Social Networks and the "Porridge Pot"

You all know the folk tale about the porridge pot that perpetually refilled itself until it bubbled over and nearly destroyed the house. I'm coming to believe that social networks are like the porridge pot, perpetually refilling themselves faster than one can keep up until we finally drowned in information.

While developing my manuscript on Web 2.0 tools, I've browsed over 100 "social networks" and joined about ten of the more popular ones as part of the research. I've learned four things: (1) a tighter definition for the essential characteristics of a social network is needed; (2) there are is a lot of redundancy, especially in micro-blogs; (3) you will see the same post on multiple networks, thanks to programs like Ping.fm; and (4) tags and filters help, but there is still too much info coming across my screen.

Is there answer? Well, sort of. The obvious one is don't join so many, be less catholic in my choices, and don't feel obliged to answer every post of interest. Yea, but I might miss something really interesting or important - help I've become an info addict, my cup runneth over and this is not necessarily a blessing in this context.

So, I'm now restricting my intake to posts that can be consolidated through a "social aggregator" of which I have found 21, from the oldest, Profilactic, to the newest (?), Bebo. Oops, too much info again.

Which one is right for me. I found some help at Dan Taylor's weblog - Fabric of Folly, where he reviews 15 social aggregators and includes a useful chart of which social networks each aggregator covers.

I haven't figured out which one is right for me, but I'm leaning toward combo.

More on this this topic later. What's your favorite social aggregator and why?

K24x7

@lhome preparing for a week of golf w/ John Shaw and Craiig Mudge

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Voki Brings Voice to Your Web Pages

Check out my Voki avatar in the right sidebar. Really a bit weird, but fun. While it may have applications for the classroom, even tho' it's free and simple to use, the investment in time to set it up may not produce equivalent value. If you want to provide your student with a visual web presence, SitePal, tho' pricey, may be a better choice.

Seesmic - exhibitismo?

Seesmic is a video blog (vblog) with a Twitter-like format – video posts by members arrayed in a list format. After registering your login information, fill out a form to create and save a profile. You will be sent an email activation link; click it to open your account. Go to the home page and click “Everyone” to see all posted videos.


As you can see from the above menu which appears on the left of the page, networking options are limited, the absence of a Groups option is an obvious omission.

Video posts, which appear in the center of the page, are mainly unscripted. Here’s a typical post:


Clicking on the image launches the video in the thumbnail window; selecting “Go to video” opens a new page and starts the video in a larger window. Selecting “reply” offers the options of recording an immediate video response, uploading a pre-recorded file, or posting a link to a video file at You Tube or another video server.

Lists of thumbnails for "Active Conversations" and" Featured Videos" appear on the right-hand side of the page. You can learn more about the origin and features of Seesmic at its blog, http://www.seesmic.typepad.com/. Also, there are some funky how-to videos at http://howto.seesmic.com/.

There does not appear to be any way to create a private group, which makes Seesmic of dubious value for teaching and learning, because of privacy issues. This is unfortunate since its ease of use and integration with Twitter would make it useful for low production value how-to videos, messages to students and parents, and “homework,” especially in language arts.

Seesmic (http://seesmic.com/)

Cross-Posting to Blogger

I just posted a review of Utterli on my blog at http://knowledge24x7.blogspot.com/, added a cross-posting badge to the blog, and now I'm testing it by cross-posting this utter with a pic.

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Utterli - Variation on a Theme (Twitter-like)

Tired of Twitter? Looking for a Different look and feel? Try Utterli.

Post an “utter” from your computer or mobile phone; include text, images, audio and video, and have it automatically cross-posted to your Blogger, Twitter, or other of your networking sites.

Registration is easy and, of course, free. When you create a profile, you can also choose the sites to which cross-posts should be sent, either automatically or at your choice. Select “Apps & Widgets” on the top tabs, then choose one of three widget formats for inclusion on your website, blog, and anytime mobile blogging. You can add friends from other networking sites or “Find & Follow” current Utterli members. Join a special interest group; there are over 800 to choose from.

The site layout is clean, attractive, and easy to read; the user interface is “intuitively obvious” with plenty of help options available, including “how-to” videos. The membership appears to consist chiefly of young professionals, including an international contingent posting in French and Spanish. The site is ad supported with a limited number of relatively unobtrusive featured offers visible on the page.


Utterli (http;//www.utterli.com)

Plurking on the Web

If Twitterers send "tweets," do Plurkers send "urks?"

Now that Congress seems to have found Twitter, it may be time to move on. If you an get past the name, Plurk (http://www.plurk.com) is a spiffy alternative to Twitter for graphically-inclined users. About the only thing they share in common is the 140 character limit on text posts. If you regard Twitter as "business-like," Plurk is definitely fun-kee, with a slick graphic interface - a horizontally scrolling time line with annotation tools, like these predefined action verbs which allow different functions within the post:

The scrolling time line appears at the bottom (the annotation in this image was created using Jing). You may use a nickname, mine is k24x7 here. Comments and responses are appended to the original post. A one-click widget is available to be embedded in your blog or website (see the sidebar on this blog) and plurks can be automatically distributed to Twitter, Friendster, and Facebook.

At present, there are (only) 55,000+ users and the orientation is primarily toward social networking; when you sign up you are asked for your birth date and then offered a choice of plurker age-related plurker friends. All-in-all Plurk is presently more interesting for its fun interface than for its content, but has enough privacy tools so it could be used in an educational context. The Bandstand generation would say, "I'd give it an 8, it's got a good beat, you can dance to it."