When the long tail makes the most sense

Friends

Rachel wrote this good post about Twitter.

Twitter is still small enough to be fun – although that may change. Suw today asked if there was an optimum Twitter friend pool size. There probably is, which will vary by person and how much data you can browse. We’ll get the power users, with plenty of friends and far more followers. Others will keep it private and contained. It’s the Long Tail curve all over again.

This certainly says to me, its not good to just add contacts to twitter like most people do on social networks. The more you have the less relevance it has and more noise you will get. And in a service like twitter, this could render it pointless (like watching the public feed). Yes I know you can change who your following but this is a pain like sending a user a direct message (notice how many people use the syntax @username). So generally the degrees of separation are kept small. I mean who wants to pay for
5 updates every minute on their phone? Or even see them in their IM client.

I've noticed this is also very key in another social service. Upcoming.org has this great little feature which shows you all the events your friends/contacts are also watching or attending. This is a interesting feature but like Twitter, you don't want to add too many friends otherwise it becomes like the public feed and has very little relevance.

meta-technorati-tags=friends, seperation, degreesofseperation, upcoming, twitter meta-send-pingbacks=true meta-auto-trackback=true

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The new face of presence: Twitter?

twitter message

Ok I've made up my mind. Twitter is very cool. I can't work out exactly what it is but it just works. The ability to reach one person or many people instantly is great. Its almost a social instant messenger.

I don't subscribe to the RSS feeds because its too quick for a news reader. I did try it out in Touchstone's rolling banner with the RSS but it was still not right. So I mainly consume Twitter through a im window using Gaim. This works best for me, because I can leave it open and watch it through the day. I can also reply or drop things into twitter quickly using jabber. And to be honest its works and looks like all the widget and gadgets which are popping up now.

The API which is available for Twitter is very simple but does what you'd expect. I really want to upgrade to Blojsom 3.0 so I can automaticlly send an update to twitter when I post a new entry which seemed to take David Czarnecki all of a day to write.

What makes twitter intestesting is the presence side of things. Its a step well beyond things like Presence messages on IM and Skype. There updated much more frequenly and you can nudge someone into revealing there precence. This is like the etique of leaving some a message on skype before calling them.

I actually really want to pull my current twitter message into my jabber status message and skype thought. That would be very useful. The thing I also thougth would be great is a summary view for friends which is mobile. It would also be good if Twitter adopted the @username syntax for sending private messages. Everyone seems to be doing it and its easier to remember.

The last thing which is interesting about twitter is the speed of delivery. Sam Sethi's now famous entry on Twitter was the spark which made me understand how fast twitter can be.

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Sam Sethi just got fired for comments on Loic at Le Web 3

Fresh from Twitter - sam fired 7mins ago

There's nothing faster that Twitter on these things. I'm really seeing the value in Twitter recently. But to the issue in hand. Yeah I heard all about Le web 3 conference and the crazyness which was going on there. Tom Morris has a post which summaries the feeling across the blogosphere regarding The web 3. Its all split up so I'm going to rip most of it directly

There are downloadable (WMV) videos of many of the sessions so far. Judge for yourself. Permanent link to this item in the archive.

This story has hit TechMemePermanent link to this item in the archive.

Blipverts: “A PR coup for Six Apart in the French press I'm sure, Canal+ even had an outside broadcasting unit set up by the time I entered the centre this morning, but for the international Bloggers who paid to be here it's the final straw. Le Web isn't an international or European blogging conference, it's a standard trade show event which pandered to French political interests.” Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Graham Holliday: “Personally, I feel the conference has had the life sucked out of it by the egoism and ambition of certain individuals running the show and those hopping on the conference bike for a free publicity ride.” Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Robin Hamman: “Unlike Le Meur, and apparently oblivious to him, those guys from Belgium and a lot of other people sitting where I am haven't managed to crack a smile all day.” Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Tom Raftery: “What really annoyed everyone was the fact that the conference was completely hijacked and changed from a conference about new web technologies into a presidential campaign for the next French election. Two of the candidates, Nikolas Sarkozy and Fran�ois Bayrou were parachuted in to the conference schedule at the last minute, displacing other speakers.” Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Nicole Simon: “If you have an audience like this and a standing like this in Europe for this conference you invest some time in making the the program. This obviously has not happened. Which is why i have an amount of political content i never wanted to see nor wanted to attend and everything else got pushed aside because of that – without me having really a choice through this… Loic Lemeur has sold out his european peer group for some cheap headlines in french politics – if at all. He has destroyed trust and confidence in a way I have never seen this before.” Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Alex Papanastassiou: “we basically lost energy and momentum because some bunch of French politicians wanted to do themselves some public relations and build an image of modernity. If they are modern they ought to go for conversations, not top-down broadcasts of official truths and by the way accept questions for the audience, Mr Sarkozy” Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Adam Fletcher: “Theres a lot of negativity around le web today, the conference room is half empty and people seem more than a little disgruntled”. Also: “So alot of time is wasted pimping the panelists companies rather than engaging in discussion”. Permanent link to this item in the archive.

David Weinberger (who speaks later) on Sarkozy: “I feel like i've been lectured by a guy who has no actual understanding of the Internet.” Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Shane Richmond: “On the other hand there are plenty of people here who see today's appearances as a cynical political exercise that has derailed the conference. Loic's employers, Six Apart, apparently make a lot of their money in France selling blogs to politicians so perhaps there is an explanation in there somewhere… Many delegates are angry that, having spent a lot of money to come here and talk about the web, they are watching political broadcasts instead” Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Dieter Rappold: “I am disapointed. I am disappointed of you, this conference and I will never attend LesBlogs/LeWeb anymore – But as I imagine you won't give a damn, as you don't give a damn about your audience as it seems.” Permanent link to this item in the archive.

James Higgs: “In theory, Le Web 3 was supposed to be a place for the people on the bleeding edge of European Web 2.0 innovation to come together and discuss the way ahead. Instead, it has turned into a parade of politicians, product anouncements and a complete lack of any type of disagreement or debate… Despite all this negativity, there has been one big positive. I must say that the food has been extremely impressive.” Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Sam Sethi: “The speakers are all saying the same old thing and nothing new… Overall the event feels like it has run its course just like the Web 2.0 conference earlier this year. Le Web 4 will be a hard sell, certainly as far as I am concerned” Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Peter Forret: “I did not pay over Euro 600 to come and listen to self-involved French politicians talk about why they want to run for president” Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Ivan Pope: “I don't know how much rumbling of discontent there's been – but frankly I didn't pay my conference fee to be pitched by politicians. I think the organisers should put their egos away and resist the blandishments of all politicians”. And more: “Same old same old. Same old stories, same old corporate speakers. And same old friends of the organisers. It's like a love-in for a closed circle, with no fresh thinking or any challenge to the status quo.” Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Adam Tinworth: “Here we go, another session about the death of Old Media, with four new media types and a single old media chap as the chair. And precious little revealing content.” Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Stephanie Booth on Twitter: “I wonder what on earth is going to happen to LeWeb3's program now that politicians and the mainstream press have taken over.” Permanent link to this item in the archive.

webpronews thinks Dmoz is dead (via Stephen Cohen). You guys all know what the solutions to thi sare, right? It needs to be turned over to a more competitive model. Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Jim Moore has a post on Harvard, OPML and Dave's stint at Berkman. Permanent link to this item in the archive.

Robert Andrews has more coverage from Le Web 3. Permanent link to this item in the archive.

sarkozy_errrm

So once again bullshit gets called on le web/le blogs. Ben has a nice cover of the event too. So what do I think. Well no matter what you say about Sam Sethi, he's always a man in the room and in the crowd. He was perfect for TechCrunch UK. His style in writing was a little brash but it worked well when reviewing startups and services. Mike Arrington has got to be nuts letting him go for calling Loic a arsehole or was actually that Sam walked? Geez we need a Londonwag blog.

John just sent me an update on whats been going on. Mike Arrington writes in Putting TechCrunch UK On Hold, that everything was tollerable till Sam annouced something which was not discussed or approved.

Even though I think at that point Sam had reached the limits of acceptable editorial discretion, it still would not have necessarily resulted in him having to leave TechCrunch. The actions that finally resulted in his dismissal were additional comments he wrote on that second post, announcing “that TechCrunch UK will be doing a series of seminars and a conference next year as well as a series of smaller meetings in conjunction with friends & partners which have been in the planning for sometime now.”

These events were not discussed with me, and certainly were not approved. The fact that he announced and promoted them while trashing a competing event was a clear conflict of interest and was not appropriate. I do not consider this to be ethical behavior.

None of this had to be aired publicly, but Sam chose to write a final post on the blog after he was terminated stating incorrectly that he was being terminated because of the original post. He has also written publicly that he was terminated because he would not comply with my demand to delete a post. That is not accurate. This is driven entirely from Sam’s ethical lapse in trashing a competitor while simultaneously promoting his own events. That’s not acceptable – readers will not be able to determine if he actually believed what he wrote about the conference, or rather exaggerated his opinions to futher his own business interests.

Basic ethical behavior is not subjective. We will not associate with individuals who choose to cross the line.

The blog is on hold until we determine if/when we will hire another editor and continue writing.

I'm sorry but something still seems wrong. Either way, I'm sick of this, we need a techcrunch uk which is based in the uk and has the uk landscape in mind. John made a point that maybe the BBC should do this? I mean its certainly fitting with our public values. I'm not sure how blanaced we could but it certainly could put us back in the new media running. End of the day, I'm not keen on the fact that TechCrunchUK is now on hold, a major uk publication on hold because some american guy decides it. I'm not saying Mike's in over his head or anything, but you can imagine people are saying that Mike has snapped.

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International Blogday

So its international Blog Day according to the site (which is currently down, db issues with WordPress). But the idea is to link to 5 other blogs which you feel others should discover. So here's my little list.

  • Electro^plankton

    because real people interests are diverse according this excellent blog. I love it because its like coolhunting and we make money not art but they only post on the best niche stuff.

  • Torrentfreak

    Now he's started podcasting, I've come to realise how much of a freak this guy really is. But he certainly has the lowdown on Bit torrent, P2P and other darknet information.

  • Read/Write web

    Great site and yes I know its quite poplar already but worth mentioning for those who may not know it.

  • Schneier on security

    I don't know what to say about Bruce, but him blogging about stories he reads is very engaging reading.

  • Jon's Radio

    Yes another blog which has got a large readership but tends to get left out of most developers subscriptions. I like reading Jon Udell because he does the simple things with simple tools. I guess from my stand point he's the ideal developer.

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Flickr releases maps for photos

Flickr Maps for London

There's some debate if this is geotagging or geo anything so I've used maps for now. Found via Digg, Thomas Hawk has a nice review of the new mapping feature in Flickr.

I have to say its pretty neat and works even better than Frappr at the moment. Although I'm wondering open this data is? For example will I be able to take the geo data out of Flickr once I've arranged all my pictures so nicely on the map? And if so, how? But for right now, London is looking a little bare at the moment so go add pictures! Look out for the lack of mapping from Yahoo maps outside northern america.

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Tech Crunch UK launches

Tech Crunch UK

So at long last Tech Crunch UK opens its doors to the public. This may serve as a great place to finally aggregate all of whats going on in the UK in one place. For example here is the events page. Its very London focused at the moment but I'm sure that will slowly change. Theres tons of stuff happening in Brighton, Ireland and it would seem Glasgow. Anyway, one to subscribe to and keep an eye on.

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Kevin Anderson joins the Guardian

Kevin and Suw

At long last, I can blog that Kevin Anderson our very forward thinking Worldservice journalist is leaving for a brand new position that he helped create.

This is probably the worst kept secret, which is why I'm a journalist and not a member of the intelligence services, but I can finally announce that I'm under new ownership. After almost eight years with the BBC, I'm joining the Guardian as their Head of Blogging and Interaction.

Head of Blogging and Interaction for the Guardian, is certainly a step on from the BBC World have your say programme. Its going to be a shame, Kevin worked so hard to get the BBC blogging and became a very good voice for genuine and authentic conversation with our audience. Anyway, I really wish him so much luck with his new position. I'm expecting big things from Kevin, and I might actually start reading the Guardian more in the future.

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About Ben’s disclosure of the BBC’s weather feeds

Ben Metcalfe

I forgot I haven't publicly said anything about Ben Metcalfe highlighting the direct urls of the weather feeds. My take on the whole thing is simple – Security through obscurity.

A system relying on security through obscurity may have theoretical or actual security vulnerabilities, but its owners or designers believe that the flaws are not known, and that attackers are unlikely to find them.

Security through or by obscurity, is generally a bad idea. By the BBC developer putting the urls inside a plain text javascript file, he or she was relying on Security through obscurity. Ben simply disclosed this information to the world. You could say well he should have let the BBC know, but like software vulnerabilities company's will sit on this information for years because its not important enough. Nope theres no douht in my mind that Ben did the right thing, and maybe taking down the blog post was a good idea for the BBC. We should be thankful and hell this might have spurred some movement on the backstage front? I do wonder if the javascript file in question still has the urls inside of it?

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Calendaring, oh the fun…

This is a post while listing to the Inside the net podcast titled Calendar Swamp. Leo and Amber interview Scott Mace about the current state of Calendaring and more importantly will we ever get close to interoperability.

So generally Scott offerss some useful tips but doesn't quite have the ideal solution quite yet. Now I'm not saying I do either but I thought I'd outline my current setup which is messy but kinda works.

My calendaring setup

So generally I use Plaxo to sync between all my outlook running machines. It does a good job if you disable some of the things which could be seen as spyware. I also run Thuderbird for my email and have the Thunderbird Plaxo extension simply so my Thunderbird address book is pretty up to date. But I don't sync Thunderbird that much, unlike my outlooks which I sync pretty much everyday for all my contacts, calendar, tasks and notes. I'm still using the free version of Plaxo but I'm going to try the paid for version to see how I like it. The Mobile phone syncs with the desktop PC via Activesync. If Activesync would sync with more than two computers, I would sync it with my laptop which I have done in the past. You will also notice I'm now using Outlook 2007 beta on my laptop, mainly to test the iCalendar, which at the moment I'm not impressed with at all. I did for a while have the Mozilla Sunbird application running and connected to Google Calendar but I didn't use it enought really. The last thing about my arrangment is WebIS mobile sync which is a Windows Mobile Application which syncs directly with Plaxo. Its not free and only syncs contacts at the moment but there waiting for Plaxo to open up the calendar, tasks, etc api's then the price will jump from 12 dollars to 20 dollars. So I'm going to try it out for 30days and maybe disable contacts activesync's contact ability.

So its not a bad setup and things do work but I want to say I've not found a way to fit in Eventful and Upcoming yet. I'm also interested to see how Google calendar does against 30boxes and the new Plaxo web calendar.

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