Tag: Social network

Drew Olanoff on Klout and Doing Things

~ Chris Cocca ~ 2 Comments
Image representing Klout as depicted in CrunchBase
Image via CrunchBase

An excerpt from “Klout Is Breaking Up With Early Adopters”  at The Next Web:

 

Klout is going after middle-American novice tweeters who might have mentioned a body spray once or twice. With its service, Axe could reach people like that directly in large bunches and give them samples of new products.

How do we know this? Because Klout recently changed its scoring algorithm. People absolutely lost their minds in the comments on the post and on Twitter.

This type of comment was posted over and over again there:

Very unhappy with this change. My score went from 73 down to 53. 20 point drop. I’ve been working for months to increase my Klout score. Please fix this.

This is proof that people who are “working” on being relevant shouldn’t use any type of service. As my good friend Alex Hillman says and has tattooed on his arm, “JFDI”. Just do it, and don’t worry about what you’re getting out of it, and all will be fine.

 

He’s right, isn’t he?  It’s tempting to worry about Klout, to obsess about why your Facebook friend count is down or why someone stopped following your blog.  It’s easy to fixate on stats.  Just do what you like and do it well.  Curate that beauty and be that unique voice.

Also: It can’t be a coincidence that JFDI is just one letter from Jedi.

 

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Goodbye, Blogger. Hello, Bloggers! Google To Rebrand Picasa and Blogger.com

~ Chris Cocca ~ Leave a comment
Google's homepage in 1998
But seriously, can we please bring back the ! ?

Eagle-eyed reader Joey the C sent me a link with the news that the Picasa and Blogger brands are going bye-byes.  I said the other day that Google+ is a great way to make Picasa relevant, and the shift to Google Photo and Google Blogs makes total sense as Google positions itself for the widespread rollout of Google+.  They need a unified front, afterall.  And before we compare them too much to the old AOL fishbowl (which Facebook is trying to become), the seams between Google’s products feel…nimbler…to me.  With Google+ and the overall Google account experience, I still feel like I’m out on the web, whereas with Facebook, I feel very much like I’m on one site or in one social network.  Thoughts?

I, for one, will be glad to see the Blogger name retired.  We’re all bloggers, and most of us use WordPress =).

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Dear Google: Keep It Simple So We’ll Stay

~ Chris Cocca ~ 4 Comments

Over the last few weeks I’ve had quite a few posts up about comics.  Over the last two days, I’ve been hitting the Google+ meme.  Now, finally, I shall combine them.  Or two other people will.

Seriously, Google.  Do not bring games and pokes and all of that stuff onto Google+.  That’s what Facebook is for, and if you want to succeed at being a better Facebook and making current Facebook the new My___, then keep things simple.  More Berkshire Hathaway (yes, that is their real website), than, well, whatever the oppo WHAT? WARREN BUFFET OWNS DAIRY QUEEN? WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?

 

 

I Just Got Google+ and These Are My Thoughts About What It Might Be. Also, if You Want an Invite, Let Me Know.

~ Chris Cocca ~ 13 Comments

I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m excited.

Two days ago, I did a 15 minute video blog about why I thought Google may have finally found a way to do social and to drive a wedge in the Facebook monolith.  The video quality wasn’t great, so I’ll summarize here:

The Circle:

From all the previews I’ve seen, the Circles feature looks really promising. I’ve always wanted an easy, intuitive, built-in way to share certain things to specific groups, and I feel like Facebook’s lists and groups are too cumbersome, mostly because they were an afterthought.  By all accounts, Google+ was built around the Circles concept.

Nativism:

Google users don’t need to opt into Google+ or rebuild their entire social graph.  Google+ is a social layer, the big picture of all the other services combined (see black bar).  If you’re already on Google, you’re already on Google+ (once it rolls out to you).  Because so many of us who work in creative fields or freelance use Gmail as a professional address, Google+ is a natural place to begin drawing circles around what we want to share privately, with friends only, with family, and with bosses, coworkers, and clients.  This may mean that adults who are already using Gmail will be the early Google+ adopters and will use it for easy sharing to their professional and social graphs. Which leads me to the next piece:

Grown-ups:

If creatives and other professionals in their 20s-40s make Plus their own, the Facebook demographic  might get much, much younger  This is what happened to MySpace.  Maybe it sounds far-fetched, but Facebook was built for college kids and has been retrofitting for adult use ever since.  Google+ was designed the managing of adult relationships (business, personal, and so on) as a core concern.  It’s different by design.  I’m going to hop on soon and see if I am right.