LinkedIn. I’m not sure if I got through to them or not.
LinkedIn is easy, passive and a great way to introduce people. It’s sort of like a virtual business mixer, but doesn’t require you to smile and dress nicely.
1. Twitter
Even people who love Twitter make fun of it. Twitter is an amazing tool for connecting with people and getting a message out. Through the power of the retweet, your potential network is huge. That conference I organized back in #4 above – I used Twitter as the primary medium through which to promote it, and over 100 local (and international) people showed up. Not too shabby for something people love to make fun of.
Loading ...I’ll review my list every once in awhile as my tastes change. It’ll be interesting to look back in the future and see what has changed.
I can already say that “FriendFeed” used to be much higher up the list, and I expect there is a good chance Google Wave and Foursquare will appear here in the next year or two. The influence of mobile and video (and mobile video) should introduce a few new angles to the equation, too.
A few others that I use that didn’t make the top list are Plaxo (11), Yelp (12), Identi.ca (13), Vimeo (14), Meetup (15), SlideShare (16), MySpace (17), and StumbleUpon (18). I have profiles on a few others, but don’t use them much.
I’m always happy to connect with people I know on any of these networks, see my social media links in the right column to link to my profile, or visit my Contact page.
Share on Tumblr
Posted by Paul Holmes in blogging, internet on August 22nd, 2009
I’ve been playing with Tumblr for awhile. It’s really cool, and the interface is amazingly simple, but I could never quite figure out exactly what to do with it.
Then I went to WordCamp in Surrey and listend to Lorraine Murphy from Raincoaster, and she described it as a “terrible blogging tool”, but a “great scrap-booking tool.”
The lightbulb went on!
I was using DiggBar a fair amount for this, but “scrap-booking” is not really the point, and because of the “social” aspects of Digg, you have verify your humanity every time, which slows the process down considerably. Then, going back and finding your Digg later isn’t rocket since, but it’s not dead simple either. This is not an anti-Digg post (they did send me a free t-shirt, after all), but I would say that Digg is best used for it’s intended purpose (same goes for StumbleUpon and Delicious).
Retrieving links from Tumblr is 100% idiot-proof, since it’s a public blog – no logging in, no messing around. Since it’s “blog-style”, you just need to remember the date you added it, or search for it.
I installed the “Share on Tumblr” bookmarklet (not button, widget or plugin), and already find myself “scrap-booking” all sorts of stuff.
I’m off to the races!
When you login at Tumblr and create your first Tumblog, go to the Account menu (top right) and select “Goodies”. Click on and drag the “Share on Tumblr” button to your bookmark bar (yes, it even works in Chrome).
After that, you’ll be tumbling like a mad tumblr!
Social Media Interview with Michael Allison
Posted by Paul Holmes in business, internet, social media on August 12th, 2009
I had the pleasure of lunch today with my old friend and social media connoisseur, Michael Allison.
Michael had the idea of interviewing me for his blog, and I thought that sounded like a great idea, so I interviewed him as well. Mostly for my own practice, but also because Michael has a wealth of knowledge on the subject.
Social Networking Primer – Social Bookmarking
Posted by Paul Holmes in social media on March 28th, 2009
On February 4th, I commited to writing some of my experiences on Social Bookmarking.
At a lecture at the last AffiliateSummit in Las Vegas, I recall the speaker suggesting that people pick one social bookmarking site and stick to it. I decided to survey the landscape, and do just this.
I have to admit, though, as an entire branch of social media, I am generally disappointed.
Here’s what I set out looking for:
I wanted a social bookmarking service that would not only do all the cool social aspects, but also integrate easily into my browser and become a useful tool for my own day-to-day web surfing. This was clearly too much to ask for.
The main issue: I like folders. I organize bookmarks into folders. I see the value of tags, I honestly do – so give me both. Or at least give me “faux” folders (groups or lists) that I can easily access in a tree structure that’s based on tags. Isn’t this obvious?
Now some people might laugh at me and accuse me of living in 2002. That’s OK, because I think I’m with most of the rest of the world on this (at least, for now).
Anyway, here’s the synopsis of my research:
Diigo – This is my chosen “one”. You can sort your bookmarks into “lists” – something like “faux” folders. Unfortunately, accessing them from the “Diigo” menu in Firefox (when the plug-in is installed) still takes 6 clicks, and if you want a list with more than a screenful of options, you have to switch to the web interface, adding yet more clicks. (Regular bookmarks take 2 clicks.) It also allows private and public bookmarks. While imperfect, Diigo is easily the best of the worst in terms of usability. (Diigo took over Furl, one of the pioneers.)
ma.gnolia.com – He dead.
delicious – Do not install the delicious toolbar – it literally takes over FireFox! This could be a good thing if it did it well, but it does not. Furthermore, delicious can’t seem to stay logged in for me. Every time I want to delicious an article, it turns into a 13 step process and I typically abandon my efforts in frustration.
StumbleUpon – These guys have clearly taken the “social” aspect to the extreme and done a great job. For a schmo like me who’s looking for something that’s actually useful for my day-to-day life, as well, though – they don’t do the trick.
digg – digg does the social part well, and is used by lots of people, so has some critical mass going for it. Otherwise, I’m disappointed on almost every angle. Browser integration is essentially non-existent (the toolbar is a waste of valuable screen space, in my opinion). It does not allow multi-word tags on bookmarks (at least, not obviously). Profiles are extremely limited. And support tells me my account accidentally got deleted (the good news is that support responds to e-mails). Cool logo, though (reminds me of the Doozers from Fraggle Rock).
There are others much like digg: Simpy, Faves and reddit – they do the social aggregation part well, but don’t try to be much else.
In this “social news” category, I think newsvine has an interesting platform. I might play with it a bit more when I’m bored.
Conclusion: If the best “social media” aspects were combined with some good old fashioned integration, convenience and usability, this would be my social bookmarking application of choice. First company to do this, let me know. In the interim, I’ll mostly be using my “Bookmarks” menu in FireFox and watching the social bookmarking world pass me by.
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