Importance of Twitter and Final Post

As this is my last post for this blog, I thought it would be fitting to return to the topic of Twitter. Through Business of Media and writing this blog I have begun not only to experiment with Twitter, but understand its importance, relevance, and business potential. Jennifer Laycock lays out some of the biggest reasons why Twitter is a crucial social media tool. In her first two points Laycock touches upon what I personally find to be the most helpful and important aspect of Twitter: its ability to be a news source. Instead of checking off a list of interests on Digg, StumbleUpon and Netvibes, with Twitter the real life people I follow bring me the news that matters to me.

Laycock also points out how Twitter can be an incredibly powerful marketing tool. The re-tweet feature can essentially spread the word about a product, organization, event, etc. and because it is information that is being re-tweeting by people you are following, the information is more likely to mean something than had it simply come from the source itself. Twitter has been a fun experiment in not only learning how to use social networking sites, but in discovering how to reach a larger audience for my blog.

At the beginning of the year, I was incredibly skeptical about new and social media. Brave New Media was my attempt at gaining a greater understanding of this new media, but also critiquing it from a place of nostalgia and addressing the many privacy concerns I had. Over the course of this semester I think many of my fears about social media have been replaced by excitement. When confronted with new media I still find it necessary to ask the same questions I always have: is this new media needed? What old media will it be replacing? How will this effect my life? And, most importantly, does it fill me with a Skynet-type sense of dread about the future of technology and civilization? (Whenever the last answer is yes, I put more money away for stockpiling weapons.)

Well, I hope you've enjoyed reading and perhaps some of my excitement/ anxieties about new media and technology have rubbed off on you!

Boxee: A New Way To Watch Your Favorite Shows

The new beta version of Boxee was released the other day and if you are looking to cut the cable cord, this service will help you do it. Boxee reminded me a little bit of Qlipso except it has features I actually like instead of hate. I like Boxee because it is a new, interesting way to play digital media on your computer (or with the Boxee Box onto your TV) but it is still easy to use for those who aren't completely computer savvy. Boxee is also open source and completely free. Personally, I'm getting a little tired of watching TV on my computer so I'm not sure how often I will be using Boxee on my laptop. However, I am super excited about the Boxee Box which is supposed to come out in 2010. With this device, you can watch digital media from your computer on your TV screen and continue to share recommendations with friends on Twitter and Facebook.

Another cool feature that Boxee has is that users can customize it with a variety of apps like We Are Hunted. The addition of applications and sharing features like Twitter and Facebook, makes Boxee more than just another way to watch online videos. Boxee is exciting not only because it is free, but because it is a user friendly way to experience content with friends. I'm excited to see not only the Boxee Box in action in 2010, but the way TV broadcasters react to it.

The Internet Knows Too Much About Me

Advertising is a necessary evil. If I want to get to the entertainment I enjoy, I have to suck it up and tolerate the harassing adverts along the way. Sure, our ancestors had to make their own clothes, plow their fields and die of dysentery but we have to watch that stupid Luke Wilson AT&T commercial, then a Swiffer commercial, and then that fucking Luke Wilson commercial again! They had it soo easy. Luckily for us, the companies that are trying to shovel their products down our throats really do care for us. They want us to be happy and they know we'd rather get back to our VH1 reality show marathon than watch their dumb advertisements. Yahoo's new Ad Interest Manager is an advertiser's dream (and tries to be the internet user's as well). This privacy feature aims to help Yahoo users choose the type of ads they want to see and would be most receptive towards, while at the same time giving advertisers a more targeted consumer. It's a win-win!


Except it isn't, and I hate this. I realize that many media industries are hurting right now and that without advertising we wouldn't have a lot of the entertainment that we do. That hasn't stopped me from avoiding ads at all costs. I skip through them on my DVR, I open up a new tab when an internet ad comes on, and if I had more time and energry I'd probably deface billboards. For me, when it comes down to watching an ad for a product I love and watching an ad for a product I hate the experience is unenjoyable either way. I just don't like the idea of spending minutes, hours, days, months, and years of my life watching ads.* Also, I think it goes without saying that the fact that Yahoo has enough information about each of us to know which ads cater to our personal taste is pretty terrifing.

*This post will be really funny when I wind up settling for a job in advertising one day.

I'm Going To Pretend Someone Cares About My Life On Plancast

On my quest to discover new and exciting media, I have come across some fascinating trends. One trend I have noticed, is that people would really like to tell the whole world what they are doing at every second of the day. It isn't enough to change your Facebook status to tell others you are at work. Or to tweet that you are in just "like the longest Trader Joe's line everrr". Or to Foursquare that you are hanging out at Le Pain Quotidien. I don't want to be to critical, because I don't necessarily think these activities are a bad thing--it's just that it is a fine line. I'm not sure where using the internet to connect with friends in new and helpful ways ends and extreme overshare begins. So since I myself haven't really figured out where I stand on the issue I will attempt to refrain from snarky comments about Plancast in order to protect myself from appearing like a hypocrite in the future.

This basically says everything you need to know about Plancast, "The main idea is that while many people use Foursquare and similar location-based services like Gowalla and Loopt to share where they are, Plancast is about sharing where they will be." My first reaction to that quote was "Wow, this service sounds so unnecessary and stupid. I would like to cry now," but I decided to put my mockery aside in an attempt to be impartial. So I decided to give Plancast a try and as with almost all of these internet sites I try out, none of my friends are on it and it is unlikely any of them will join anytime soon. Broadcasting my plans feels sort of like tweeting did for me when I first started--like I'm yelling personal dribble into the vacuum of space. Fun! However, with Plancast I can tweet out my plans or send them as Facebook status updates to let my friends who aren't on the service know what I'm up to (let's be honest though, no one gives a shit what I'm doing).

Final verdict time--this could be something. The minor difference between Foursquare and Plancast seemed really silly to me at first, but after thinking about it and using it a little bit I realize that Plancast really does offer a completely different service. If you are looking for a way to organize an event or even just see if there is anyone who would like to tag along with you somewhere, Plancast would be really helpful. I plan on exploring this thin line between "hey anyone wanna..." and "OMG why the hell won't Chelsea shut up about her stupid plans?" In the end though, I'll probably just continue to ask people if they want to hang out the old fashioned way-- good old face-to-face text messaging.

Inbox2 is Not Quite What I Was Looking For

Today, I tried out an all-in-one email service called Inbox2 that promised to put all of my messages from Gmail, Twitter and Facebook in one easy-to-read place. Inbox2 also has a Facebook app that puts all of that information right into your Facebook page (private of course), which is kinda neat. When I first heard about Raindrop, I was really excited by the idea of having a service that organized emails and social networking messages and feeds for me. Unfortunately, after using Inbox2 I'm not so sure how convient that service really is. The Inbox2 Facebook app puts all of my emails, Twitter DMs and Facebook notifications for me in different folders. This also means that everytime I get an email or an @reply I get a Facebook notification telling me about it. Getting all of these as notifications is a little overwhelming and not really what I wanted.


Although I'm still excited to see how Raindrop will turn out, I'm not so sure having all of my social networking activities and communications feeding into one outlet is right for me. In keeping with the theme of yesterday's post, I've realized that I rather like keeping things separate. I think a big reason why I like checking and responding to email, Twitter and Facebook separately is because my interactions are very different for each one. If I put them all together I feel like I am loosing what makes each service unique. I also think email is just a completely different thing from social networking. When I was playing around with Inbox2, it just didn't make sense to have all of my website conformation and school related emails mixed in with Twitter and Facebook chitchat. So any opinions on these types of services? Do you think the future of the internet is to have everything we want to connect to in one place? Or will you continue to use services like email and Twitter separately?