Twindex

I have an idea for a social networking app.

If you have a lot of followers, it’s sometimes quite difficult to remember who does what, or who is interested in a thing.

It would be nice if there was an app which would connect to Twitter, Facebook, G+ etc and collect a list of the people we follow.

So now if Jan tells you that her Aunt is sick, you can make a note of it within the app.

Then when you have that feeling of uncertainty, Did Jan say Mum, Sister or Aunt?, You can verify it by clicking on Jans avatar in the app and looking at your notes.

Perhaps there was someone you blocked on Twitter ages ago, and you can’t remember why, just look at your notes.

Maybe you have a story which may be of interest to the media in Perth, a quick search may show that one of your followers works for ABC radio in Perth.

Yes it’s the Pokedex for Twitter, well kind of.

Thoughts?

Twindex (c) Wolfie Rankin 2012.

Verified

When it comes to verification, Twitter, Facebook and Google+ are all a bit slow unless you happen to be a major celebrity.

It seems to me that something is needed to push things along quicker.

Some may argue over why we’d need verification anyway, Well for one thing, the recent pseudonym debacle at Google+ (Quora? Nobody mentioning Quora? They started it) could have been avoided if we had some quick and easy way of proving that yes, We are real people here, even if we are using made up names.

So how could we do that?

Well, I think what is required is a third party, who verifies who you are, registers your name and avatar… and then tells the other social networks that all is right with the world.

You’d sign up, and then be required to prove to this company, that you are you, a scan of your drivers licence, birth certificate and one or two other items should be enough.

The company may then spend some time looking at your data, possibly phoning some people, and then set up a page for you.

At this page you could:

List the Social Networks which you are connected to, and nominate ONE account at each site for verification… You could not have two seperate Facebook pages, for instance.

Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and others would receive the data from this website and automatically add the Verified Tick to your account.

It would also take your Avatar photo and description of yourself, directly from the verification service, so that you wouldn’t need to do this manually every time you join a new social network.

It would save you time setting up a new social network, be easier for the social networks to verify you, and no ugly scenes where perfectly reasonable users are thrown off a network.

The problem is that this site would need to be trusted by the public and the other social networks, who would have to adopt it widely… If there were three or more such services and each network wanted to use a different verification service, it’d fail.

Lastly, the site would not share ANY private information with anyone else, all information apart from what you wish to share… Your Description, Name and Avatar…
MUST be kept completely confidential.

Gravitar is similar to what I’m talking about, extending it to do this extra work, could be a reasonable plan.

The FreeSpace Policy

This is just a thought, as you know I have many, and this one is for Facebook users.

Now those of you who are friends with me at Facebook, know that I don’t accept gifts or game invitations, and every once in a while I have to mention this to a new friend, and I know there are those of you who also do this.

Some might ask, if we’re on Facebook, why don’t we want to play facebook games? and that’s fair enough.

We prefer to use Facebook as a means of communication between friends and family, and we don’t have time for, or even like, games.

To us, Facebook is a kind of mini-blog, and we want to keep it neat.

The problem is that we have to explain to new friends about how we feel, and well, it’s a bit awkward.

What we probably need is an easier way to show others what goes, and what doesn’t.

We could have a “FreeSpace logo”, there isn’t one yet, as one of our photos, which would clue people in, or add it to our profile picture which should also work.

A what?

A FreeSpace logo on a Facebook page means… No Games, Apps or Virtual Gifts accepted.

Perhaps we’d need to explain what FreeSpace is now and then, but we could just drop a link to the FreeSpace Facebook Page which would explain what it’s about, without awkward explanations.

That may come if this sounds like it might be adoptable, I’m not sure at the moment.

In a perfect world, Facebook would have a setting which would allow us to switch off all of that, but it doesn’t…
and this almost lead me to abandoning Facebook all together, however, once I began to ask people to please not send these things to me, they listened, so if Facebook won’t do it, I reckon the community will.

Wolfie!

Facebook (No Access)

I wonder how many others don’t like the new photo strip on their page? I feel it gets in the way and would like the option to turn it right off, unfortunately there’s no option for this.

So, I decided to ask about this in the help forum… only to find that I couldn’t post to it.

Despite facebook having a forum, I couldn’t post to it… so what’s the point of having a forum?

When people encounter this type of situation, there’s a feeling of slight paranoia, what have I done?

I wonder if others are locked out, or a certain few have decided another certain few (myself included) were not good enough to post? I could post, have done so before, just asking technical questions, never anything nasty.

One of the things I felt was useful was a little box of text which told the reader something about me has vanished, a design change has seen to that.

It seems to me the user should have the option to add or leave things off their own page if they want to, why are Facebook so into removing stuff we want, while adding stuff that we don’t?

Wolfie!

Post Second Life

I thought I’d have time off from Second Life, and see how that goes. Maybe after a few weeks I’d have rested enough and suddenly decide to go back.

But I haven’t felt any desire to return.

Although Second Life was a place where I could pretty much do anything, it also came with so many rules and operations (prim limits, island stuff) and the bitching, as to smother anything that was lovely about it.

Would I return and carry that torch for the thing that I tried to convince others was worth their time and efforts, and the thing that I often tried to convince myself was worth my time and effort?

Yes, I know, I was the cheer leader for Second Life for such a long time, but even during the time that we were filming our Doco, I was already asking myself why I was hanging on, I had taken it about as far as I could go, I wanted more, but there wasn’t more.

Then I found what I was missing was over on other social networks, suddenly it seemed that the place I thought was mine, really wasn’t, that I’d been fooling myself this entire time.

I never liked the aspect that Second Life took, where a person was supposed to concentrate on Second Life things, but somehow not on real life.

At no point was this made clearer than when Julia Gillard was made Prime Minister.

Twitter was all over it, In fact Twitter knew about it before TV did (nothing unusual there), The news broke while Hey Hey it’s Saturday was on… I watched it, and the rest of the show, there was probably half an hour left, Then, after the show finished, I went into Second Life to do my usual Schtick of playing News Boy for ABC and The Australians group, But feeling I’d be far too late, they’d all know.

But they didn’t, not till I mentioned it, I was very surprised… I think, perhaps I still don’t like admitting the harsh reality to myself, that this is how things really were.

In Second Life, people disconnect themselves from the Real World a bit too much, I do understand, sometimes the real world is too hard to take. We look for escape, somewhere to hide… but a line needs to be drawn, people can’t go around being that disconnected, but they can, and do.

I read Myf Warhursts article on Second Life, and wrote to her, defending it, as I always did, but a part of me probably felt that she was right.

Not that long ago, my computer always displayed the goings on in Eragon or ABC Islands, suddenly it didn’t… I thought I’d go back, but there was no desire… I did momentarily to show a friend on twitter what it was, that was for an hour, maybe that would make me reconsider, it didn’t.

Days go by now, I do my tweeting and facebooking, I compose e-mails and write to my blog, I feel more at home now than I ever did in that big 3D world with nobody in it. I talk to people who are in media, and I understand them because I’m one of them, I’m on their frequency.

I couldn’t wait to get back into Second Life once, to see what was happening, but it’s attraction soured so much for me that I wonder if I ever really did like Second Life at all.

And Katie doesn’t mind the extra time spent with her, although I doubt that She ever missed out on much.

Wolfie! (The 2D Version)

Face it

As you know, I like my Social Media, but this might strike you as odd.
Although I prefer my blog site, I use Facebook as my main blog, well sort of anyway.

You see, I like to drop links into it, sometimes at a rapidfire pace, as with todays posts and updates on the flooding in Queensland, I was getting new information at the rate of about three items per minute, from various news sources and journos who I follow on Twitter.

WordPress requires that I write something, and possibly add a photo, while all I need for Facebook, which usually, but not always, finds a chunk of text from the story and a photo to go with it… leaving me to credit the source, and then continue looking for more news.

This is what I want on WordPress, I’m sure people would find it a very useful feature if it was available, is it?

Wolfie!

A Comment left at Pharyngula after reading harsh statements about Facebook.

Posted by: Wolfie_Rankin Author Profile Page | January 3, 2011 5:55 AM

May I just point something else out that I noticed, There’s a lot of Netcism around (I just made up that word) People have their little bits of the internet which they and a group of friends will defend until death, while at the same time spitting on the other groups bit of it, why?

Let me be clear, there is nothing wrong with Facebook, not in the slightest.

I use practically everything online that I can get my hands on, and find that most of it is really useful in different ways.

But others “No, way, that’s for nerds”, “That’s for morons”… this attitude hurts nobody but YOU!

A while ago, I decided to do the “cool” thing and remove myself from Facebook, it was crap, it seemed everyone wanted to send me invitations to games which I didn’t want, or virtual gifts which I didn’t want either.

What I did though, was put a notice on my page that starting immediately, I will not be accepting any more games/gifts… and guess what? I now have a perfectly respectable page where I can post the kinds of links that are of interest to me, in a rapid fire way, that I can’t do on my blog.

Dare I say, I’m even enjoying the experience now.

Man, linking up is what it’s all about… but if you’re there and you’re saying “I’m only using this one thing, cause everything else sucks” then nobody will care, I’ll be using it, and a lot of others will too.

Why does Facebook get blamed for so much? Did Facebook force some girl to upload rude photos of herself?

If you did this stuff over the telephone service, do you blame you or the telephone?

“It’s the Telephones fault *cries* It made me have sex with Brian!” Next, on A Current Affair.

Ludicrous!

Give a moron a typewriter and they’re still going to write crap, aren’t they?

Anyway, look up “Wolfie Science” on Facebook and see what you think.

I’ve been a member of the ABC Science Matters forum since the early 90′s, but we’re running low on posts and members now… but guess where all the old names are popping up.

Please Please forget the crap about Facebook or whatever being crap, damnit we’re wealthy western bastards with an internet connection, half the world doesn’t even have that, and you don’t like you own opportunities?? there’s no pleasing some people, seriously!

Wolfie!

Getting a Job

My dream job is to work with the ABC, but there are complications, firstly I’ve never had a paying job, so I really don’t know what to expect. The idea of going for a payed job feels something like being lead to a cliff, blindfolded and asked to take a “leap of faith” (and as I’m an atheist, that’s a hard ask).

I have filled my time either with education or voluntary jobs.

What I wanted to do most of all at high-school was to work in radio, and I did get to act out my wish at a community station in Melton, Victoria called RIM-FM (now 979FM). I was there for three years, I ran a two hour music program twice a week and also did some background work, such as writing CSAs or any material which needed to be scripted. I also edited lots of tape. A skill I learnt from a small amount of time at the School of Audio Engineering at St. Kilda.

Illness stopped me from going further, so I dropped out and waited a few years, and found that I felt better… so I decided to do a course in Shiatsu Massage which lasted two years, this was my new age hippy stage, which I can’t knock because I needed something at a relaxed pace which I could handle.

After this I took on another voluntary position with Friends of the (Melbourne) zoo, and liked this, but my health took another dive a few months later.

People who know me would know of my battle with cancer, in myself and with family members.

So I have been on the disability pension for some time, I don’t go out much, just to shop and walk my dog, then I come home and rest.

So the internet has become very important for me as a way to socialise and be involved with things.

I began using it in the 90′s via my Amiga computer, so have seen a lot of changes from then till now.

In the last few years I have been assisting ABC on a voluntary basis on their Secondlife island, acting as a greeter to the public, building it’s structure, producing a live game show for the visitors, and making sure that it runs smoothly from a technical perspective.

The island is a project of ABC Innovation in Sydney, Abigail E. Thomas is in charge there.

I am also a very keen Facebook user, My page almost resembles an online newspaper as I like to add links to the important stories of the day, and to interesting videos or images (photos and comics). However I don’t play facebook games.

Twitter is something I have also found worthwhile, I enjoy reading tweets from the people I follow, who are usually media people. Often this is where I discover links to the news stories which I use on Facebook, Crediting the finder or writer of the story as I add the links.

My technical skills include:

Basic computer use: PC, Mac and iPhone, I can also do some limited maintenance.

Basic Photoshop skills, which I’ve used for Secondlife, Various blogs and Twitter.

Basic Adobe Premiere and Sony Vegas skills (Video Editing) the results can be viewed at my Youtube page.

I recommend watching the “Win a Secondlife Avatar” promotional video, Featuring use of a virtual world, Filming of a virtual world, Video Editing, Video Effects and Soundtrack editing.

And also “Step out of the Shade” A music video I made, using the same techniques as mentioned above.

I can edit sound recordings in various sound editing programs and produce and publish a podcast.

I also have reasonable photography skills, I’m familiar with DSLR use and HDV camcorder use.

I have completed a documentary with December Films called “Alter Ego” about users of Secondlife which was produced for SBS, and Have a very small credit in the Australian Feature Film, “Beautiful Kate”.

My limitations mean that although I could occasionally make it to a location, I would far rather work from home if possible and e-mail in any work which needs doing.

I am exceedingly comfortable using the internet, and not quite as comfortable with the real world.

I am an unusual but friendly character, who has a loyal and caring nature, if you can take my oddity, I consider myself a furry, then perhaps we can come up with a plan?

Now, I don’t have the highest opinion of myself, however, if you think that by looking at what I’ve written here, that I may be capable of what you require, then just send a tweet to @Wolfie_Rankin.

Also, I’m pretty broke, My house is falling to bits and I need some help to get out of this hole.

Wolfie!

A Tragic Waste of Life, A Reply.

Recently, Myf Warhurst wrote an article about her own experience with Secondlife, which sadly had been rather negative. As those of us who have gone through the early stages of avatar childhood have found, it’s not easy.

Chiming in at the comments section were a band of the usual suspects who claim the internet is an oubliette of everything evil… while ironically using the same mechanism to vent their frustrations, how bizarre.

Social media can be like choosing a musical instrument to learn and play.

I’ve seen people do really well with one social network, yet completely flop at another. if you find that you’re no good on the piano but do well on guitar, it doesn’t mean the piano sucks and is only for idiots, right?

Therefore if Twitter and Facebook don’t do it for you, then perhaps Skype is more your thing.

The Movie “Beautiful Kate” demonstrated a great use for Secondlife, Rachel Griffiths played the Daughter of a dying Father. Alone in the outback with nobody around for miles, she used Secondlife to meet with a group of people, it would have come in handy on long lonely outback nights.

I have mentioned before that users of Secondlife are often stuck in remote locations or not well enough to get out of the house and meet people, as according to those who would never use the internet insist we must always do.

A friend of mine works as a miner in NSW, he works really hard, often at odd hours. He lives about 200km away from his family and shares his home with his animals.

But naturally he wants to have some sort of human contact, quite difficult when you’re way out in the bush and the local pub and cafes are not open at 4am, and frankly, who wants to go out again when you’re utterly beat?

About four years back, after some persuasion by friends on other social networks, he decided to try Secondlife.

Initially he was against it, he had some pre-conceived ideas about Secondlife and it’s users, but once he tried it
he was sold. He even went as far as buying an entire island with a friend, which can be quite an expensive thing to do, most people who use Secondlife don’t buy an island.

When I pay him a visit, his avatar is frequently standing with a group of three or four others, they don’t role play or play a game, they talk about exactly the same things that people would if they met in real life, and so do I.
Talking on Secondlife, with a group of friends is far better than speaking to just one on the phone, and if your friends are interstate or overseas, then it also works out to be a very cheap conversation.

We internet users take quite a lot from the media, and even other internet users, which is quite strange really.

There have always been passive hobbies where people sit for a long time, especially during winter when it’s too cold for anything else. Some people sit for days knitting, sewing, painting or writing, is there anything wrong with that?

For me, I loved being home with my parents and my animals. as long as I was home, I was happy. and besides, I had stacks of 45s which I loved to sit and listen to, I was obsessed with music, and nobody had any objections to it… Well no, there were some who thought that I should have been down the park, kicking a ball around, but that was simply not me.

The internet is mocked by all and sundry, they roll their eyes and sigh, things were better in our day. when a womans place was in the home and there weren’t any poofs, and we all went to church on a sunday.

Of course, television was acceptable, although our teachers hated it, “Chewing gum for the mind” they called it, and warned that our generation would grow up unable to think for ourselves because of the stupidity on the tube.

I doubt they considered Jim Henson, Professor Julius Sumner Miller, David Attenborough and shows like Beyond 2000, New Inventors and Catalyst which routinely broadened the mind instead of stunting it like our teachers thought it would.

I often watch TED which is an internet program of sorts, where intelligent people get up on stage for about fifteen minutes and tell us what they’re into, it’s a bit like show and tell for adults, and some of the talks are completely brilliant.

Facebook is all this, Twitter is all that, It’s ruining kids brains, eyes and postures, whatever will come of the next generation?

Relax, it’s just a little bit of history repeating, what became of us with our monophonic colour TVs, Countdown and Walkmans? We grew up mostly intact like everyone else, and I’m certain the next generation will too.

In fact, according to one TED speaker, we’re getting smarter, despite what news stories about Tea Party members would have you believe.

I’ve tried it all, and it’s all good, I’m sure that Today Tonight would be most bitter that I haven’t come to a terrible fate such as being stewed up by some sort of Hannibal Lecter character who found me on Facebook.

Being through what I’ve been through in the last five years, if anything, the internet has saved me, and I’ve met many wonderful friends who, yes, I’ve met in real life and continued to be good friends with them after the fact.

If there was no internet, then chances are that I would have sat at home and not gone out to meet people, as I’m a very shy person who keeps a very low profile in public and rarely speaks to anyone, having had the internet and engaging with people, I’ve come out of my shell a heck of a lot and am no longer scared to say hello or ask a question.

The internet as a whole has done me a lot of good, a waste of life? surely not.

And Myf, I invite you to try again, please do!

Myfs original article from National Times

Wolfie!

Myfs article also spoke about The Laneways Project at ABC Island. I have seen the real thing as I live fairly close to it, I can get on the train and be there in about thirty minutes. But the fact is, Friends and Family rather inconveniently tend to live in other states and countries, and as much as I’d like my friends from Oklahoma, London, Perth and Amsterdam to join me for a cuppa at the laneways, they can’t, at least not until someone invents teleportation.

The Laneways Project gave people an idea of what a part of Melbourne looked like, it appealed to Secondlife users and I dare say that some who may not have considered visiting Melbourne before, may have decided otherwise because of what they’d seen there in Secondlife.

The tubes and how to use them.

I’m in the mood to offer a bit of a lecture on what I’ve learnt in my twenty plus years of using the internet, I am not a guru, just someone with, what I hope is, a bit of common sense.

There are things that I have learnt from being involved in forums back in the 90′s which apply equally to users of social networks like Facebook, Secondlife and Twitter today.

I’m not sure if this has ever been raised before so I’d like to talk about the structure of forums which I’ve used.

I’ve noticed on almost every forum that there tends to be a core group of speakers, a regular set of people who reply and leave comments, and a very large section of members who never say anything whatsoever.

Now alas, and wrongly, these people who make up the bulk of your members, the ones who never speak up are tagged with the awful name of “lurker” which brings to mind strange, shifty-eyed people who hang around lanes in the night, getting up to no good.

In fact, I feel that referring to people as lurkers is unfair and wrong.

The Lurkers are your Audience, Do not treat them like weirdos who are spying on you, treat them with dignity because they may in fact be your fans… is that such a bad thing?

So there you are, You are Parkinson, Wil Anderson, Daryl Somers, Andrew Denton, Ellen or Oprah… You have your Regular guests, Semi-regular guests, Special guests, Performers, Audience members who contribute to your show via Q&A sessions or competitions, some are fans who came to have a good time, and others don’t really know you but are curious… does that make sense?

How many people would appear on David Letterman’s show each night? About eight maybe? but millions of people around the World watch his show… So how does this apply to Twitter.

In the same way that programs have a large fanbase, so might you have a lot of *genuine* followers, simply having a lot of followers via some computer generated method and then boasting about it is a complete wank… Build the ball park and they will come, that’s all you need to know…. Now I’d guess that up to 80% of your Audience are never going to say boo to you, and this is for a variety of reasons… A lot of people are really shy or feel that if they say something, they’ll be laughed at, or perhaps they feel their opinion wouldn’t be valid, many are just readers who are happy to read, and that’s perfectly fine.

Let’s say you are an old or new media celebrity who has a large twitter following, I’m sure that you’ve noticed regular users who do send you messages, some are funny and some are useful, some people are right on your wavelength… Please, don’t ignore these people, always try to tweet back, even if you are flooded by tweets, please try to spend at least ten minutes a day replying to the ones that matter the most to you, even just sending a hello and a smile back is sometimes more than enough.

People who never reply to their fanbase are snobs, that’s all, Treat your fans with love and dignity… I have news for you, regardless of what current affairs programs tell you, most people out there are not dirty and creepy.

Yes, you can’t reply to everyone, that’s a fair statement, Just do what you can, it’s better than not responding at all.

Look, there’s no need to shut the door on everyone, sure there’s a few nasties out there, regardless of what people think, the internet IS real life, and real life has it’s hazards… However, if you lock the door on everyone, you’ll be locking out your white knights too, and that is not practical.

If I had not gathered up a group of genuine friends (and yes, online friends DO translate to people you enjoy going out with in meat space, that online friends remain a spooky lot of rabid inter dimensional alien beings is just the biggest load of bollocks ever) Then I most likely would not have been online at all, because I have been given all kinds of assistance such as how to use particular software, through to offers of actual hardware.

I have also made very special friends and a few who I consider to be soul-mates.

Open yourself up and talk, it’s worth it.

If you had an account on a forum, were you…
(polls)

Wolfie!