Refined by Fire

Virb° is in private beta for it’s next incarnation. I’m interested. Wish there were more time in my schedule to help, though. The sign-up page plainly states they’re looking for quality folks to help out. That’s one of things I like about Virb°: the focus on quality; not quantity.

Virb° is a cool social network. It’s strengths are cleanliness and quality. I love my Facebook friends, and the twitterati, et al. but let’s face it, some of the pages, (to no fault of ours) are ugly. Most social sites’ base designs are cluttered and overwhelming (which is one reason why most twittering folks prefer standalone apps. that and why hit the Web when you can have a small foot print from snitter, twitteriffic, or thwirl). Not with virb°.

Anyway, if you have the time and the gumption to not let them pack it with superfluous garbage. You can lend a hand at:

http://virb.com/beta/

As this online social world uses the word “friend” to refer to everyone and anyone with whom we come in contact, I wonder sometimes if we’re losing the meaning of what a “friend” is and I’m concerned what it means for the generations growing up with this in their day-to-day lives.

My concern is partly because “friend” is losing it’s place in our language as a noun. Now we’re using the the word as if it were an action. The verb meaning to make a new “friend” is “befriend.” It’s important to make this distinction because of that key prefix, “be.” As the Resurrection (or Easter) holiday is here, I think about what it means to be a true friend.

Continue reading Celebrating the Resurrection: A Story of True Friendship

Well, figured out what all this nonsense is all about. Colorwars 2008

C’mon Follow: ORANGE TEAM

Twitter is addictive. There is no doubt about it. It’s strange really. Every time I try to explain twitter to the non-initiated, I realize just how awkward it really is:

Yeah, it’s this Web site that allows you to post messages “ but not more than 140 characters in length “ to people who you don’t know and people who don’t know you. (mostly).

Frankly, that sounds ludicrous, right? But that’s what it is! And even though I’ve been on and off twitter for almost a year now, I couldn’t figure out what it is that makes is so appealing.

Then, some popular newsworthy geekish gatherings came along. First it was MacWorld, then it was SxSW and TED. I watched the twittersphere do something that was so uncharacteristic: it got focused

Shortly after all the SxSW buzz settled down, it occurred to me: Twitter totally appeals to this post-boob-tube, ADD-afflicted, interconnected society because everything is so quick and ephemeral. Twitterati are random people saying random things at random times. Sure there’s the occasional string of @ replies, but then conversation ends with a couple remarks or goes offline to another medium like IM or something. Most times, though it’s a rapid stream of randomness that can zap your attention if you let it.

Twitter is not just a productivity-suck, though. There is a value to the distractions it provides: It’s these quick little bites of other’s lives that makes a quasi-public forum and I believe is imperative to our republic. I say this because even though the Web is “public” our taylor-made, day-to-day online experiences are becoming so personalized and secluded that I fear we’re isolating (or insulating) ourselves. It’s too easy to block out other personal views that won’t challenge us to think. And worse, if we make too much a habit of socializing with only like-minded people and shared experiences, that lost touch with diversity can lead to an atrophy of our convictions.

I know my folks wouldn’t “get Twitter,” but for a generation that feeds almost entirely on media morsels, this is the only way we’ll contextualize our messages we want to share.

Update:
Just found this repost of “Twitter in Plain English“

Not quite out of the nest though. It’s nice that I’m starting get all my social apps in one place, especially on a standalone, but it’s missing some. Notably, Last.fm. Also, it could use a couple more features from the social sites integrated into the browser as opposed to bringing me to the Web site.

If you’re into social software, definitely give Flock a whirl if you haven’t in awhile.