Davy Sims Posterous Site

Google Buzz or Google Zzzz?

This is a version of my Belfast Telegraph column for this week: 

Less than a month ago Google launched their social networking and messaging tool Google Buzz to a largely lukewarm reception.  In late 2007 Google acquired the Jaiku social network that could have been strong competition for Twitter, but they didn’t appear to give it much support. So will Buzz have the support Jaiku should have had and be real competition? I asked the question through both Buzz and Twitter. 

The first response was from James Scott (through Buzz) who runs the NITech Blog.  “Simplicity is the key. With Twitter you know exactly what you’re getting - it's simple and does what it says on the tin. What's the killer feature of Buzz to draw in the masses?”

And these comments through Twitter

@webireland – “Google zzz in my opinion. Half hearted attempt using Gmail user base for leverage.”

@iChrisTaylor - “Buzz allows more user interaction, better development of conversations. Don't think it'll replace FB just yet.” 

More expansive comments were posted on my DavySims.com blog. Russell McQuillan said “The problem with getting into ‘another’ social networking site, is finding friends that you regularly converse with on other platforms. Google have made this slightly handier with your Gmail contacts being already in the “following” list however Facebook and Twitter go way beyond that, how am I supposed to find them? Ask them for an email address? Did emails not go out with the fax machine?”

Patrick Kane said “Privacy concerns have been a major, major talking point.  Within the first few days of launch the tech community have been pointing out things such as the automatic integration with Gmail, private email addresses being revealed in replies etc. Yes, Google have tackled some of the issues but it’s been a bit of a PR disaster.”

Phil O'Kane’s comment was “Like so many of Google’s products, Buzz is not integrated into Google Apps, which I use rather than my old Gmail address. There is a mobile version available which I have been using, and by going to their Google profile (or checking my friends list of followees and followers) I have been able to follow people.

“There isn’t much difference between this and FriendFeed - and like Wave, it seems to have been released a little earlier than it should have been in order to iron out its numerous flaws.”

But the last word goes to @_d_a_v_e_ “Thanks for the reminder to check mine. Definitely ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz”

Slacktivism

This week's Belfast Telegraph article

It's called “Slacktivism”: a mix of Activism and Slacker describing how some people support a cause by doing no more than signing an online petition, or joining a Facebook group or taking part in a Twitter-storm. 

Slacktivism is a pejorative term, but the motivation behind a person’s engagement in an issue can be positive.  Most of us are not in a position to change public perception or opinion even if we had the time and resources, even the inclination to put our boots on and take to the streets. Following the Iranian elections in June supporters of the Iranian opposition did take to the streets in protest.  Some Twitter users outside Iran added a green tinge to their profile photo to show support to the protesters. Some even changed their profile location to Tehran believing that this would hinder the Iranian authorities.  We were told Iranians were using Twitter to arrange protests, the government was trying to monitor them and it was though that the more people on the platform with a false Tehran location the harder it would be to track the real organisers.  Who knows whether it did or not.

In October newsrooms were prevented from reporting information about Trafigura by threat of severe legal action (http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/commons-protest-as-trafigura-gag-lifted-14530143.html).  It was a Twitter-storm that brought the story into the public domain showing the “super-injunction” to be impotent.  While some registered outrage others became online detectives digging up the information that the public was being prevented from knowing.  This was not slacktivism, this was mass collaboration that confounded the legal status quo. But every hash-tag helped.

Signing up to a Facebook page in protest or support doesn’t take much effort.  People have been hoodwinked.  As a part of a psychological experiment, Anders Colding-Jørgensen created a Facebook protest group that went from 125 to 27,500 members in two weeks. The cause, “Save the Stork Fountain” was a totally fictitious protest against the demolition of a famous Danish fountain.  He wanted to understand if political campaigns like that could work.  His conclusion was that they don’t. People sign-up to the headline not the issue.

Some Twitter and Facebook campaigns might be superficial and transient but Slactivism is surely better than apathy. It is us Slackers 40th birthday present to the Internet.