L'ansia che mi genera Annalena

Questo e' l'articolo di ieri sul foglio
http://www.ilfoglio.it/soloqui/1151

L'ansia che mi ha generato questo pezzo e' proporzionale al numero di parole scritte, ognuna delle quali e' sintomatica di quanta ignoranza e presunzione ancora vi sia tra alcuni sedicenti giornalisti che non sanno neanche cosa sia un servizio pubblico.
Lascio a voi ogni ulteriore commento...

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Cielo, mio facebook
E’ un aggeggio sfasciafamiglie o il trionfo dell’equivoco? Comunque è un gioco pericoloso
Dopo che una giovane collega ha lasciato il fidanzato con cui doveva sposarsi pochi giorni fa per via di facebook (la follia di una notte del fidanzato ha scritto su facebook alla collega e a tutti i suoi contatti, comunicando trionfante l’accaduto e allegando foto-prova), a questa colonnina è stato chiesto di farsi servizio pubblico e denunciare la pericolosità sociale dell’aggeggio sfasciafamiglie. Ovviamente chi non ha vite private molto complicate (in onore di Rachida Dati, eroina moderna) su fb viaggia sereno, perde una quantità abissale di tempo, ritrova vecchi compagni di scuola, commenta le foto dei bambini, controlla i figli adolescenti, si iscrive a gruppi tipo savedarfur e si sente modernamente umanitario.
Ma evitando di tirare in ballo nuovi linguaggi politici, nuove frontiere della socialità e dell’impegno, si sa che l’essenza di facebook, oltre all’impicciarsi dei fatti altrui, pubblicizzare i propri e mettere le foto in cui ci si sente meno sfasciati, è il rimorchio. Anche solo sognato o frainteso. Un immenso e virtuale mondo rimorchiabile, in cui le ex si mescolano agli amici, e l’amore che strappa i capelli, volato per sempre a New York dieci anni fa, ricompare all’improvviso in forma di foto ammiccante. L’ambiguità di un saluto con puntini di sospensione accanto alla fotina di una ragazza in costume da bagno, schiaffata lì, dove tutti guardano, può far impazzire una moglie già in crisi (quelle che non vanno su fb per non dover scrivere la data di nascita), e trasformare il sabato sera a casa in un incubo. E un ragazzo sentimentale che vede tra i contatti della fidanzata tutti i suoi ex, che propongono rimpatriate in ricordo dei bei tempi, morirà in silenzio oppure farà scenate e passerà per matto.
Un nuovo moltiplicatore d’ansia, un nuovo occhio che guarda ed equivoca, sempre, perché accettare o cercare amici su fb non equivale esattamente a frequentarli o a volerci passare la notte (un saggio gruppo su fb si chiama: che mi aggiungi a fare su fb se poi per strada non mi saluti), ma tutto viene amplificato dalle foto, dalla strana sensazione del pubblico che guarda, dalla sospettabilissima possibilità di chattare a qualunque ora della notte, dalle frasi misteriose che molti gettano lì apposta, e che paiono sempre destinate a qualcuno di segreto ma connesso e incluso fra i contatti. Fingersi liberi, disonvolti, stronzi e bellocci, finché il gioco dura (scriverne, si sa, ne accelera la fine), o finché lei non sfascia il computer con un’accetta.
di Annalena Benini

The power of context, as shown by facebook

I know there has been a lot of press, and some false starts, with Facebook's attempts to deliver ads based on a user's interests and what they get up to on the site (or even partner sites).

There was some learning for me recently.

First of all: something I found intrusive

I had posted a review of a hotel on one of my most favourite travel sites, Tripadvisor.com. A small pop-up appeared on the bottom right of my screen saying that a note that I had posted a review on Tripadvisor was going to be posted onto my facebook mini-feed on my profile.

I was surprised and then a bit annoyed. I guess I must have somewhere at sometime told either of the sites I used the other. But this felt a bit like snooping. And I wasn't really sure of the benefit to me.

Secondly: something I thought was pretty cool.

I had received an email from a friend on facebook asking if I knew someone that tracked and managed user generated content to be submitted onto brand or company websites. I started writing him a note back suggesting he speak to Dan Hawtrey who used to work with me who now had his own internet/ intranet content management company called Content Formula. When I typed in the name a small ad and link for the company appeared and I was asked if I wanted to include that in my reply.

I thought it was a really cool, helpful feature. It saved me looking up Dan's contact details and site and gave the person I was sending the suggestion to relevant information. I also did not find it intrusive as it was not personal but triggered by me typing within their site a brand / company name.


This was a good example of getting contextual advertising right. Information relevant when topic and need was there.

Any thoughts? Leave a comment on the blog using the comments button at the bottom of the posting or email me at gary@bembridge.co.uk

My avatar by befunky.com

friendfeed

FriendFeed

What is it?

FriendFeed is a new web 2.0 service that enables you to aggregate all of your, and your friends, online activity and conversations in one place.

How does it work?

It uses RSS feeds to pull in the information from a wide (and growing) number of sources and places them in one feed so you can see everything in one place. RSS means that FriendFeed will be scalable in the future as you don’t need developers and open access APIs to create new content, RSS is the common standard for sharing information across the internet.

Why should I care?

The atomisation of the web means that users have pockets of information fragmented all over the web. Just think about a regular person who watches, favourites and maybe posts a few videos on You Tube, puts their family holiday snaps on Flickr, comments on a blog they read daily, shares links from their Google Reader. Multiply this by a blog you write, the comments on that blog, the links to it, tweets on Twitter, Facebook updates, de.licio.us, digg and stumble upon tags. And then multiply by the number of friends you follow and the fragmentation and amount of this information becomes overwhelming to the point of overload.

FriendFeed helps that by aggregating all that information in one place so you don’t have to traverse 5, 6, 7, 8 + websites to keep in touch with the information. It helps you stay on top of what’s grabbing your friends’ attention and keeps you connected. You also get full control of the people you follow and can un-follow at any time.

And because it’s all RSS enabled, you can distribute that content to where you want it: Google Reader, your personal homepage (iGoogle, MSN Live etc.).

But I’ve only just discovered Facebook!

It’s true that FriendFeed is pretty much used by the early adopters at the moment and true that you would have to again subscribe to/follow friends which is a chore. But the benefits of having everything in one place for those who currently suffer web 2.0 overload are worth it. There’s even a feature called “imaginary friend” where you can pull in a feed of someone who you want to read – a thought leader perhaps – but you aren’t their actual friend. This overcomes the limitations and annoyance of Facebook where you do actually need to know people.

In summary

FriendFeed gives you control over the web 2.0 noise and lets you consume it in a way that is relevant to you.

Add me as a friend

More bedtime reading:

http://friendfeed.com/about/

http://scobleizer.com/2008/05/18/why-friendfeed-wont-go-mainstream/

http://scobleizer.com/2008/05/18/why-friendfeed-will-go-mainstream-part-ii/

In response to a press request via headstream (who I also do digital planning goodness for in my role at LCG), I did this. So I thought I would share it.

UPDATE 03.06.08

My input helped to spawn this article in NMK where I get a quote.

"The atomisation of the web means that users have pockets of information fragmented all over the web. Just think about a regular person who watches, favourites and maybe posts a few videos on YouTube, puts their family holiday snaps on flickr, comments on a blog they read daily, shares links from their Google Reader. Multiply this by a blog you write, the comments on that blog, the links to it, tweets on Twitter, Facebook updates, de.licio.us, digg and stumble upon tags. And then multiply by the number of friends you follow and the fragmentation and amount of this information becomes overwhelming to the point of overload," said Nicholas Gill, planner at headstream PR.

"FriendFeed helps that by aggregating all that information in one place so you don't have to traverse numerous websites to keep in touch with the information. It helps you stay on top of what's grabbing your friends' attention and keeps you connected. You also get full control of the people you follow and can un-follow at any time," continued Gill. "FriendFeed gives you control over the web 2.0 noise and lets you consume it in a way that is relevant to you."

Nicholas Gill

bluurb.wordpress.com