Facebook and MySpace are trying to turn themselves into application platforms (how else will they monetize their audience?). Google is pushing OpenSocial to compete with it. But no matter what features they offer their users, they user still orbits the site.
Scot Hacker talks of BuddyPress changing the game, turning “social networks” from destination websites, [...]

Posted June 16, 2008 by Casey Bisson
Categories: Technology. Tags: BuddyPress, evolution, social networking, social networks, WordPress MU. One Comment.

There are so many cool things in Fred Stutzman’s recent post, but this point rang the bell for me just as I was considering the differences between World of Warcraft and Second Life. More on those games in a moment, first let’s get Stutzman’s description of ego vs. object networks:
An ego-centric social network places the [...]

Posted November 7, 2007 by Casey Bisson
Categories: Technology. Tags: ego, fred stutzman, mmorpg, second life, social network, social networking, social software, world of warcraft, WOW. One Comment.

Just when you thought I was done talking about how the internet really does touch everything, Lichen posts some details from the most recent University of New Hampshire Res Life student survey and it gets me going again. In order, the top three activities are:

• socializing (15.8 hours/week)
   
• studying, excluding in-class time (12.5 hours/week)
   
• instant messaging, (9.3 hours/week)

Posted March 13, 2006 by Casey Bisson
Categories: Libraries & Networked Information, Technology. Tags: aim, campus computing, computer use, im, instant messenger, online activity, social networking, social software, student life, survey, unh, university of new hampshire, usage survey. 4 Comments.

I won’t link to The New York Times anymore, but when Ross Mayfield quotes them, I don’t have to.
The story is that life is full of interruptions. The typical office environment today apparently allows workers “only 11 minutes on any given project before being interrupted and whisked off to do something else.” Worse, “each 11-minute [...]

Posted October 27, 2005 by Casey Bisson
Categories: Technology. Tags: communication, economics, interruptions, mail messages, office environment, ross mayfield, social networking, social software, spreadsheet, typical office employee. 6 Comments.

Ross Mayfield says Web 2.0 is “made of people.” Tim O’Reilly tells us it’s about participation. And to Marc Canter, it’s the connectivity.
More to come…

tags: connectivity, marc canter, participation, people, ross mayfield, social networking, tim o’reilly, tim oreilly, web 2.0, web 20, web20

Posted October 24, 2005 by Casey Bisson
Categories: Libraries & Networked Information, Technology. Tags: connectivity, marc canter, participation, people, ross mayfield, social networking, tim o'reilly, web 2.0, web20. 2 Comments.

The developers describe Flock as
[T]he world’s most innovative social browsing experience. We call it the two-way web.
Which is a good enough sales pitch to make me try the free demo, but it’s all still a private beta. Perhaps they’re trying to prove the point that nothing builds buzz better than unavailability. Osakasteve gushes:
A browser that [...]

Posted August 24, 2005 by Casey Bisson
Categories: Technology. Tags: blogging, blogs, drag and drop, firefox, flickr, flock, mac win linux, private beta, sales pitch, social bookmarking, social bookmarks, social browser, social browsing, social networking, social software, social web browser, web browser. 2 Comments.

Geolocation by GPS my be the most straightforward approach, but we mustn’t forget the other ways to get lat/lon coordinates.
All current cell phones support aGPS positioning to comply with federal E-911 mandates, but not all phones make it easy for the user to get that information out of them. Still, some do and GPS-enabled moblogging [...]

Posted June 13, 2005 by Casey Bisson
Categories: Technology. Tags: agps, cell phone, coordinates, geolocation, gps, lattitude, longitude, map, mapping, maps, moblogging, network, networking application, palm, picture phone, social networking, wifi. 5 Comments.