louisgray.com - Latest Comments in http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

cjw — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:32:10 -0000

Thank you for your point about "real people," Rex. I've since subscribed to your blog. We need more discussion for non-geeks on social media, etc. so that the tools evolve to meet popular needs -- not the needs of the gang who post or comment at 5 am. For example, I am currently helping a nonprofit define its social media strategy. It will deliberately publish stuff on its blog, and then post about the same stuff via Twitter and Facebook because we believe the audience needs to choose only one of those ways to connect with the org. And further, the hardpressed staff simply does not have time to handle different conversations (on different topics) in different channels. With occasional exceptions, we do not plan to put different content in each channel.

You might also be interested in this article, which I found via Steve Rubel in another part of this conversation: http://ow.ly/kZOO

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

rikin — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:40:31 -0000

After reading this post I just subscribed to your RSS feed

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

Eric Martindale — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:35:21 -0000

RSS doesn't have to be dead, and you're right - it's far from it. But I think Google has a responsibility to update and improve their web properties (particularly the largest feed provider currently available, FeedBurner) to meet the new demands. Frankly, I was disappointed with FeedBurner from the start, as I fully expected real-time feeds as opposed to the bursts of 20 items at a time that it currently gives.

However, Google did pleasantly surprise me with their Google Voice overhaul. After a long period of inactivity with GrandCentral, they re-released it as Google Voice with a great deal of improvements; so there is still hope on the table for fixing FeedBurner.

As far as blogging is concerned, it's a different layer in the whole social conversation; the real-time web is laid on top of the foundation of blogs and other content providers (think YouTube or Last.fm's Track Pages) and simply translates the periodic media, much like the conversation surrounding newspapers and magazines in the non-virtual world, into a more transient stream of discussion.

In short, I think your basis for this post is a little off--but in essence, you're right. But you've got to look at the real-time web as a completion of the virtual world, and not an obsolescence of the relatively "older" technologies. I mean, look where we've come with Email: it is one of the oldest forms of interaction on the web, and yet we still use it every day. Why? Because it's a necessary layer in the online world.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

Stuart Miniman — Sun, 31 May 2009 17:51:00 -0000

So much of the Real-time web seems to disappear as fast as it flies by. Completely agree with Louis' post - GReader is still very useful to read and share from. Lots of options for tools and I like that I've got a few places to run across information - I was busy on Friday, so missed this on Twitter and FriendFeed, but found it in GReader where I can catch up later. For sites like TechCrunch where there is so much volume, it's usually through Twitter or FriendFeed that I find that valuable articles.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

Brett Slatkin — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:31:17 -0000

RSS and Atom seem slow because they currently rely on subscribers to poll for updates. Polling sucks. To fix this, Brad Fitzpatrick and I have been working on PubSubHubbub, a new spec and reference implementation that turns *any* Atom feed on the net into *push* (RSS coming soon). See details here: http://code.google.com/p/pu...

Using PubSubHubbub, sites can get near-instant notifications whenever an Atom feed is updated. Best of all, it's meant to be distributed and free; anybody can run a server that participates in the protocol. We should not rely on individual companies to give us real-time updates. Real-time should be a fundamental part of the web itself.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

MarinaMartin — Fri, 29 May 2009 18:47:44 -0000

Yes, Twitter is better at breaking news than RSS. (Although I still don't see value in the immediacy of earthquake reports; what am I going to do about it?) I was never under the impression that RSS was intended for breaking news. I guess if your only concern is immediate breaking news, then ditching RSS wouldn't be much of a loss ... but they can pry my 4,200 RSS feeds away from my cold, dead hands! I use RSS to learn about advanced economic theory, stay on top of action alerts, and find relevant conversations. Many RSS posts could sit for months and would still be of value to me.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

Mark Evans — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:17:00 -0000

@jessestay Thanks!

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

Justin Long — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:20:00 -0000

Kathy, ditto, I think that one of the biggest functions of Google Wave for me... that it will unite all these various flows.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

Jesse Stay — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:41:00 -0000

Mark, any place is fine. We'll read it anywhere you place it, especially if you include our names. :) Pick your favorite place to comment.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

Kathy Fitch — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:20:00 -0000

I'm excited about Google Wave precisely because it holds out some promise for greater integration of our various online flows. I like FF because it seems best at that right now, and because it's still pretty clean. I do think integrative tools are the thing right now, but I wonder if GWave brings so many things together that I'll feel like I'm going under. Can't wait to play with it, in any case. On blogs: for me, they have returned to something nearer their original purpose. Great place to store, record, and reflect upon what's catching the eye, or taking up mental shelf space right now. Truly, a log or a daybook.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

Mark Evans — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:27:00 -0000

@Rex Yep, I followed a link to a @jessestay blog post Louis mentioned on FF and found myself not sure where to post my comment. Louis', Jesse's FF or on Jesse's blog. Hmmm.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

Laurent Rozenfeld — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:05:02 -0000

Please don't forget one important element: TIME ZONES!
When Americans communicate, we Europeans sleep (except for late sleepers like me)

When checking my friendfeed account the morning, I often look at the 10 latest pages to see if I haven't missed something interesting!
Any suggestions how to improve this process?

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

Rick Ladd — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:31:24 -0000

While I agree in general with Rex and Andy, in my company (a rather large, staid, government aerospace contractor) we are looking for ways to increase the "velocity" of information and knowledge transfer. Generally, anything that even hints of being social software is verbotten and blocked by Websense unless it is inside the firewall, i.e. acceptable by a stodgy old IT department, the majority of who's functions have been outsourced. However, we are a profit-making enterprise and, despite the presence of troglodytes and dinosaurs, are capable of plodding forward, albeit ever . . . so . . . slooooooooowly.

My point here is that speed of discovery and speed of transmission may be the very things we need to make the business case for introducing tools like Twitter into our workplace. We can still afford to move slowly in much of our government contracting (human space flight is a tricky, dangerous venture), but we're looking to expand a bit into the commercial world and the rules of the game are way different. In this case, it's conceivable faster is better.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

Mike Nencetti — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:52:00 -0000

The only time I read blogs if they are linked from FriendFeed, (maybe Twitter) and the thread has comments.....so I suppose I should now go click on that link and read the blog.....

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

andy — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:30:50 -0000

What Rex said. Or slightly differently - why do I need your blog post instantaneously? I'm working on other things throughout the day and check my reader during breaks for interesting ideas. If your idea isn't there when I check, it will be there the next time. If your idea is valuable when you wrote it, it will still be valuable when I read it.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

Nicholas James — Fri, 29 May 2009 07:51:00 -0000

The problem lies with the service you're importing from and if thats feedburner then its going to come in slow.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

Rex Hammock — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:38:00 -0000

I posted a comment on your blog post, but commenting on blog posts seems too slow -- I guess I should have commented on it here. Frankly, deciding where the conversation takes place seems too slow.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

Ahsan Ali — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:38:00 -0000

But someone has to read those sites/feeds to introduce content into the social stream, especially if the publisher is not present on Social Media websites. Once it's introduced into the stream, it can be propagated by recommendations. But someone's got to do it the first time ...

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

Rex Hammock — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:31:08 -0000

It's not the real-time web that makes blogging and RSS seem too slow -- it's the obsession that some of us have with being first to discover something, report it, interpret it, analyze it, comment on it -- and then move on to that cycle with the next thing. Real people actually don't have that need -- at least when it comes to the topic of social media tools.

For a small group of us, our professions and these tools overlap. We become like golfers who become more interested in the equipment of golf than the game, itself.

That's fine, but when "your gang" includes people who post or comment about this stuff at 3 or 5 a.m., then it's hard to construe what "real people" need or want in terms of real-time or asynchrony.

Re: http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/05/todays-real-time-web-makes-blogging-and.html

David Bradley — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:14:32 -0000

You can avoid the latency of RSS/Feedburner by using WordTwit to shorten your blog post URLs and tweet them almost instantaneously.

http://www.sciencetext.com/...