Howdy, all. I'm Justin -- some of you know me, some don't. I'm a longtime social-tools geek (a user since 1987, a full-time programmer focused on them since 1995
( Read more... )
One small voice in the chaosroamingMarch 22 2008, 18:34:59 UTC
Thanks for the thoughts. I'm amazed to find what a multilayered issue this is, things I've never thought of, never would.
I'm mostly a lurker here, with nothing to contribute to the development of a new system of converse commerce. And I can only speak for myself when I say that I have enough trouble keeping up with people and their doings on LJ as it is now, simple and perhaps limited and at the end of its useful lifespan. It's an INCREDIBLE time-sink for me, and I often just throw up my hands and ignore it for days. (Or else there'd be no dinner, no clean clothing, no dishes done, etc.) So the simpler something is, the better I like it. "Keeping up with (changes/progression) in the rest of the world" would only contribue to my already intrusive ADD-ish confusion in keeping tabs on friends, irl and just cyber.
I'm sure at least one other person might have this problem, though maybe not most of you.
Re: One small voice in the chaosjducoeurMarch 22 2008, 20:39:22 UTC
Well, the "keeping up" probably is pretty front-and-center in CommYou -- indeed, the nuisance of keeping track of which conversations in LJ have new content has always been one of my chief frustrations, so I'm hoping to make that a little easier.
But realistically, noise has a tendency to expand to fill the time available. Figuring out how to manage that is probably going to be a big part of all of these projects, because I don't think there's a single magic bullet for dealing with it...
It's good to hear that I wasn't the only one thinking exactly that when I attempted to try Facebook. While I now feel validated in my thinking, I still have no clue what Facebook was supposed to be about!
LJ users have a tendency to be scornful of the other systems out there
Guilty as charged. Especially when it comes to comment systems, if it doesn't look, work and thread like LJ, it's inferior. But one big improvement related to comments that you've already touched on -- being able to easily keep track of the status of discussions I'm participating in -- would be welcome. I envision something along the lines of Flickr's "Comments you've made" functionality.
But one big improvement related to comments that you've already touched on -- being able to easily keep track of the status of discussions I'm participating in -- would be welcome.
Yeah, that's actually feature #1 for CommYou -- it's the single feature missing from LJ that's always most rankled me. I want a very quick and easy way to say, "Which interesting conversations have new comments?". That's central enough that, despite CommYou essentially being a toy at this point (I'm nearing alpha 0.1, which has only maybe 20% of LJ's features), it's already in there.
It's not a casual feature, though: once you go down that road, I'm finding that you wind up wanting lots of corollary features, and a DB that is *much* bigger and more complex. So I can't really fault LJ for not having bitten it off...
LJ (and its clones) are unique for exactly one reason: they are a hybrid between blogging and social networking.
Yes, and it's this which makes LJers sometimes scornful of other systems. Threaded comments, easy access to "friends" posts, and privacy settings which enable some groups to read and not others are precisely the things which make LJ stand out from most of the blogging platforms out there.
Threaded comments, easy access to "friends" posts, and privacy settings which enable some groups to read and not others are precisely the things which make LJ stand out from most of the blogging platforms out there.
Fair enough, but keep in mind that at least some of those other systems are going to catch up. Facebook has just implemented fine-grained privacy settings, for example. And since nearly all of those systems are following Facebook's lead and opening themselves up as application platforms, odds are pretty high that most of LJ's functionality will wind up commonplace before *too* long. (I mean, that's roughly what I'm doing with CommYou, although with a somewhat different emphasis; I suspect I won't be the only one.)
Wow. This came at just the perfect time for me. I've been looking for a new system exactly along this line for journaling as well as socialization that is NOT LJ.
Thanks for the heads up. I'm looking forward to following along here and seeing how this goes.
One of the things I've always liked about livejournal is that it is the bare minimum of social networking. You don't have 30 people trying to add you as a friend every month, you aren't assaulted by a person's personal taste in music when you try to read their profile, and you don't get flooded with requests to add applications so people can send you flowers or whatever. Social networking sites are more about finding people, livejournal is more about keeping track of the ones you've found, or atleast thats how it seems to me.
I can understand that, but I think that mostly speaks to the immaturity of the field. All evidence I'm seeing indicates that things are settling down out of the initial insanity.
Right now, people are thinking of social networks as bright and shiny toys, and we have all the usual bubble effects as both users and apps pile in with all kinds of dumbnesses. But I'd guess that within a couple of years most people will be thinking of them as Simply Tools -- pretty much the same way they did for every previous online social tool...
Comments 9
I'm mostly a lurker here, with nothing to contribute to the development of a new system of converse commerce. And I can only speak for myself when I say that I have enough trouble keeping up with people and their doings on LJ as it is now, simple and perhaps limited and at the end of its useful lifespan. It's an INCREDIBLE time-sink for me, and I often just throw up my hands and ignore it for days. (Or else there'd be no dinner, no clean clothing, no dishes done, etc.) So the simpler something is, the better I like it. "Keeping up with (changes/progression) in the rest of the world" would only contribue to my already intrusive ADD-ish confusion in keeping tabs on friends, irl and just cyber.
I'm sure at least one other person might have this problem, though maybe not most of you.
Reply
But realistically, noise has a tendency to expand to fill the time available. Figuring out how to manage that is probably going to be a big part of all of these projects, because I don't think there's a single magic bullet for dealing with it...
Reply
It's good to hear that I wasn't the only one thinking exactly that when I attempted to try Facebook. While I now feel validated in my thinking, I still have no clue what Facebook was supposed to be about!
LJ users have a tendency to be scornful of the other systems out there
Guilty as charged. Especially when it comes to comment systems, if it doesn't look, work and thread like LJ, it's inferior. But one big improvement related to comments that you've already touched on -- being able to easily keep track of the status of discussions I'm participating in -- would be welcome. I envision something along the lines of Flickr's "Comments you've made" functionality.
Reply
Yeah, that's actually feature #1 for CommYou -- it's the single feature missing from LJ that's always most rankled me. I want a very quick and easy way to say, "Which interesting conversations have new comments?". That's central enough that, despite CommYou essentially being a toy at this point (I'm nearing alpha 0.1, which has only maybe 20% of LJ's features), it's already in there.
It's not a casual feature, though: once you go down that road, I'm finding that you wind up wanting lots of corollary features, and a DB that is *much* bigger and more complex. So I can't really fault LJ for not having bitten it off...
Reply
Yes, and it's this which makes LJers sometimes scornful of other systems. Threaded comments, easy access to "friends" posts, and privacy settings which enable some groups to read and not others are precisely the things which make LJ stand out from most of the blogging platforms out there.
I'm interested in seeing how your project works.
Reply
Fair enough, but keep in mind that at least some of those other systems are going to catch up. Facebook has just implemented fine-grained privacy settings, for example. And since nearly all of those systems are following Facebook's lead and opening themselves up as application platforms, odds are pretty high that most of LJ's functionality will wind up commonplace before *too* long. (I mean, that's roughly what I'm doing with CommYou, although with a somewhat different emphasis; I suspect I won't be the only one.)
Reply
Thanks for the heads up. I'm looking forward to following along here and seeing how this goes.
Reply
Reply
Right now, people are thinking of social networks as bright and shiny toys, and we have all the usual bubble effects as both users and apps pile in with all kinds of dumbnesses. But I'd guess that within a couple of years most people will be thinking of them as Simply Tools -- pretty much the same way they did for every previous online social tool...
Reply
Leave a comment