Comments on: Why social software

By: Eric Nehrlich, Unrepentant Generalist || Defending Twitter and Facebook status updates || February || 2008

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:26:25 +0000

[...] found myself defending them as useful (which is interesting because six months previously, I said I “dislike the minimal information content transmitted via Facebook status messages or Twitter m…). Other people couldn’t understand the point of posting one line updates about oneself to the [...]

By: Eric Nehrlich, Unrepentant Generalist || Balanced socializing || January || 2008

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 05:39:12 +0000

[...] are inspiring but somewhat exhausting, whereas the shallower social interactions provide the phatic communication that maintains social connections. I think either one alone would be unfulfilling, but the mix [...]

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:12:25 +0000

Beemer: Interesting point about the shortest posts eliciting the most comments. I’ve had people tell me that they want a “I liked this post” button on my blog posts so they can indicate that they read and appreciated the post without feeling they had to come up with a well-written and thoughtful comment in reply. Whereas a one line “Hi!” post starts a conversation where the perceived barrier to entry is much lower.

Jenn: Twitter’s just instant messaging spread over a few communication channels. Think zephyr and the white-magic instance where people would post “Hey, anybody going to Lobdell’s?” and things like that.

By: jenn

jenn — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 01:36:33 +0000

I have to admit that I still don’t understand the Twitter thing. I get LinkedIn and LJ and (ugh) MySpace (all three of which actually address separate groups of friends/colleagues/family), but Twitter? Totally lost on me. I’ve found my digital divide, I guess…

What the hell is it for, anyhow?

By: Beemer

Beemer — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 02:36:38 +0000

This seems like it ought to tie in with the fact that LJ posts that say nothing more than “I like cookies” or “Hi” will often get far more comments than a well-written and thought-provoking essay.

Many of the party attendees up hyar in Canadia have LJ accounts, so ambient intimacy (aka ‘peripheral awareness’) has been brought up a few times.

Something interesting to be said about matching up online acquaintances with actual in-person people, but I’m not up to it tonight.

Phat!