You’ll Comment On My Facebook

…but not my blog. Even when I post the same exact thing on my blog (click prior link) and my Facebook:

As you can see, I had 16 ‘likes’ and about 256 comments on my Facebook, but zip, zilch, nada on the same thing posted to my blog.

I’ve always been interested in the influence, convergence and interaction between humans and technology. Why do we do certain things on one social web platform but won’t do the same on the other? Is it because everything is right there in the newsfeed on Facebook, whereas one would have to make a concerted effort to seek out a blog? (unless they are using some sort of RSS reader…)

Here are some general trends I’ve noticed over the years:

Blog commenting = I took the time to find/follow/comment on your post. Blog comments are usually a compliment, unless they tell you whatever you posted was complete garbage…then perhaps this isn’t as complimentary. I’ve been lucky to avoid the “your post is complete garbage” comments – usually people just don’t comment at all. Even though I know people look at it. Which is slightly creepy, slash, slightly interesting.

Liking/retweeting = I might/might not have actually read what you posted, but there’s something about your post that makes me what to like or share it. I can’t actually comment on it because that would take time and/or commitment. Plus, chances are, I most likely did not fully read/look at what you posted anyway.

Here are the posting patterns I have seen from my posts:

Facebook: People will comment/like my posts, both online and offline (in person)

Twitter: People will comment/retweet my stuff online but NOT offline

Blog: People will generally NOT comment on my posts online, but WILL COMMENT offline

Hmmmm.

Isn’t human online/offline behavior perplexing?

Antisocial Phone Tricks

I re-watched Renny Gleeson’s TED talk last night – the whole thing is good, but this one little snippet struck a chord:

“…when you’re standing with someone, and you’re on your mobile device, effectively what you’re saying to them is,”You are not as important as, literally, almost anything that could come to me through this device.”

Got me thinking. Re-evaluating a bit. What do you think?

[ted id="511" lang="eng"]

Radio Like Button

So this morning I got in my car, turned on the ignition, and on came Michael Jackson’s ‘Billy Jean’ blasting from my radio. Yes, please!

…or should I say: *LIKE!*

So, this got me thinking…HMMM. I really wish I could find a radio station to play this type of awesome music all of the time.

From here, I began thinking about Pandora, and how I have been able to train it pretty well to play the songs I have given a “thumbs up” to.

“thumbs up/down” system got me thinking about social networking.

Social networking got me thinking about Facebook..

Facebook got me thinking about the social phenomenon of crowd sourcing.

And crowd sourcing got me thinking about how much radios could benefit from a built-in car “like” button. I’m envisioning a mash-up between Facebook “likes”, Twitter trending topics, and the Pandora “thumbs up/down” system.

This would be a freaking amazing opportunity for radio stations. There’s no way I would have called the radio station to tell them I liked the song (heck, I don’t even know the name of the radio station) and by the time I got to work, I would have forgotten and moved onto the other 25 google million things going through my head.

HOWEVER, if there was a “like” button built into my car, heck yes, I would have pressed it when “Bill Jean” came on the radio! (and heck yes, I DEFINITELY would press DISLIKE if Rebecca Black’s Friday “song” came on.) [no offense].

This technology could be a huge benefit to radio stations as they would be receiving instant feedback and could tailor their playlist accordingly but could also bring back listeners they had lost to devices/tech. such as iPods, Pandora, etc.

Anyway…just a few thoughts from a random Wednesday…

You Buy The Box, I’ll Write The Code

I’ve been getting back into TED, found this one insightful yet witty. Two of my favorites things. Enjoy:

projection, process, progress…

I sure find it interesting how the Internet has allowed us to edit ourselves in a way that we now have this opportunity to create an online persona for ourselves.

I’ve spent alot of time looking at / thinking about what people project online and I’ve noticed a few things:

- No one really talks about progress, mainly just results.

- Status updates are usually about recent, short-term. Usually about something that just happened but doesn’t mean much long-term…good or bad.

- People usually don’t post about what they’re doing, but how they’re feeling.

- The happier the status, the less happy the person really seems to be in real life (reading between the lines here, people).

I’ll certainly admin I’m on Facebook alot more now that I moved 1/2 way across the country. Mainly because it’s the quickest way for me to connect with everyone back home. Over the 6 years I’ve have a FB acct, the time I’ve spent the least time was my semester spent in Mexico. Partly because I didn’t have Internet everywhere I went, or a smart phone. Partly because I was super busy exploring Mexico. I will admin though, it felt pretty great to not be so connected. Everything in moderation though, yes?

ANYWAY, with this said, let’s go back to point no. 1 – people don’t talk about what they’re ACTUALLY DOING. I rarely see posts about people reading books, making pottery, visiting museums, spending the afternoon at the park, attending a workshop, etc. We all do this stuff but don’t really post it. Why? maybe it’s not “exciting” enough for a FB status?

We also don’t really talk about progress. But I love process. However, I’m also a perfectionist, so sometimes progress is a challenging thing to share because whatever you’re doing is still IN PROGRESS. Meaning parts of it still suck and you’ve still got a long way to go. But process is important to progress which is important to the final product, project, idea, etc.

So on that note, I’ve been working on building my piano skillz. Spent most of my time in years past with violin but I really do love the piano and want to improve. Sooo, I’ve been working on it! Remember when I posted a video back in June of me playing? Here it is if you don’t remember:

Yikes. I think that was one of the first times I tried playing that song.

Wellll, I slacked a bit over the summer, but am back on it again. So in honor of process…and talking about it…and being ok with posting something that is far from perfect, here’s the progress I’ve made:

I’ve still got a long way to go, but it’s getting better! I’ve just got to remember the 4 P’s Mr. Nelson always pounded into our heads: practice, passion, preparation, precision. Woot.