social networks

More social, less social

I just wanted to let you all know about the latest changes to this site.

Firstly, I removed the Latest Twits widget from the sidebar. Somehow I am not using Twitter all that much lately. I still love the service, but I have two problems with it. Actually, it’s one, but I feel it in two separate ways. Firstly, I still don’t have a good Twitter client application. Not on my mobile, and not on my desktop. I tried a billion of them, and I am yet to find one that suits me. Without a proper client, I tend to forget to tweet, read other tweets, and respond. Too bad. Second problem is that I am annoyed by all the links that are posted in tweets these days. Sometimes I just want to get the statuses only, to see how my friends are doing and what they are up to. Instead I get a billion links, which I need to click, check, and follow. As I said, I wish I could filter them out in my Twitter client, for those times when I have more time and better Internet connection. The blog will still send the “new blog post” tweets to Twitter though, and I am still trying my best to use the service. It’s just that judging by all the updates I do, the sidebar space can be used better.

Secondly, I added Google Reader shared items to the sidebar. Google Reader is the application I use a lot! And I share quite a bit of stuff. Too bad it often goes unnoticed. Sharing those links and articles via sidebar might give an extra bit of attention to those things that I think deserve it. Just in case you are wondering which plugin I used – it’s Google Reader Widget by James Wilson.

Thirdly, I added some social network buttons in the upper-right corner of the website. These are links to some of my other online profiles and also and easy way to bookmark, share, and promote either the whole website or a specific page that you liked. The plugin that I used for this functionality is Fixed Social Buttons by Ioane.

The Social Landscape

I came across this excellent chart at Omniture web site. While it is mostly aimed at marketing people, it’s still pretty useful for everyone on the ewb to have an overview of which social networks work better for which purposes.

On citizen journalism

Cyprus Mail has an interesting article on the rising role and side effects of citizen journalism.

Throughout the social media – from Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube – photos and film are posted every minute that breach codes of conduct, laws of copyright, personal privacy and government laws. From pornography to celebrity parties, from inside Guatanemo Bay to soldiers on the frontline telling it how it really is: images are escaping censorship and regulation.

I think that censorship is not an option anymore, at least in global scope. Cameras are everywhere – cheap semi-professional equipment, camcorders, webcams built-in into every notebook, mobile phones, etc. Also, free or cheap Internet access is pretty much everywhere. And on top of that, technology got really simple – one doesn’t need a Computer Science degree and years of experience to capture a video, upload it to a social network and share it with the rest of the world.

And when the censorship option is gone, the only reasonable option that I can think of is education. If governments, companies, parents, societies, etc. will start educating people, focusing on the “good” instead of “bad”, if appreciating conducts, laws, and ethics will be encouraged, then we’ll see more of the “better” content. Of course, nothing will prevent us from a few “bad apples”, but once the appropriate values will be set, a lot of people will follow.

In some sense, this issue is similar to tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption. While there are certain legal issues – licensing, age limits, advertising, driving, etc – the major control over population’s behavior in regards to tobacco and alcohol is, IMHO, done via education. It is when you show people over and over again what are consequences of tobacco smoking and alcohol abuse, when you educate them on the side effects, and so on and so forth, that’s when they start thinking and reacting in the way that you would want them to think and react.

Of course, legal consequences can be implemented to some degree. For example, for showing the moment of death and such. But those would be very difficult to enforce, due to the global nature of the Internet, digital media, and such.