Facebook ’status’ changes no threat to Twitter

“You can take my status, but you can not take my community”

A post proclaiming Facebook Opens Status API, Say Goodbye to Twitter is good, Techmeme-grabbing stuff but it totally misses the point of why people like Twitter.

Twitter started out as a technology platform but it’s become a way of life.

The majority of people I follow on Twitter aren’t actually ‘friends’ at first. When I click that button that says Follow, I barely know them other than their recent messages. There are exceptions after a meeting in real life, but that’s the rul of thumb. They become friends over time through interesting conversational Tweets.

Facebook’s a different story for me. I won’t add anyone on there that I haven’t met in real life. Facebook is great for sharing intimate personal details with friends but I don’t know many people that use the status field for really regular communication.

That’s not to say that people aren’t trying to turn Facebook status into a conversational tool. A CNN Facebook mashup linked live video streaming of President Obama’s inaguration with a panel for you and your friends to chat in real time using status updates.

Twitter is here for a long time to come because there’s an amazing community on there, and the technology platform is so lightweight that it can evolve over time organically.

Let me know if you liked the post – I’m on Twitter as @philsheard

Twitter ‘nudges’ towards Facebook

Have you seen the ‘nudge’ feature on Twitter before?

I got an email about a new follower so popped over to their profile. On the right hand side, there were 3 options rather than the usual two: ‘message’, ‘block’ and also ‘nudge’.

After a quick search, I read about a Twitter rep explaining the nudge function:

We’ve decided to display the “nudge” link only if it’s possible for the person to receive it. Going forward, you will only see the nudge link on a profile if the person you’d like to nudge:

* is following you
* has a registered phone with notifications set to ON
* does not have a “sleeping” phone (some people set sleep times on phones to avoid messages during beauty sleep. Sleep time will always be honored, nudges or no!)

I’d missed this completely and mostly because the UK doesn’t have proper SMS support on Twitter right now.

It’s a useful feature, but it’s far from Facebook’s pokes and ninjas; more like the ‘nudge’ feature on Microsoft’s IM client (remember IM? Ah those were the days) which was a far-from-gentle reminder to someone that you were waiting to hear from them.

On a related note it looks like we in the UK will get Twitter SMS back, as announced by Biz this week and covered by Zee amongst others. Direct messages to mobile make Twitter into a really useful real-time facility for things like spontaneous Tweetups.

How far can communities go? Thoughts on ‘Us Now’ film

Update: ‘Us Now’ is launched online on the 12th May 2009 with the support of FutureGov – here’s the FutureGov post on the subject

Tonight’s showing of Us Now at the RSA was a revelation. Firstly because it was completely free to anyone who registered online. Brilliant for such high quality content in beautiful surroundings. Secondly, because of the content. It’s a thought-provoking film that you should see if you get chance.

The film looks at communities and organisations that are only able to form because of the technology advances – the internet, the home computer – and the cultural shifts they’re creating – mass collaboration, social empowerment and personal publishing.

One of the film’s core arguments was that today’s generation are taking for granted (in a good way) that they will be able to effect change and have a say in how their lives are run – their bands, their communities, their government, everything.

The challenge we all face is to achieve this in areas with major influence on our lives (football evokes passion but doesn’t topple regimes). This challenge is summed up in chair JP Rangaswami’s point that “I wouldn’t want [a grassroots group] to make my pacemaker. I want a trained professional, or a group of them.” There are some areas where only an expert will do.

Communities can definately pull together in new and exciting ways, but who decides which problems they are allowed to tackle? If there is a line (and there may not be one), where do we draw it?

National government was picked out as a ’sacred cow’ that needs to be updated to fit today’s world. I wonder if this is like persuading the doctors who control the installation of pacemakers that they should try the model that an amateur posse has assembled. If I was them, I’d want to see a lot of testing and guarantees that it works and even then I’m not sure which one I’d choose.

A fascinating film that’s capable of challenging your ideas. I’d be interested to hearing from you if this post has challenged yours

Google SearchWiki

I’ve had a few conversations about Google’s new feature SearchWiki this week, mainly because a) typical users aren’t familiar with wikis, or if they are b) this isn’t like a wiki.

The best explanation I’ve seen so far is Google’s own engineer explaining the tool – here’s the video on YouTube.

Alternatively read more on Google’s blog or hear some of the concerns already surfacing about the potential privacy issues.

Me? I suspect that it’s the thin end of the wedge. I just hope (like some friends on Twitter) that we don’t see ‘blackhat’ SEOs abusing this facility.

Barcamp Sheffield 7 days away

I wanted to flag Barcamp Sheffield 2.1 to you incase you’ve missed it. They were kind enough to profile me as one of the attendees and I wanted to post something in return.

Barcamp Sheffield is being organised by a crack team of industry leaders from oop north, some of whom are also responsible for the regular Sheffield Geekups and other events.

I don’t normally need a reason to come back to Sheffield (one of my three home towns) but this is a good one nonetheless.

So far Friday and Saturday are sold out but there’s a reserve list so get your name down already.

For more details you can meet other attendees ahead of time, or see the sessions proposed so far.

See you in Sheffield!

Say that again? Bank launches social review site. About attractions.

A curiousity popped into my mailbox from First Direct today (I’m a customer of their online current account):

The Little Black Book is something new from first direct. And we’ll be honest with you. It has nothing to do with banking. But, it has everything to do with first direct. And that’s why we think it’s one of the most exciting things we’ve ever done.

The Little Black Book is a directory for First-Direct customers to share their opinions and reviews of their favourite attractions. The bank has created a social platform for its customers to talk about the things they spend their money on.

At first blush it seems to be a brave move. A bank with a strong personality wants to engage its customers but doesn’t feel the content of its core products is social enough to be spread naturally.  So its willing to spend some money on building a platform for them to share what they are passionate about.

This has really piqued my interest, and I’ll dive deeper to find out if it’s genuiunely useful. I admire the move, and hope the content lives up to the promise.

First week in London

It’s just over one week since I arrived in London. Here’s a little update about what’s been going on in honour of this milestone. Plus it’s easier than calling you all individually

The brave new world of Hotwire PR
Wow. Before I started that Hotwire were working for some pretty impressive clients in the world of social media / online PR and now I can see why. Since I rocked up to 33 Dallington Street I’ve been really impressed with my new colleagues’ speed and quality. It’s also noticable in the office that people are smiling around the clock. There’s a real positive buzz around the place. Hotwire’s the reason I moved to London and the last week has just confirmed that I made the right decision.

Travel in London
I’ve got to put something about travel, clichéd as it is. I had my first (and hopefully last!) M25 nightmare on day one; I managed to get my head clattered in the tube doors, like a bad Mr Bean sketch; I shared the DLR with a bunch of comic book enthusiasts on Saturday. Travelling in London is life in microcosm.

Wandering around with childlike awe
This week I’ve tried getting off the tube at random stops and just ‘having a look around’. Sunday was a great example: randomly chose Holborn as the off-ramp and spent an hour wandering around the British Museum. Entirely free and entirely amazing. If you’ve got any recommendations for your favourite places in town, please leave a comment as I’m up for some adventures.

The role of technology in the move
I can’t imagine how this process would have gone 10 years ago. From using sat nav on my phone on day one, to making calls back oop north with Skype, it’s been pretty smooth sailing thanks to technology. I also 100% recommend Google’s Maps for Mobile app; it gets you to museums, tube stops and – most importantly – curry houses at 10pm

My new role with Hotwire PR

Alternative title: “He’s so Hot(wire) right now”

I’ve been holding some very exciting news inside for a few weeks now and it’s finally time to start talking about it…

Since 2001 I’ve spent 7 inspirational years at Plusnet but a new opportunity has come up that I need to grab with both hands, feet and perhaps some teeth.

Later this month I’ll be joining Hotwire PR, as one of their Digital Programme Directors in the digital media practice. I’ll be joining some talented people I already know, including my gaffer Drew Benvie, and will be moving down to London (as soon as I find a flat!).

As the official site will tell you “Hotwire runs business and consumer PR for international companies in the technology sector” and I’ll be joining a growing team of digital media specialists. The upside of Hotwire’s exhaustive recruitment is that I’ve met the whole team already and been very impressed with what I’ve seen.

All that’s left to say then is ‘goodbye’. At Plusnet I’ve had the pleasure of working with a great bunch of colleagues and many have become close friends. We’ve already done the teary-eyed stuff face to face so I’ll simply say “good luck guys”, you’ll continue to go from strength to strength I’m sure.

Don’t forget to keep in touch – I’m barely off Twitter so you know where to find me

Ubiquity for Firefox – has Mozilla got another success on its hands?

Have you seen the Ubiquity plug-in for Firefox yet?

Launched 5 days ago by Mozilla, it’s an “early experimental prototype”. That’s Mozilla’s way of saying it’s not for the faint hearted, but it’s not as rough as the version number suggests and already it’s got many uses.

What is Ubiquity?

In Mozilla’s words: an “experiment into connecting the Web with language… that could make it possible for everyone to do common Web tasks more quickly and easily”.

I’d say it’s a funky app that lets you use natural language to command your browser to do complex tasks without getting your hands dirty. An online butler made possible by Web 2.0 technology.

Here’s an example of how to use Ubiquity…

I use Twitter (philsheard) quite a lot. Twitter’s 140 character limit means that big, ugly URLs hog too much space so I use TinyURL to shorten these addresses. If I’m using the web version, I’d need to follow these steps:

1. Browse to www.twitter.com
2. Start typing my message
3. Switch tabs to the URL I want to include
4. Copy it
5. Head over to www.tinyurl.com in a new tab
6. Paste the address copied earlier and hit the ‘Make TinyURL’ button
7. The short address is coped onto m clipboard
8. Switch back to Twitter
9. Paste the TinyURL, finish my message and click ‘Update’

Here’s how Ubiquity simply cuts out some steps. 1-4 are the same, but watch closely after 5:

1. Browse to www.twitter.com
2. Start typing my message
3. Switch tabs to the URL I want to include
4. Copy it
5. Head straight back to Twitter
6. Activate Ubiquity (Option+Space on my Macbook) and type ‘tinyurl’ and paste the URL. Ubiquity interprets the command as I type and goes away to the TinyURL site in the background to shorten the address



7. Press return and voila the shortened address is pasted into the Twitter box. I finish my message and click ‘update’

A basic example to save a couple of steps but already it feels intuitive to type ‘normal words’ into Ubiquity instead of browsing (with its associated pointing and clicking).

The boffins at Mozilla have bigger plans. Imagine typing ‘Add meeting with Steve to diary and email Steve a map of Starbucks, Division Street, Sheffield‘. This one command could add your diary entry to Google Calendar, map the location of the meeting using Google Maps and then compose an email to your contact. It would take seconds and using APIs provided by Web 2.0 services you’d never have to visit any of the sites to achieve it

What does Ubiquity mean for the web as we know it?

If Ubiquity takes off, it could take all the usefulness of the web but consolidate it into one simple interface. No competing branding. No advertising. No page impressions or eyeballs. All the good stuff for the user, but not necessarily the service provider.

It’s also another wedge between companies that enable their products for Web 2.0 and those that don’t.

Ubiquity is a power-user application for the near future, but don’t be surprised if your gran’s desktop has a version of this built into it in 5-7 years time. I believe there’s great potential if Mozilla continue to develop it.

Video blogging with Seesmic

I wanted to share my first Seesmic vid with you.

Internet video sites like YouTube have been around for ages and to me they have taken over the role of public access TV stations, or clip-sharing sites for commercial TV programmes (like Flight of the Conchords, my current fave). The personal videos have always been present but are being drowned out.

This gap invites some new personal video sites to emerge. Seesmic, the one I used, is designed to be conversational, with ‘video replies’ woven into the heart of the site. Then there’s 12Seconds which flips Twitter’s 140 character limit and turns that into a 12 seconds of video max. Both of these sites are pushing people to produce ever more content through their short, punchy formats and responsive communities.

When launching the new look for Plusnet, a video seemed like a perfect fit to accompany our text-based Community site. The rest is history.

Wait, don’t click play yet! Best place to view is embedded in Plusnet’s Community site post about the new look- it was always designed to accompany the launch post over there, so makes more sense.

If you’re just too eager then here it is embedded.

My next post will be advice on the pitfalls and problems to avoid when posting to internet video sites, as well as the tips I found along the way to make a good video post. I didn’t follow 100% in mine, but it’s a learning experience.