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Social Soup

Thursday, 13. August 2009, 03:27:41

,

Its been a while since I last visited My opera. A packed third semester timetable takes blame for that. Anyway, I tried logging in last night and caught the server playing bingo. The time-off seems to have done it good, because today it integrates with Twitter and Facebook.

The good people at My Opera have integrated two of the most popular social networks into My Opera. It was inevitable really, you just had to see this coming. As always, some will love it and others will hate it. Some will enjoy the information linking and synchronization and others will disfavour this social noodle soup.

I personally am a big fan of information linking. Creating large banks of information sourced from all over integrated in one place. To me it seems a bit like cloud computing. Data turns into information only when you can make sense of all of it, and this seems like step out of the bog.

If you have seen the IBM advert, you will be familiar with this little statistic that goes: "everyday humans generate times more information everyday, than that is present in all U.S. libraries." This includes text, videos, pictures, and music. Even small steps taken in linking all of this data and improving accessibility is positively great.

Perhaps I am romanticising a little update way too much, and making extravagant comparisons, but I am well and truly pleased with is social network integration, because to me it represents a much larger concept. Then again, I am just being me. P:

What do you guys think?

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Comments

Lorenzo Celsi 13. August 2009, 11:39

I think:
1. the WWW is already "social", since it is about communication. The "social networks" actually are about tools to allow anybody to publish stuff on the WWW with minimum effort. Twitter is about "microblogging". I guess it is blogging for some mysterious micropeople. Or common people with microbrains. I don't know.

2. the main problem when many people are given a tool to communicating is you can see that most of human beings are stupid or they don't have anything to say, making the communication useless like white noise. It is the main issue with blogs, most are worthless.

3. so far I have seen two business models on the WWW, that are advertisement (it works relatively well) and TV broadcasting (it is not working well despite major efforts). We all know about Google and here I give the example of Warner Bros buying AOL some years ago. What about the word "convergence" from the old good WWW "bubble"? Anyway, both business models work on top of "users" as "passive consumers", not as actors involved in contents exchanging.

Adele 13. August 2009, 16:53

I'm keeping my Facebook and Opera accounts separate.

Ben Trein 14. August 2009, 12:38

I don't do facebook, for several reasons. 1) They have yet to delete their first file. 2) I know two people who've lost their jobs over facebook postings. 3) I've got plenty of friends who send me emails. I don't need more than that. And oh wait, 4) I've got friends that don't have a computer.

I use twitter for advertisement for my blog. That's all. I don't need to know if my friends are having tea or taking a crap. That's up to them. But hey, I'm oldfashioned.

Linking of information is great, if it's something worthwhile. What was the last time someone found something really worthwhile on Facebook? I mean, world changing worthwhile?

Lorenzo Celsi 14. August 2009, 18:06

Facebook is just a tool that does nothing by itself. Good or bad, useful or not, it is all about people who use it. On average of course. Over million people there can be a Mozart or an Einstein.

Ben Trein 15. August 2009, 02:35

Indeed; just like MyOpera, or Hi5, or identi.ca or so many others. Of course it's made by people. But if the amount of information presented through such a tool is not only vast, but 99% of it is totally unimportant, then who's going to find the gems?
Admittedly, if people who have nothing to say were not allowed to blog here, it would be very quiet; also I would have to shut up. But it would make the community as a whole much more interesting to follow.

Lorenzo Celsi 15. August 2009, 07:03

I think on the Web there is the same separation as about computers in general. Some people find it interesting and fun to play with computers and software, other people find it just annoying and get mad or feel insulted when they can't do what they wanted. To sell computers and then the Web to the second group of people you have to make them believe it is a sort of game or entertainment like TV, where they aren't required to know or decide almost anything besides a couple of buttons. (And it is better if those buttons are BIG, 3D, they move and sound). Of course people from the first group either feel insulted or get mad.

Aadil 15. August 2009, 17:40

I believe that the main impediment to www.tv is the somewhat out-dated 'copyright' laws that result in internet connected people in 'developing' countries that would actually drive this industry not being allowed to access the very content that would make it viable. First world countries have viable alternetives like cable, but most developing countries are unable to provide the same level of content except via satellite, a much more expensive option to the esteblished cable networks of developed countries. :left:.
At least, that's my 1.5 cents worth. p:.

Lorenzo Celsi 15. August 2009, 21:36

Actually the cheapest way to broadcast TV everywhere on earth is the satellite. You just need a satellite dish. Since the signal is usually encrypted, the local broadcasting does not matter since you can sell subscriptions/decoding cards.

The problem with the Internet is in theory you need a bi-directional connection, so the satellite is not the right solution because it is easy only when you receive the signal.

About WWW, the problem is to find a way to make money with it. The Internet providers do not make much money selling the bare connectivity so they want to sell services on top of it.

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