Social Networks: Why I Care

I've been reading a lot about social media, spending time on Twitter and especially FriendFeed. Why? Primarily because of the ideas I read about Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody. Boiled way down, the social networking technologies make it possible to do something that was unthinkable not so long ago - to organize without organizations.

Another effect of these new technologies has to do with traditional filters to publishing content: they just aren't as relevant anymore. Want to write an article about your favorite subject? Go ahead; write and post it for the world to see here on the internet. You don't need an editor to give you the go ahead.

One consequence is the explosion of content available. RSS feeds, twitter streams, etc. And we can feel like we're drowning in information as a result.

So I've begun to think about why I need to pay attention to stuff like Friendfeed and Twitter. But right now, both are primarily filled with Tech/PR types sharing lots of information. And I'm not a Tech/PR person.

If I’m not a PR or Tech guy, so what do I care what Robert Scoble and Louis Gray find interesting? Not to pick on them, mind you. They are two of the most popular and active.

What I’m really interested in is learning to use these new tools most effectively. Some day, the content distributed by these tools won’t be almost exclusively about Tech/PR. I might want to gather a group of Feldenkrais practitioners or clients to share ideas. But if I or they don’t know how to use these tools well, what’s the point? But if we do learn how to use Twitter, Friendfeed or whatever well, then we’ll have a sharing ability we didn’t have before. And that will be a really valuable asset to have.

Every once in a while, you get some gems on using FF or Twitter, or whatever, in a way that wasn’t clear before. For example, Gray posted some useful information yesterday about hiding stuff (that is, filtering information) in FriendFeed.

So I’ll keep on subscribing to their stuff. And someday I’ll figure out how to filter it for what I really need from it. Or some item in Scoble’s or Gray’s feed will help point the way.