Case-Notes from the Artsy Asylum

MEStream - A Question Of Interaction

Although it's supposed to be about conversation - or that's my view at least - sometimes web 2.0 becomes a MEstream. Millions of people around the world use twitter, flickr, viddler, youtube, soup.io, tumbler to broadcast the latest of me me me-ism.

It's no longer limited to our multiple blogs which can turn into our own version of CNN's constant loopy stream of what they consider to be information we need to know - or more likely their opinion about what's happening and what we should think about it, but don't get me started on CNN because we all have our filters after all.

Its not all one way streaming though.

In an interesting quirk of timing, just as Kristin Forbriger's tweet brought to my attention that the Philadelphia Inquirer was not only tweeting but was  being interactive I saw a tweet from Julia Roy that she was flip - filming us.

Julia's deadpan photos aways make me grin, so I had to go look. And then I got to thinking,

Julia's looking at us. Kristin's looking at us. The Inquirer is looking at us.

Are we looking back or just streaming US?

Lately my own stream of broadcasting updates gave way to our good new baby news, And who could miss the Frozen Pea Fund that started as two women tweeting ideas about how to show support for me when I got my cancer diagnosis in December?

There's an innate curiosity hard wired into me offset by a deep frustration that there's not time for everything. Not as social as some, I hope that's offset with placing being interactive high on my priority list.

Truthfully, I miss a lot. Commenting on blogs or videos gets little of my time in the past six months, though I do a little better sending conversational @ messages on twitter and looking through, talking back and marking other's flickr photos as favorites. (some of those pictured here)

But for many of us these are surprising and mind expanding times full of opportunity. We started small (thus say my tweetstats), learned about others in the interactive web community, got more involved and didn't try to become anything but participants. Sometimes we talk more about us and sometimes more about others. 

Steady - and genuine - interaction matters

And I think that's what the Inquirer is attempting. It's early for them in their experiment with twitter, following and being followed by less than 100 others as I write this.

It's not just because I went to school in Philly that I'm in their corner. It's because I believe in the potential of the very interactive, personally engaged Jim Long @NewMediaJim and Andy Carvin's NPR twitter model

It will be interesting to see how they develop their tweet presence and I'm rooting heavily for them to help show the other news outlets how it can be done.. . interaction by interaction; engagement by engagement; relationship to relationship.

Pulver Media Breakfast features Frozen Peas for the Fund

Always great to meet new people and see old contacts. It was one of those days at the Jeff Pulver Social Media breakfast in DC on Thursday Feb 7th.

And of course frozen Peas were on the menu

QIK | Streaming video right from your phone.

BlogPotomac

Geoff Livingston's blog the Buzz Bin brings news about BlogPotomac Slated for June 13 at the State Theater

Great news for me, this event will have excellent presenters and is relatively nearby, not only convenient for me but also right of I-66 so easy for lots of people to get to.

Check out the Buzz for the details released so far

Personal Branding and Avatars - Who Are You?

Avatars as Personal Brands is the kick off panel scheduled for tomorrow at Orange Island.

Times of the discussions are on the graphic at right (click to enlarge - and remember these times given are on Second Life Time/ US Pacific Time) and on my 30 boxes calendar (there listed in "my time" or EST).

see box in left column of the blog that will give you highlights and take you to the larger calendar

First thing that popped into my head was - why is Second Life such an insiders kind of place? Why didn't they ask Connie Reece - or her Reece Llewellyn Second Life incarnation to be on one of these panels?

For Connie / Reece or as all of twitterville knows her: @conniereece, the whole pink hair in real life to go along with the pink hair in Second Life to go along with the pink boa in her photo is inspired.

See Connie talk about her pink highlights in real life here

I'm only glad I could play a part of pointing out a place to get Pink hair. Even though I didn't know at the time that's what she'd come home wearing.

But back to avatars. It seems to me like what we see, the image in front of us on the screen, has a lot to do with how we come to think of the person on the other end, whether we ever meet them in person or not. And Connie and her hot pinkness kind of personifies that.

It's almost too much to think about. And I've got too much to say to do both that and remind you about this avatar event.

I'm going to do my best to be at the 9am and 11am discussions at a minimum, as well as checking in when I can.

I hope to learn a lot and see some great examples. Our digital selves and the 3-d web are in their infancy. There's a lot to digest and consider.

Twitter - A Place Where People Know Your Name

If you've heard about twitter and are thinking about dipping your toes in the stream to learn what people are talking - or twittering - about there's no better time than now.

You've heard it's for geeks? OK, and moms, writers, students, freelancers - anyone with a computer and a brain.

It's about people and what people might talk about if they had a few minutes on and off during the day - as they were passing at the copy machine or the water cooler.

Those mini comments - limited by twitter to a perfect snack size bite of 140 characters - are as likely to be about cookies for guys in Kandahar as the next new thing in tech. Whatever your interest, there are people who can toss a couple lines to you every day and make your life a little more interesting in the process.

Jerimiah Owyang offers to be your twitter friend and point you in the direction of others, saying

"I hope to see you on Twitter, if you follow me, I’ll follow you back. Looking for other people to connect with? Twitterposter shows some of the top members in this graphical dashboard, a good starting point."

Following his good example, if you leave a comment below letting me know what name you use on twitter, then follow me there by clicking "follow" on my twitter page, I'll add you to those I follow as well.

To make it easy to find me I use  susanreynolds uniformly there and elsewhere.

Next, find some other people to follow. When you' look at the Twitterposter site  you will find a US version of twitterposter and a world version. Each shows the relative influence of individual tweeters. The larger their image is - the larger the group of people who follow them on twitter. 

After all with 100,000 tweeters and limited space on a chart, following anyone who made the cut-off here will give you at least some idea what it's all about. Simon Collister writes that Twitter is about people, not technology. And I think you'll find he's right

Although there is not enough time in a day to listen to every voice in the conversation, I'm doing my best. I hope you'll check it out. Sometimes the connections you make to people in a few minutes interspersed in your week can be invaluable.

For more about Jeremiah see Spending time on Twitter, join us

Teaser Video: Well Done

OK, I don't watch CSI but the latest UTube teaser for the episode with the Second Life connection has my interest way piqued. 

What an excellent marketing tool.

The fact that it came to my attention when the Electric Shepp Company's Giff Forseti twittered the link a little after 4 AM is yet another sign that the Sheep know what works in getting people involved.

Scrabbulous - it's More than Idle Chatter

If you've been around me lately you know that I play scrabble via a facebook application that I've enthused about before. In the example at the right I'm the master scrabbler who makes words like NUT and SIT.

Suffice it to say that most opponents have nothing to worry about unless I get a lucky rack of letters. I'm not there to prove my spelling prowess.

Like most of the facebook applications I use, the idea behind it is connecting in some way not normally available to me.

And luckily enough for me, it turns out that tweaks in this game make for improved interaction during the game - beyond just moving letters around on a board and finding out who's got a great vocabulary and who's ruthless.

Before the changes I could send a little message to other players but it wasn't obvious if they didn't know it was there.

Now there's a scrolling screen at the right side of the playing board above the letter tiles I'm playing. Hard to miss it even though the type is still minuscule. The comments go back and forth, from the serious to the mundane.

So how does this address connectedness, outreach, community?

Imagine you want to chat about a possible collaboration, but in a way that feels like having drinks. Less focused on the project and more focused on interacting and making a connection. Bingo.

Or you know someone from twitter just well enough to respond back and forth a bit.

Playing scrabble with them and chatting on and off during the course of the game - which generally takes several days, with some players not making a move as often as others - could be just the way to make the move to being more than passing tweeters.

Might work for you. Game playing isn't always a bad thing.

Using the 3-d Web for the Greater Good

So I'm not the only one that thinks Second Life is now mainstream? This public service announcement is cute and uses the virtual world for the greater good.

It approaches people in a way that is geared to them. It gets attention. It's not a hard sell, It makes us chuckle and - well maybe shake our heads.

Multiple Platforms of Social Networking Sharing

You cant say enough good stuff about Social Networking. But when the topic hit the Daily Show I knew it had really arrived.

See how hip I am? I'm sharing a video on my blog AND - dude - it's about Social networking.

On the other hand I used the word hip, which totally tanks my cred.

The video's in my blog though and I'm also sharing it on my facebook page, so I'm covered in coolness.

Anyhow, it's important to share in Social Networking, New Media, or whatever they're calling relationships these days. So share this video, and this blog, with someone you know. You too can be a Social Networking pro in no time.

Now if they'd just profile twitter,on the daily Show. Geez, I use twitter to blather on about just about everything. Voila: I could be an expert. That would be sweet

Homemade Media Strikes a Chord

Is viral video still the secret ingredient in social media that trumps many others?

In January 2007 Crayon's Chief Strategy Officer Greg Verdino wondered if executives jumping ship meant that viral video was a sinking ship. His opinion seems to be that it's not.