Everything is a Freaking DNS problem - social networking

Irc vs Twitter err.. Identi.ca

Kris Buytaert — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:15:05 +0000

Over 1.5 decade ago, a bunch of us were addicted to irc, I lived on channels such as #coders, #nlcoders, #demoscene, sneaked in on #vlaanderen to see when the Leuven locals were heading to the pub, then started joining multiple Linux and Open Source related channels around 94...

Then some weirdos had an alternative way of chatting ICQ, then the folks from Redmond reinvented the wheel... Luckily XMPP arrived and Jabber became the open alternative, but still all of this time irc stayed

Then twitter came and us Open Source peeps are obviously denting via identi.ca But while Twitter / Identica are nothing more than todays version of Instant Messaging only in broadcast rather than multicast mode irc still stays the best way to discuss.

And irc starts to become more and more active again There are lot of regular project channels and now there is #devopsdays , ##infra-talk and different other channels that are being much more frequented than before again ...

You might wanna join us again on irc.freenode.net that is :)

PS. And whatever they tell you .... Wave is not usable for online meetings ;)

And don't even get me started about Buzz

Drupal 6 , Social Networking

Kris Buytaert — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:09:12 +0000

As posted earlier Packt was so kind to send me their Drupal 6 , Social Networking for review.

My hopes were high, I was hoping for some info on how to integrate with different existing networks, content about existing frameworks, maybe some mentioning of openAtrium or so, or integrating with Twitter or other existing platforms.

Sadly the book only briefly touches similar content, the Google API , in Chapter 7

While a good read, and a good introduction to Drupal for new users I didn't learn anything till chapter 7 and anything after Chapter 7 ;( And I don't consider myselve as a Drupal Expert

So would I advise the book to anyone, it depends, on who's asking. Personally I'd title the book different, it's a good introduction to Drupal with guidelines on getting userinteraction on your site, but to call that a Social network .. no....

I'd advise the book to an enduser new at Drupal, not to a developer with experience in other frameworks, or even Drupal

My Social Network “Friend” Policy (Updated again)

Kris Buytaert — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:54:42 +0000

Over the past few years I have joined several social networking sites and continue to use a few of them regularly. These sites serve different purposes for me and I have started to come up with strategies of whom to connect with where. Here are the general guidelines that I have developed (subject to spontaneous change and arbitrary override).

On LinkedIn I only link with people that I know in person , worked with in real life or have worked with online intensively in different open source projects. , have communicated with over different media. there are couple of exceptions in my connections from my early days when I didn't have my own set of rules yet. (Some of them have been unlinked now actually)
LinkedIn is my personal Addressbook, not a public Phone guide :)
I only follow people who inform and/or entertain me on Twitter and I don't care about followers, so don't expect me to follow you back.
(I`m not using Identi.ca anymore .. given no relevant userbase)
On location based services (like Tripit, Dopplr ), I connect to people that I would genuinely like to meet up with when traveling and who I trust not to rob my house when I am away. If we haven't met yet, but you want to meet this is the place to connect !
(Forget about Dopplr.. only Tripit for now..)
Yes, I did Poken, but obviously only with people I meet in person, and I`m still waiting for that first Poken with someone I don't know yet. (I was close but ... :)) (Update: Poken is kinda obsolete, and my battery is s dead anyhow)
Sadly I`m using Facebook again , I only connect to people I know, and I generally Ignore all group invites, and block all applications. I'd actually prefer not using it at all.
I`m keeping an Eye on Google+ .. but I`m not seeing much action
I'm so not Plaxo, Xing and Ecademy anymore, I sometimes log on there, once every 6 months hoping nobody was stupid enough to send me a message there ..
To me Wink, Spock, Naymz and some others I forgot are Dead
I join new social networks often with no intention of actually using them, but just to make sure Tom doesn't sign up impersonating me

Well, those are my rules and I’m stickin’ to ‘em… at least, for now and when I don’t forget them.

(Idea shamelessly copied from Seth :))

Will Poken catch on ?

Kris Buytaert — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:29:21 +0000

Poken is the new gadget in town. Some people called it the future of social networking.

The idea of exchanging data at the click of a button , or less has been here fore ages. The problem always is that the tool needs to gain Critical Mass before it becomes useful.

I remember transferring my VCard from my Palm Pilot or Handspring Visor to other people's Palm Pilot , or using different IrDA protocols to transfer my details between different phones, that worked fine, for the happy few that had similar devices. These days we transfer details over SMS' messages or Bluetooth, but then they are stuck in the mobile phone, with the Palm I at least imported them in my PIM.

The thing is not everybody had a Palm, not everybody had a IrDa enabled phone , and people tend to turn off Bluetooth for security reasons. The idea of adding a (soon to be rebranded) TikiTag to your business card seemed cool, So far I could hand out 2 cards to people whom I was absolutely sure they had a reader ,

So different efforts have tried already the same .. to exchange digital data while people had physical contact. none of them seems to have catched on .. yet.

My Poken is on the way .. maybe this time it will catch on .. who knows .. it surely looks more viral than the others ...