Conversation, Goggle Reader Missing the Boat

I was on Safari because I wanted to try out the new version. When I decided I wanted to read my feeds. Normally on Foxfire I would have fired up Feedly, however because it is not available on Safari I went to my back up Google Reader. I am finding it completely lacking when it comes to the sharing option. For example, I was reading a post where Robert Scoble was talking about how he was getting most of his news about Iran from Twitter and Friendfeed and how CNN was not doing a very good job. (The day Twitter kicked CNN’s behind & @ev bought me a whisky) If I was on Feedly, I could have joined the conversation, I simply click on add comment and it takes me directly to  Robert's post where I can add my comment to the conversation.   In Google reader I can share the article or share with comment, however that share is not connected to the conversation, it is simply out there by itself.  (see the bottom right hand two)  I may make the worlds most thought provoking comment, but if its not part of a conversation it has no meaning. A item is not shared unless its seen. I long ago realized that items that are shared or posted by A-lister like Robert Scoble are more likely to get a reaction then items shared by me. This is not a bad thing it is just the way it is, which is why if Scoble has started a conversation on a subject I rather participate in his rather then try to start my own on the same subject.  

 

Problem of Information Overload During a Crisis.

For those of us who are participants in the world of social network, information is coming at us at increase pace and from increasing numbers. The problem is that when a crisis arises it is extremely difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff, or the good information from the bad. When you are reading twitters about the Swine flu, how do you tell which true and which are such unconfirmed rumors. Whom do you trust. You can't depend on numbers, because anybody can build up astronomical numbers, this makes them popular it does not make them an expert at anything. Sometimes, if you are lucky, the person's profile will tell you something about them or link you to a Web site. Through that information you can tell a person's or companies background, but let face a lot of us don't fill out the profile information. This to me is the next step in the area of social media and maybe the most difficult.

There is an open source program called Swift which is being developed to meet this need. They are working to meet several critrea:

• What is already know
• What is missing
• Importance of what we know and are missing.
• Find and promote those who are reporting directly from the crisis
• Make it easy for them to enter data into the system
• Automate information when possible
• Make the aggregation method adaptable to the crisis at hand
• Make sure the system and method can be used in the developing world

This is just a synopsis of what Swift is trying to do, Their stated goals are on their Web site. A group, called Ushahidi has already used Swift during a crisis. Ushahidi means "testimony" in Swahali and it was developed during the crisis in Kenya after the 2008 elections. There is a real good introduction to Ushahidi as part of the Ted Talks by Erik Hersman

Ushahidi, is just one of the application that is using Swift.  Hopefully, Swift will continue to be developed by the open source community, because its a worthwhile effort.

Twitter, Me a Song, or How do You Share Music on Twitter?

One of the best parts about Twitter is the ability to share things with people, including music. There are sites being created all the time that help you share music you like with your followers. Any on line music site that doesn't integrate Twitter in some way is behind the curve. There are three sites and one Firefox add on that I have tried and use.

The first is the easiest to use, but also lacks some of the sharing abilty of the others. It is Twittytunes. Twittytunes is a Firefox add on that is used in conjunction with Foxytune. If a song from your library is playing and is showing in the Foxytune window. Then you hit the TT and a bubble pops ups saying what song you are listening too. It allows you to add to the message with in the 140 twitter characters limitation. You hit the button and the message is sent to twitter. The limitation of Twittytunes is that all it does, there is no link back to the song or a way to buy it

The second option is Song.ly. I gain knowledge of Song.ly when I was sent an invitation to join the Song.ly room in Friendfeed. There are a couple of ways you can use Song.ly. You can go to the site and enter a song title or mp3 link, it will then give you different choices. One you find your choice you are then sent to your twitter home page, where you can add to the message and post it. The posted message has a clickable link, which send the person to a site which allows them to listen to the song, retweet the song, send a reply and also see what other songs the person has tweeted through Song.ly. If you click on recently Song.ly, you will see a list of songs that have been sent to twitter through Song.ly. Song.ly also has a firefox add on, which if you are listening to an MP3 online you can right click or Option+Space on a Macbook and then click Share on Songly.  I suspect overtime people with similar musical taste will start following each other, which is a great way to find new songs.

The third option is Twt.fm, this is an option which I just discovered yesterday. I was seeing some tweets come up that had a link to a song, then twt.fm and #MusicMonday. I Googled Twt.fm and it brought me to a site similar to Song.ly, with a few but important differences. The first is on Twt.fm, you have to enter both the artist and the song. Twt.fm then goes out and searches the song on Imeem. If the song is on Imeem, then it becomes playable so you can review it. If it is not on Imeem, you can still tweet it but you have to provide a link to an mp3 or Youtube of the song. The tweet you send provides a link . If you click on the link, it will send you to a site that allows you to play the song, like Song.ly, but it also allows you to purchase the song through Itunes or Amazon, or use it as a ringtone. You can even see if there are concert tickets available for the artist. The one thing that it is missing is that you can't see what other music the person shared through twt.fm. I wish that Twt.fm and Song.ly could get together, that to me would make a killer app.

The final site is Blip.fm, which differ from the other sites in that it doesn't depend on twitter for its survival. Blip.fm is a site that is streaming music that the user have blip. When you set up the account on Blip.fm, it gives you the choice of whether you want to share your Blips on Twitter or on Friendfeed or Last.fm, You can also control whether individual blips are sent to Twitter. Blip.fm is a great site for finding new music and the ability to twitter from it is a natural addition.