Friday, January 23, 2009

New Article on Blogging & Social Networking-- & Twitter!

I just released an article for publication on blogging and social networking. I had fun with it and quoted Andy Rooney from CBS' 60 Minutes too! Here's one of my favorite Andy Rooney bits about Bill Gates.

3 comments:

Anthony Coppedge said...

I just read your article and wonder about two points:

1) Your assertion that there needs to be an aggregator for all social networking sites (MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, Ning, etc.) defeats the purpose of the individual sites. They're each different for a reason and hold a unique advantage for particular users.

In essence, your argument equates to saying that there are simply too many grocery stores and that they should all simply shut down since Wal-Mart carries nearly everything.

Unless you've got a very unique reason, there's very little motivation to be on multiple social networks; simply find the one that fits your needs the best and use it.

2) Andy Rooney's statements about computers are myopic. His perspective that he wastes paper because there's so much useless information (things that don't need to be made easier to do) really only points to Andy's own wastefulness in printing things that have no value to him. How is that an indictment against the usefulness of computers?

Andy is something of a Luddite. I appreciate some of his humor, but, for the 21st century digital revolution, he's completely out of touch and not a source of inspiration or guidance.

I'd reconsider your article if it either pointed out a problem and actually offered a solution or if you simply had a unique perspective that created conversation about "what if".

I would encourage you to do just that ...it's printed in the e-mag, but you can readily adapt it here on your blog and bring about some clarity or new thought influence with this timely subject.

Sincerely,

Anthony Coppedge

Nick Nicholaou said...

Thanks, Anthony, for your comments. Andy Rooney's quotes were my apparently feeble attempt at bringing a smile to some... but some of his comments are good! (Did you watch the video on my blog? Funny stuff!)

Regarding an aggregate tool, I think whoever writes it will make a lot of money, and am hoping that by raising the issue one of my readers will be the one.

Your grocery store analogy breaks down because people with whom I communicate don't insist on meeting me at all of the various grocery store locations. That's what makes so many exclusive communication vehicles challenging. Folks communicate with me via MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, TokBox, LinkedIn, various IM engines, and email.

This is the very issue AOL struggled to overcome and that threatened to kill them... until they finally made it possible to email folks with an aol.com address from outside of their system.

An aggregate will come... the question is: Who wants to be a billionaire?

Anthony Coppedge said...

Nick,

I respectfully disagree and not because the API limitations of merging so many formats into one is a barrier to entry; I disagree because there's great value in the diversity of forums.

Who knows? I could be wrong. But I think the premise that people want/need to be on half a dozen or more SN sites is superfluous. Most people can easily manage - and be content with a two or three (Twitter, FB, LinkedIn); and the reality is that they each can operate independently for their own purposes (personal vs. business for example).

Blessings,

Anthony