I love to explore new software. New social media web applications are no different – I like to learn about them, try them out, and be inspired by them. Some, like FriendFeed, become a tool that I use every day.

Especially in a field named ‘social media,’ most of you are the same as me in what you want to get out of it, but perhaps for different reasons. I am guessing that most of you are more interested in the social side.. you are on FriendFeed because there are interesting people there. And that’s cool. But that’s only half of the interest for me. I also love to explore and understand what makes software tick.

I’m not saying I don’t like people; far from it. I’m not a misanthrope! I’m just saying that my outlook on going to a party, mixer, networking seminar or other social event usually registers somewhere between uneasiness and dread.

The point with all this is to say that I know myself fairly well: I’ve always been a loner. It takes work for me to maintain social contacts and be suitably reciprocal and engaged with a lot of people. Frankly, it wears me out, probably a lot faster than for most of you, where I’m guessing it is more like second nature.

And that is what I mean by the burden of social media. For me, even when it is a joy, sometimes it is also a burden.

(more…)

There are a lot of opinions out there about what makes a blogger different from a writer, or even a columnist.  Bloggers seem to be in their own category according to everyone who writes (either for a living or for the love of it) and is not actually a blogger themselves.

Writer Wannabe’s

In fact, even bloggers don’t often like referring to themselves collectively as bloggers.  It’s almost too easy to say, he’s not a writer.. he’s a blogger. As if blogging did not call upon the same internal resources as writing.  You could argue the long form, of course… most bloggers will never write a novel by themselves, nor are they especially motivated to.

(more…)

I’m going to try something new in this post.  Aaron Brazell wrote an article on Technosailor recently noting the differences between western and eastern writing styles, especially when it comes to a column or opinion piece.  In my never-ending quest to explore new avenues, I will try my hand at a more eastern-style column.

(more…)

I was burning some time online a few days ago, and I came across this discussion on FriendFeed about last.fm versus Pandora.  In the thread, this was my contribution:

.. last.fm and Pandora are both great but, like Twitter and FriendFeed, have completely different goals. Pandora works behind the scenes to tailor a stream to you. last.fm throws everything together in a huge pot and gives you the sliders to make a great listening experience. They call this "scrobbling" (actually, the AS in LAST stand for "Audio Scrobbler") .. anyway, like a stew, the more stuff you put in it the better it is. Add a bunch of people, hook up last.fm to your itunes, go nuts!

(more…)

About a week ago, Corvida and I kicked off a plan that is now known as RSS Reset.  In my original post, I said I would check back periodically and let you know how I was doing.  And here we are!

In the first followup post, I listed the 40-odd subscriptions I felt could survive the cut (and that I was still interested in following).  I’m not going to re-list all of them here, but let’s touch on the changes:

(more…)

Just joined FriendFeed? Want to know some dirty secrets you can exploit to gain you popularity, followers and perhaps a bit of fame (or at least infamy)? If so, I have some tips for you! Keep reading and I’ll make you a master of the craft in no time.

(more…)