DISQUS

Scobleizer · 1 year ago

Louis: I'm very close to getting off this train. What you are writing here won't be understood by most people for two to five more years. So, adding more things onto the plate won't help unless they add REAL value. So far I'm totally not impressed by many of the things in this genre. Even my wife says she doesn't get FriendFeed (and if she doesn't get THAT she certainly won't get other lifestreamers).

I'm scared that, as a group, these are going after a smaller and smaller audience of weird people (admit it, me and you are weird users and don't represent many real users). I'd rather find a killer new travel app that solves a real pain that people are having. I track a LOT of users and very few have more than two services.

That said, I do love it that you try so much stuff for us. I just find most of it leaves me wanting.

Matt Shaulis · 1 year ago

lol... you can't get off the train! you are one of the engines! think of the disaster, you wouldn't do that to the rest of us... :-) just kidding...

Daniel J. Pritchett · 1 year ago

Mr. Scoble, I think you might have a nonrepresentative perspective. Judging by your twitter updates you seem to be face to face with the shining stars of social media on a daily basis.

If I had your tens of thousands of twitter followers *and* I was getting my information fix at the primary source from all of these conferences you attend I'd probably have trouble getting excited about social media too.

At this point it's got to take a mighty effort to force yourself to care long enough to write a good blog post before you fall asleep in your hotel room after the latest conference. I'm glad you stick to it though, it's good for the community to have eager travelers and storytellers to follow.

Mona N. · 1 year ago

Louis, you are a machine, I don't know how you do it... considering you are a new father, as well :) But I definitely agree. I, too, have narrowed it down to a comprehensive list of one from each category, while simultaneously trying others out. There is plenty of room - and pixels! - for all, and love being involved in the Social Networking community :)

Thank you for this piece, Louis.
Like always, I was blown away :)

Justin Korn · 1 year ago

Nice response Louis. I think you are right about time management. I think as of late, I have been signing up for each of the new services and then neglecting them, which in turn, was making me feel like I was being overloaded with new services.

Looks like I am in par and just need to take a little time here and there to check out the new services from time to time to see if they fit with my groove.

I still think the superpower of Super Kickass Social Network Following Power exist. Perhaps Mona knows about it.

Louis Gray · 1 year ago

For me, there's a sense of ownership, especially if I find a site early or "first", kind of like a parent will support their kids even if they are awkward. Because I was early to Social Median and Strands (and very visible on FriendFeed though not the first), I've got a stake in getting them to work and for others to understand why I find value.

I feel guilty when I like a site and nobody else does (AssetBar, BlogRize, Mergelab for example). But there will always be examples of that.

I'm most happy that sites like Toluu, ReadBurner and Feedly are well-known now, considering they started here. They're not as well known as the big name brands, but they're growing, and they're doing so because they deliver something of value, which has me coming back time and again.

Daniel J. Pritchett · 1 year ago

I'm not so able to get interested in an empty community. When I first tried Facebook and Twitter (for instance) I was bored because there was no one to talk to. Great communities grew up behind my back and then I eventually came back to them and realized that I'd discounted these services unfairly.

How can you get excited about an empty social network?

Stu Andrews · 1 year ago

Up until I installed twirl last week and dived back in, using it for FriendFeed, I didn't really _get_ FF either. For me, it was the right tool that made it clear. Other people might get the concept straight away.

Now that I know though, I can pimp it far more easily.

rebkin · 1 year ago

I read Justin's post too...which had me reflecting a little about all this. I'm signed up for all of the above [and probably others that I've forgotten]. Don't you think we tend to stick longer with the ones that seem good and forget the useless ones?!

It amazes me though...how all the people remained faithful to Twitter when they used to be down most of the time...

Chris Loft · 1 year ago

This is an excellent perspective on the maze of new social media out there. I thought I may have been crazy trying to keep track of all these services, let alone signing up for new ones, but I keep doing it. Like RS says, maybe some of us are just ahead of our time; the train has barely left the station. Managing everything is the key. I like to see visual representations of social networks, but haven't found anything to plug my services into, to give me the visual feedback that I want - yet.
Keep exploring and giving us your observations and insight.
Adios from sunny South Australia

antoniocapo · 1 year ago

any idea what the "new killer app" would do? what do you think people need?

Louis Gray · 1 year ago

One developer wrote me and said he wanted 10,000 users in months. I said the best way to do that is to make a teleportation device. I want one of those. Or something that stops time so I can sleep or get things done and catch up. Another would be the ability to electronically send solid materials (like instantly buying a TV from Amazon and having it in 5 minutes).

But realistically speaking, in this small space, you have ways to harness data quickly, ways to manage it better and move conversations around. You have sites aimed to capture comments across multiple platforms, big and small. You have places to share photos and videos. You have ways to measure people and their work. There are many sites looking to make iterative updates to existing products, or put a new shine on it. The ones that win are those that have first-mover advantage, get critical mass with smart users, and don't go down or get too full of themselves.

As Robert said, he and I are weird. It's almost a contest to see who can find the most sites and use them. Not everybody wants to play this game, which is why he and others are getting more interested in services that solve real-world problems, not the small social issues we geeks never had nailed in high school.

antoniocapo · 1 year ago

:) Agreed - there are a lot of services that are just adding noise rather than solving any issues whatsoever. I think there is a twitter-like service for anything you might think. Twiiter style book reviews, twitter style music services, twitter-like identi.ca services, etc, etc.

"Real people" will not be using services like that for a long long time if ever.

Nic Avery · 1 year ago

i really like the way you have broken down what are the essentials for playing in the Web 2.0 world. I have just recently got myself onto things like friend feed and might check out how you use it for a few ideas.

Mark Evans · 1 year ago

Louis,

Like you, there are a core number of social media tool that I used on regular basis. And then there are the dozens of services that I've used once, use once in a while or registered to use but never go around to actually trying. That's the beauty of the Web 2.0; the menu of interesting thing is never-ending, and there's always the chance you'll find something that rocks your world.

alan p · 1 year ago

I riffed on this post over here - How do I love Thee - Let me count the ways :)

http://broadstuff.com/archives/1180-How-do-I-lo...

Roundpeg · 1 year ago

Getting involved with Social Media is like boiling a frog. If you put a live frog in boiling water, he will jump out. If you put him in cold water and heat slowly, he will never notice, and you get frog legs for dinner.

While the goal may ultimately be to have: 1 or more blog, an RSS feed reader, one or more microblogging identities. and accounts on business networking, social networking and aggregators, for the novice, I usually suggest starting slowly. Read before you write. Comment first, then create.

And I like all your first choices, with the exception of FaceBook.. Way to old to be comfortable in that environment, I love a local social network - www.smallerindiana.com

sass · 1 year ago

Social Media overload is perhaps a symptom of social media addiction. A year ago I started a humorous blog at www.socialnetworkingrehab.com to poke fun at Facebook and Twitter and our growing reliance on being connected to SocNets, but I as I write most posts I realize I am almost half-kidding -- truisms are often said in jest...

As Robert said, "regular folk" just don't get it (and, perhaps never will...). When I interrupt my vacation "relaxing" to post pictures to TwitPic and videos to 12seconds and Qik, seeking notice from mostly strangers, my girlfriend may smile and chuckle but if I am honest I have to wonder if she is laughing with me or at me. Am I just being one of the "weird" folks Scoble is referring to? That said, I do enjoy it and have found real world benefits and real meaningful connections and friendships, both business and personal, so I guess I will continue being weird.

Daniel J. Pritchett · 1 year ago

You flatter me, Louis! I'm on twitter, blogspot, google Reader, linkedin, facebook, and FriendFeed. Thanks for making me feel like a part of the in crowd.

Keep up the good work on Social|Median by the way - JGoldberg was right when he said you were an asset to the community.

Matt Shaulis · 1 year ago

Overload would assume boredom I would imagine... I can't see how anyone interested can possibly be getting bored! What happened here is a lot of people got on board with the idea of "go the conversation! participate!" and the next thing they knew, new conversation venues were springing up faster than they could keep up (uh.. "social" media poeple... its what we asked for, hehehe) ... some people kicked up their game and spread the vibe while others petered out ... in the past month or two I've seen a basket full of lame excuses for "taking a break", or "getting burned out by the overload" ... It's analogous to first time marathon runners who go balls to the walls off the line and then crap out when the run is just picking up... pace yourselves next time... hehehe... instead of sprinting headlong into everything just jog along, breathe, drink water... don't focus on the person right on front of you and getting past them... just focus on staying in it... in the back of the line, there are a lot of marathon winners... they are the ones who are proud that they did not quit, content to cross the finish line regardless of how many crossed before them... i totally agree with Louis on this one and I'm glad to see a well written summary of they way i've been feeling about all these "burnout" posts that have become such a norm lately...

Justin Korn · 1 year ago

Hey Matt,

I just want to clarify, when I wrote my post on Social Network Overlaod I was *not* referring to being bored or burnt out. I was simply stating that the Social Network space was growing extremely fast and has been hard to keep up with as of late.

Louis makes some great points and I am going to take them to heart over the next week or two and see if I can get my social networking life back on track :)

Eyebee · 1 year ago

I agree. No need to read everything. I did that very early on, when I had 3-4 feeds on my feedreader, and have never tried since.

There are always going to be things that you would have found interesting that you miss. That's life. If you want to keep a life, you have to let it go, or I guess social media networking could turn into a demon monster - much the same as anything else can become an obsession too.

Filter out what you consider noise, and then for the most part, it's interesting, it's educational, and it's fun.

tracey · 1 year ago

I predict the next three websites which will be aquired are:

http://www.linkedin.com (a professional networking site)
http://www.realmatch.com ( a job matching site taking share)
http://www.techcrunch.com (a popular technology blog)

Two of them have a social media component. So if you plan on starting a site, try to add a social component.

Gerd Leonhard · 1 year ago

Very interesting post, Louis, and very timely. You and your readers guys may also enjoy a recent presentation I published on "Social Media Futures", here : http://www.mediafuturist.com/2008/07/the-future...

Business Process outsourcing · 1 year ago

A social media can be good as long as you know how to manage. Atleast you have a lot of sources not just for networking but also in other media tools. Almost everyday there is a new technology introduced so its better to have a lot of sources to keep you updated.

Thad McIlroy · 1 year ago

As of tonight I have 170 unanswered emails. I simply cannot understand how you can keep up with all of this (and I do not mean that as a critical, negative remark). I feel so overwhelmed between the emails and maintaining my Website and blog, and trying to have something of a life that I have been unable to fully engage in all of the networks you recommend. Please expound further. Thanks, Thad.

funkyboy · 1 year ago

Good to know I have build a tool which helps copying with information overload.
I think you are right, being quick is the key. Without sacrificing the quality, of course. But that is not your case Louis :)
Thanks for the ideas/reflections you share on this website.