The Social Media Tetris

It can be argued the world of social media is helping us gradually bring down the number on the famed six degrees of separation that separates everyone from everyone else. If people connect and share more, among people they know, among people they don't know yet, as shared interests and activities are discovered, as people interact more, that number goes down. Right? I think so.

One thing I have noticed on Highlight is when you come across a "stranger" the app tells you have so many common friends and shared interests, data it pulls from your Facebook profiles. The shared interests part is intriguing to me. I still wish AirTime had taken off, because people would talk more. A Skype based "AirTime" might be a better idea than the video based attempt. But is Skype giving API issues?

There are downsides. You can end up with flame wars. People can act nasty online. I am so glad the game Ingress a few days back added the capability for you to be able to block users in the COMM, the Google game's public chatroom, if you will, (although I have uninstalled the app from my phone, but there are still close to 150 portals in the city that bear my name.)

Social media taken to new heights could do for world peace what heads of state holding summits could not. Trade and travel are major peace moves. More people interacting more often leads to a general increase in welfare overall. I think that statement is but common sense.

Facebook Groups should add elements of democracy to it. A group should be allowed to elect its leadership, and vote on issues. I am surprised that feature has not showed up yet. A lot of organizations would thus engage in Facebook voting. Heck, that feature would get really interesting for groups with a million members or more. Skype enabled conference calls for Facebook Groups would be another positive addition.

You have Snapchat for friends. What about Snapchat for strangers? Or a public Snapchat? Photos still destroy themselves, but the world saw it first. And a board for the most popular snaps perhaps?

Snapchat, Poke And Facebook

Image via CrunchBase

You end up feeling like you have seen this movie before. Facebook tried to do in FourSquare. FourSquare's popularity skyrocketed after Facebook's try.

Pokey

Snapchat, the trendy smartphone app that lets you send photos and videos that self-destruct after a few seconds ....... Facebook constantly “roams the tech universe in search of interesting technology, then mercilessly assimilates all the best stuff into its ever-larger catalog of features.” Over the last couple years it has copied the defining ideas behind Foursquare, Twitter, Google+, Groupon, GroupMe, Instagram, Quora — and now Snapchat. .... The only reason that the app could acquire millions of users in a few months’ time is because Snapchat spread through each of its users’ Facebook friends. Instagram and Pinterest, the two other recent social-networking successes, also benefited tremendously from their users’ Facebook’s connections. .... Every photo that people were sharing through Instagram was a dagger at the heart of Facebook, the world’s largest photo site. That’s why Facebook attempted to copy Instagram—see its Camera app—and then had to buy it. Similarly, every message that you send to your Facebook friends through Snapchat is a lost opportunity for Facebook. That’s why Facebook had to squash it. ... But Poke is already losing to Snapchat in the app standings. Like Facebook’s failed imitations of Instagram and Quora, Poke’s quick decline shows that if Facebook wants to stay on the vanguard of online communication, it needs to act even before it sees an opportunity—by the time somebody else has had success with something, Facebook’s version isn’t going to catch on.

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Path Maneuvres

PandoMonthly - March 2012 - Sarah Lacy Interviews Path's Dave Morin (Photo credit: thekenyeung)

Path started out by saying it is insane you can have 5,000 friends. 50 should be it. And it started out by being mobile only. That second might be a bigger differentiator than the first, if you are talking Path and Facebook. Hopping onto Android was a pretty big move. By now the app is in a sound place.

Path Debuts Version 2.5: Bigger Photos And Videos, Book And Movie Sharing, New ‘Nudge’ Feature

Good thing the "Poke" Facebook is not going after the "Nudge" Path. I guess we are not talking Apple and Samsung.

Related articles

• Path unveils 2.5: Larger photos, movie sharing, and a 'nudge'

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• Path 2.5 brings book/movie sharing, enhanced videos and photos and a Facebook-like 'nudge'

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• Major Path update lets you 'nudge' inactive friends back onto the service

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• Facebook: The new battlefield in Bengal politics

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• With New Version Refresh, Path Doubles Down on Growth and Engagement

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Character Limits In Email

Image via CrunchBase

Imagine an email service where when someone emails you for the first time their message has a character limit of something like 200. If you never open up their emails, they stay put at 200. And their messages don't count against your inbox space.

But if you open up their email, their limit goes up to 300 or 400 characters. But if you don't reply to their email, they stay there. On the other hand you could simply ban them and their privileged 200 characters are also gone.

But if you read and reply, the character limit goes up to 500 or more. Unless you specifically click on a button that allows them limitless space.

At one end are email concepts like on Facebook where you message me because we are connected. At the other end are regular email services where anyone can send you anything.

The inbox has to be like a cellular membrane. It has to protect the cell, but it also has to selectively allow outside stuff.

Beyond this "membrane" there have to be hard core demarcations. Facebook seems to have nailed social communication. Seems like people you know really well are only so many. And I feel like Asana is cracking the code on work communication. I have been reading up on it.

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• Auto-Sunk. Check Your Hidden Facebook "Other" Inbox For Your Missing Emails - TechCrunch

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• Asana's answer to email puts 'inbox zero' within easy reach

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Finally Facebook Lets Me Reach Out To Non Friends

Image via CrunchBaseI have never, never, never have had any kind of a privacy issue with Facebook, like never, never, never. I have photo albums that I have shared with only a few people. That's my idea of privacy. Other than that I have long wanted a way to share with anyone and everyone, anyone who might be interested. And now looks like I can. Finally.

It is opt in. That is important. It is not by default. Or that might freak people out. Most people might not even get the news on this. Many might simply pass. This is not for everyone. But it works for me.

Facebook has such a beautiful interface. Twitter does not have it. Google Plus does not have it. I have a thing for the Facebook design.

Facebook: Introducing the Subscribe Button
ReadWriteWeb: Does Facebook's Subscribe Button Betray What the Company Was Built On?
TechCrunch: Facebook Launches Twitter-Like ‘Subscriptions’, Lets You Share With Unlimited Users
Mashable: Facebook Launches Subscribe Button for Following Anyone’s Public Updates

Facebook Videocalling: I Am On Now

Image by jdlasica via FlickrIt was easy to do. All you needed to do was go read the official Facebook blog post about it. The post told you where to go if you wanted to get in right away.

http://www.facebook.com/videocalling

Call Your Friends Right From Facebook

Otherwise earlier in the day I complained I felt excluded.

Mark Zuckerberg is right. Facebook has the huge advantage that it has the social graph. Google might have to struggle to rebuild that graph. But I see me using both services.

Facebook Comments To Go: Facebook Nailed It

Image via WikipediaFacebook Messages got touted by the media as the Gmail killer. Well, I have been using it, it is great, but it is no Gmail killer.

TechCrunch: Facebook Rolls Out Overhauled Comments System (Try Them Now On TechCrunch)

I have not used the Facebook Comments thing yet that you are supposed to be able to have added to your blog, but I am liking the description of it. I think Facebook nailed it.

Chatfe Happy Hour With Paul Orlando

Earlier in the evening I was at the Chatfe Happy Hour for two hours: West 3rd Commons at 1 West 3rd Street. There used to be an Indian restaurant/bar at that place.

Unique URL For Facebook Updates

Image by Google via CrunchBaseWhile I was reading this TechCrunch post about the father of Google Wave jumping ship to go join Facebook, I came across something I have wanted a long time. For a long time I have wanted every Facebook update of mine to have a unique URL that gets automatically fed to the search engines. My privacy settings on Facebook have been to Everyone from the outset.