2010 5 5 | 10:54
Broken Social Media Feedback
[via nytimes.com]
This post is for mah nerds.
Twitter wants me to Tweet It. Google wants me to Buzz It. Facebook wants me to Like It. I have my own blog [welcome] and I enjoy comments on it. I used to have Google Reader, but Buzz and Reader don't sync very well so I Dropped It. I can comment on anything. I can provide feedback for anyone. I can Like, Tweet, and Buzz all day, not to mention comment on any article on any website I frequent.
I can write something here and it'll post to a number of sites I enjoy [thanks Posterous]. What's great is that I can get feedback on it from multiple sources at any time. And feedback is important. It's commonly held that discussion, sharing opinions, and constructive criticism contribute to a better community by improving the qualities of the individual.
But social media feedback is broken. Each unique social ecosystem has its own feedback method that never returns to the source - it stays in its own system. For instance, this blog post will appear to people [who care] in a number of ways:
- This will pop up in someone's Twitter feed.
- This will show up in Facebook [I think]. Or, at least people can "Like It".
- People following this RSS will see it in Google Reader or in any number of RSS compilers.
- Those subscribed to this Posterous may see it in their subscriptions.
- This should show up in Buzz, too.
Each one of the mentioned social networks has its own feedback system. You can respond to a tweet. You can like and comment on a post in Facebook. You can comment and share it in Reader and Buzz [they don't sync too well so I count them as unique]. And, you can just comment on the post itself in Posterous. I can think of two ways to view all the feedback.
- Go through each system uniquely and check for updates [this is just stupid].
- Apply an email notification system [most systems offer this feature] to alert you of any feedback.
I'm not a fan. I get enough email as it is. And even if the email alert notifications were efficient and quick, they wouldn't address the issue: each feedback loop is housed in its own system, eliminating discussion and all the other good things we established as benefits of social networks, in general.
Is there a way to do the following?
- Provide original content.
- Open it for feedback to multiple social media networks.
- Standardize the commenting so that a response on Twitter and a comment on Facebook can show up in my Posterous.
- Then, when I comment on their feedback [enter discussion] in Posterous, it reflects back to the respective social networks, including people from other systems in the discussion.
Probably not.
By the way, my solution in the meantime is to force* the audience into my ecosystem, which will be this Posterous. *By force, I intend to comment only on this post.
Silly, I know.
2010 4 17 | 9:27
2010 4 17 | 9:19
2010 4 16 | 9:04
Insane Display of Acrobatic Mastery
via youtube.com
Can you imagine the discipline required? What do these guys do in their spare time? Do they have spare time?
Regardless, this is why humans are the peak of the food chain. When we're not hunting and eating other crap, we're doing this.
[Hat tip to DChiu]
joku elsewhere
