Interesting article and it actually makes me think Google+ might have been onto something with how they implemented Circles, even though that ended up being kind of a bust. What he raises about...
Interesting article and it actually makes me think Google+ might have been onto something with how they implemented Circles, even though that ended up being kind of a bust. What he raises about WeChat being able to own the graph in China and let others build off of that is a cool idea. I wish we had something like that here. If Google+ let itself work as kind of a scaffolding for others to build off the social graph it might have allowed a lot of cool, independent development efforts to bloom. Those circles could just as easily have formed the basis for different service or application-specific sub-graphs.
It's interesting he calls this the tail end of the "first generation" of Social Media. I would actually say this is the fourth generation at least. I'd start it with the Usenet, then AOL, then the forums and blogosphere era before the Facebook era we're in now.
The 5-chimp theory section where he talks about people being their worst selves also makes me think of a funny Day9 clip about this. Of course while he says that's what we should do, it's actually quite hard to absorb other peoples' negativity. Therapists get paid hundreds of dollars an hour to do this and their clients are actually there to be willing participants. I don't think it's realistic to have an expectation that we all comport ourselves like we're in a clinical setting.
Graph design problems are one-way mistakes in large part because users make them so. Most social media users don't unfollow people after following them. Much of this comes down to social conformity. It's awkward and uncomfortable to do so, especially if you'll run into them. Anytime I unfollow someone I might run into, I imagine them cornering me like Larry David at the water cooler, eyebrows raised, with that signature tone of voice he mastered on Curb Your Enthusiasm, an equal mix of indignation at being slighted and glee at having caught you in an act of hypocrisy. "So, Eugene, I notice you unfollowed me. Pret-tay, pret-tay interesting."
This is such a good analogy I'm going to have to steal it. There is one journalist I follow who also used to go to my Muay Thai gym. I liked her personally, and I even liked her work which is what I thought her Twitter account was going to be about. But after a while her Twitter account turned into mostly just her having public fights with people. Sometimes it would be people worth fighting, but mostly it was like Ben Shapiro and other idiots that should have been beneath her to engage with. We weren't close enough to where I'd have felt comfortable taking her aside and being like "Hey this isn't a great look for your public persona." But also this woman and I punch each other in the faces on the regular. Do I want to risk pissing her off?
Interesting article and it actually makes me think Google+ might have been onto something with how they implemented Circles, even though that ended up being kind of a bust. What he raises about WeChat being able to own the graph in China and let others build off of that is a cool idea. I wish we had something like that here. If Google+ let itself work as kind of a scaffolding for others to build off the social graph it might have allowed a lot of cool, independent development efforts to bloom. Those circles could just as easily have formed the basis for different service or application-specific sub-graphs.
It's interesting he calls this the tail end of the "first generation" of Social Media. I would actually say this is the fourth generation at least. I'd start it with the Usenet, then AOL, then the forums and blogosphere era before the Facebook era we're in now.
The 5-chimp theory section where he talks about people being their worst selves also makes me think of a funny Day9 clip about this. Of course while he says that's what we should do, it's actually quite hard to absorb other peoples' negativity. Therapists get paid hundreds of dollars an hour to do this and their clients are actually there to be willing participants. I don't think it's realistic to have an expectation that we all comport ourselves like we're in a clinical setting.
This is such a good analogy I'm going to have to steal it. There is one journalist I follow who also used to go to my Muay Thai gym. I liked her personally, and I even liked her work which is what I thought her Twitter account was going to be about. But after a while her Twitter account turned into mostly just her having public fights with people. Sometimes it would be people worth fighting, but mostly it was like Ben Shapiro and other idiots that should have been beneath her to engage with. We weren't close enough to where I'd have felt comfortable taking her aside and being like "Hey this isn't a great look for your public persona." But also this woman and I punch each other in the faces on the regular. Do I want to risk pissing her off?