Sep 29, 2008: blogOrlando3
Owen invited me to join him at blogOrlando, an event he attended last year and spoke about favorably. With nothing better to do this weekend, I took him up on his invitation, despite my previously stated misgivings about so-called social media. It was a good opportunity to spend time with Owen again, but it was also a chance to meet Michael and Mark Jaquith -- two people I've known online for several years but had not yet had the privilege of meeting in real life. Several of the sessions looked mildly interesting, and I promised myself that I ...
Sep 8, 2008: Aggregating
The value proposition of social media sites like Twitter has always been somewhat vague to me. I've stated before that I'm skeptical of social media, and that I'm not one to jump on social network bandwagons. I recently purged a bunch of people from the list that I follow on Twitter because I wasn't seeing any value to reading what they had to say. There's only so many hours in the day, and I'd prefer not to spend them reading about what other people had for lunch....
Jun 17, 2008: Anti Social Media
I'll just say it: I don't like the so-called "social media" aspects of the current Internet. Maybe it's because I've been engaged in online communities for more than twenty years; maybe it's because I'm a misanthrope. I don't use -- nor do I have any interest in -- Digg, Facebook, LinkedIn, LiveJournal, MySpace, Reddit, or whatever other "social networking" sites are currently in vogue. I'm not particularly interested in meeting new people through these venues, and I'm extremely wary of the so-called "value" they provide. I have my blog, and I'm satisfied with it....