Sunday, August 17th, 2008
Sheylara and I were just talking about Social Media Breakfast: Singapore 3 and talking the pros and cons of expanding the team, one of the cons being politics, especially in Singapore’s blogosphere, where overnight, friends can become enemies and form opposite posses.
I got emailed by someone anonymously (the person went through the trouble of creating an email account just to send me this email), showing me the contents of a private Plurk between some people with fairly malicious content about me, my blog, Social Media Breakfast and my professional life.
I only know one person personally from that private Plurk, so I messaged the person on Facebook asking what was going on. It’s seemingly turned out to be a misunderstanding and I take it as it’s sorted out, but I don’t understand how people can have so much malicious intent inside them, especially towards someone they don’t even know personally.
One of the issues behind the misunderstanding was that the person thought there was a “blacklist” for SMB3. Firstly, I’d like to tell everyone that there isn’t. SMB isn’t my “event”. It’s a team effort between Sheylara, Claudia, Derrick and myself.
Secondly, SMB is an open event, we would never stop anyone from attending. It’s for the community! We have never ever discussed who should attend and who shouldn’t. It’s open to all.
Thirdly, I don’t necessarily like every single blogger I meet, but that doesn’t mean someone else won’t like him or her, or someone else won’t get some value from him/her. That decision isn’t mine to make. An event like SMB is held so that everyone and anyone can attend, and each person can decide who to mingle with and keep in contact with from there.
I have two big issues with this particular quirk of the local blogosphere:
1) You don’t know who to trust
I can’t speak for everyone, but I don’t enjoy going to events like Social Media Breakfast and blogger outreach programmes and having to wonder who’s genuinely shaking my hand and saying hi, and who’s doing it with the figurative dagger behind their back. How do you know the next person you reach out to for help online isn’t going to take the opportunity to demolish you instead?
I think people have had their differences in the blogosphere (myself included). Some have solved it like adults, some haven’t. But regardless, I would like to think we can disagree and/or dislike each other, but we don’t have to let it devolve into outright hate do we?
2) It hurts credibility
Between this kind of behavior and that of our dear local female bloggers, is it any wonder companies are so hesitant to enter the local blogosphere? Can we as social media evangelists truly recommend a social media strategy in the best interests of their clients, knowing full well today’s “influential” blogger is tomorrow’s public antagonist number one?
I’ve two follow up posts to this (which I haven’t gotten down to writing yet):
1) How does this lesson translate to businesses involved or looking to get involved in the social media space?
2) Knowing how the local blogosphere is, how do organisations decide who to associate themselves with?
Keep checking back or subscribe to follow the posts.
Tags: blogosphere in singapore, claudia.sg, community event, facebook, local blogosphere, Plurk, sheylara, singaporean blogosphere, smb singapore, social media breakfast singapore, trust in the blogosphere
Posted in Poor Practices, Singapore, Uncategorized, community, social media | 14 Comments »
Thursday, August 14th, 2008
My Twitter usage has been down to practically zero since I started using Plurk. It’s a good thing because the way Plurk actually works is like a community, so I’m getting much more referrals via Plurk than I ever did via Twitter. I have to admit, though, that it’s a bad thing as well because it means I’m not working as much on the network I have on Twitter, which is about three times the size of the one I have on Plurk.
That aside, today I got an email that essentially says Twitter will not be allowing users to receive Twitter updates any further unless they’re in the US, Canada or India. You can read the full details on their blog.
I draw attention to one paragraph in their email:
It pains us to take this measure. However, we need to avoid
placing undue burden on our company and our service. Even with a
limit of 250 messages received per week, it could cost Twitter
about $1,000 per user, per year to send SMS outside of Canada,
India, or the US. It makes more sense for us to establish fair
billing arrangements with mobile operators than it does to pass
these high fees on to our users.
It may be easy for me to say this as an outsider, but shouldn’t they have thought about this as a business issue from the beginning? Shouldn’t projections have been run and costs estimated? Why wait for two years before settling this?
At the end of the day it comes down to expectation management. Users have been used to receiving smses to keep up with their friends locally and internationally while they’re not at their computer. If you remove that, it takes a lot out of the service for these people. I could point you in the direction of numerous Plurk conversations today in dismay at the lack of this service.
I think there’s still value on Twitter. The past months have been dismal for them, but there’s no reason why their recent VC injection can’t breathe some new life into the service. But if they keep going down this road, the Twitter “fail whale” might need to be changed to an even bigger animal.
Tags: fail whale, Plurk, receiving smses from twitter, twitter, twitter fail, twitter stops sms support
Posted in Poor Practices, twitter | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008
How lifestreaming is transforming the internet has been quite well documented, and this week on ReadWriteWeb, the future of blogging has been revealed. And yes, it’s in the form of lifestreaming.
Three thoughts:
1) Does it work?
I’d always thought of the “other” stuff that goes on in lifestreaming as a complement to blogging. They fill in the gaps but they’re not always the main content. Snacks in between meals, if you will. But in this day and age, who really has time to read a 700 word post anymore? Even a 500 one? Especially when it can be done in 140 characters. I fell ill a week back and didn’t have the energy to blog about it, but I did Plurk about it. By the time I was well enough to punch a blog post out, I realise everyone knew about it via microblogging, so it didn’t serve any purpose.
There will be “long form” bloggers as Sarah mentioned who will need to blog just as a way of capturing the content. But how about the average personal blog? If you look at the examples on RWW, my gut feel is they could work.
2) Is there a culture difference
Friendfeed is the epitome of lifestreaming. I know it’s hot, I know it has its’ uses, but it hasn’t caught on here in Singapore yet. Without any proper research, I’m going to guess that culture has a part to play. As a society we’re not that voyeuristic yet (some are, but it’s a small sample), which maybe accounts for some of it.
There’s also the element of privacy and collectivism that exists here which might result in self-censorship when it comes to lifestreaming. For example, it may not be the best thing to flag a certain controversial book you’re reading because it may not be socially acceptable in this setting.
3) It’s already happening
Prior to publishing this post, I asked aloud on Plurk (not that you could ask silently) what people thought about the article and got varied responses. In a sense that’s what lifestreaming is about isn’t it? Come across something in your life, share it quickly, get short 140 character responses back and then everyone moves on to the next item.
It’s all very interesting. I don’t know if it truly replace blogging per se, but it definitely will be exciting to see where this fits in in the next 6 months to a year. And more importantly, if everything (blogging, content, attention spans) are getting shorter, how do companies engage and connect?
Tags: culture differences online, friendfeed, lifestreaming, lifestreaming and the internet, long form blogging, microblogging, Plurk, readwriteweb, shorter attention spans, the future of blogging
Posted in Blogs, Plurk, Singapore, community, social media | 2 Comments »
Saturday, July 5th, 2008
I must really apologise for not blogging much this week. I think it has been the least I’ve blogged since I’ve started the blog, but work has really been tough (though incredibly enjoyable).
The 2nd Ping.sg blog awards (blog aggregator in Singapore with about 3,500 blogs) have their nominees and I’m nominated in three categories:
(for “Are Bloggers Really Influencers?”)
(for “Why Plurk Over Twitter #3: Organic Conversations“)
Thank you to those who nominated me. If I’ve ever talked to you (in person) about why I blog, you know it’s not for the “fame” or money (I don’t even have ads!), but it’s really just me trying to share my love for this fascinating new digital space with you, and hopefully help spread the word about social media and how it can help you in your personal life, academic life or professional life.
I didn’t nominate myself for anything primarily because I thought it’s be a good gauge to see what the community finds valuable. I think the fact that the community has chosen two posts in particular that are aimed at convincing businesses that bloggers are indeed influencers and fostering conversation and community tells me that locally, the people who’re reading are listening and finding some value in it, and that is very, very encouraging.
So do check out the awards nominees page and vote for who you like. I’m not going to ask that you vote for me because looking at the nominees across the board, I think the community has already won.
Tags: are bloggers really influencers, best review post singapore, blog awards, community, conversation, dialogue, most insightful blog singapore, most insightful post singapore, organic conversations, ping.sg, ping.sg blog awards, Plurk, spread the word about social media, twitter, why plurk over twitter
Posted in Announcements, Blogs, Plurk, Singapore, Social Networks, community, social media, twitter | 5 Comments »
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
I’m writing this with Singapore in mind, but I think it could work anywhere.
Rubin and I had a discussion tonight about bands in Singapore, whether they’re talented or not, whether they could make money or not, etc etc. Towards the end of the night I needed to blog and turned to him for inspiration and he said “write about the local music scene”. Brilliant.
So here’s social media for the local music scene.
1) Get repeat plays.
One of the podcasts I listen to mentioned recently that in the music industry, frequency is your currency. So you get people to play it as many times as you can. Give it away free to everyone on MySpace, give it free to the polytechnic radio stations, give it free to the university Campus Radio stations. It doesn’t matter if you’re making money out of it at this stage, just give it free.
I can’t say how many times I haven’t liked a song on first listen, but it grows on me after three or more listens. I’m sure it’s the same for many other people.
2) Pimp yourself.
In a lot of ways, the local music scene is like the local blogosphere. There’s a lot of crap in there, but there are gems too. So how do you get people to notice you? Make yourself searchable. That means pimping up your website, going on MySpace, maybe creating a fan page on Facebook, whatever works. When someone hears your band name and goes home to search for you, you’d better turn up on page one of Google.
Case in point: Origami. I think that’s how it’s spelled because I was only walking past, but I liked their rendition of Kelly Clarkson’s Miss Independent, so much so I wanted to get in contact with them and offer to try to get their track on Campus Radio. So I come home, Google Origami and zilch. How do I help you get your music out there when I can’t find you? Do yourself a favour. If your band name is called Hystericks Stickz, change your name to something Google-able. That advice is free.
3) Get help.
No, don’t get someone to buy you a $30k ad on national radio. There are free (or at least cheap) ways to go about doing it. There are many, many polytechnic or university students out there who would probably be willing to help put your name out there or build you a blog, or pass your cd on to three friends. What could you offer them in return? Well that’s up to you. But remember: your most loyal customers are also your best.
Finally, a disclaimer: All this only works if your music doesn’t suck. As with everything else, content is king. If the content you’re producing sounds like screeching and/or cawing, no amount of publicity is going to help you.
So, now that you know all that. You want a social media/digital strategist to help your band out? Start a conversation with me. Here, Plurk, Twitter, Facebook, whatever works for you.
Tags: blogosphere, campus radio singapore, facebook, Google, myspace, origami, pimp yourself, Plurk, self-publicity, singapore local music, singapore's local music scent, smu campus radio, twitter
Posted in Google, Search, Singapore, Social Networks, collaboration, community, mainstream media, social media, twitter | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008
Daphne plurked today about leaving Plurk to concentrate on ping.sg as well as Twitter and because things were just getting too overwhelming for her to keep up with everything at once.
It got me thinking about whether this is a natural progression of sorts. People join an online community until the benefits of another (uptime for Plurk) far outweigh the previous benefits of another (Twitter), or the conversations on Plurk are more intense/genuine than those on the shoutbox on ping.sg. What do we do when that happens?
I know Pat Law has mentioned a very good point that people move on to better value propositions. That’s why we’re not on Friendster or ICQ anymore. If the community shifts to a new “tool”, should it matter? After all it’s people-centric rather than platform-centric isn’t it?
Of course, I’m not saying either ping.sg or Twitter are inferior, unworthy platforms. I think ping is still great for getting the latest buzz in the local blogosphere and log on at least thrice a day to check out the newest posts, Twitter runs in the background on Twhirl for stuff to pop up once in awhile. But when faced with a new, potentially better tool, what happens?
One reason also why the ping.sg shoutbox is less “vibrant” now is because many of the pingsters are on Plurk as well. This suggests that people see more value there, or are joining it because everyone is as well, or a combination of both, but that results in ping.sg being less lively. Natural evolution of online platforms? Innovate and keep your communities or die?
I pretty much understand where Daphne is coming from, so I ask the local community because I’m curious: If you’ve shifted to Plurk, do you feel like you should stick with your previous platforms just ‘cos? Or does the higher value proposition outweigh all? Very curious to know the various views behind this.
Tags: daphnemaia, facebook, friendster, icq, msn, patlaw, ping.sg, ping.sg shoutbox, Plurk, plurk vs twitter, singaporean blogosphere
Posted in Plurk, Singapore, Social Networks, community, social media, twitter | 6 Comments »
Saturday, June 7th, 2008
Patlaw from Blankanvas delivered on her promise to make some Plurk badges over the weekend, and here are my favourites:
Mother Plurker!!
Plurk Me
And my very own customised badge, Plurk UniqueFrequency. Aww.
Want yours? Head over to Blankanvas to take them. FREE! Show your love for your newest addiction, Plurk!
Tags: blankanvas, patlaw, Plurk, plurk badges, plurk uniquefrequency
Posted in Fun, Plurk | No Comments »
Saturday, June 7th, 2008
I don’t know about you, but usually when I wake up in the morning, I don’t check for the tweets I missed while I was asleep on Twitter. I did in the beginning, but after awhile it became too much. Also, after I tweet, I rarely get responses to that specific after 24 hours. The reason being people only get to see my tweet before they respond. In other words, Twitter tends to be time-sensitive.
On Plurk, I’m beginning to find out that the interactions there are much more timeless than on Twitter. For instance, yesterday I has an “unofficial Introduction Friday“, that now has 72 replies, and they’re still coming in.
The reason why it’s so active, is that everyone doesn’t only see my plurk like on Twitter, but of everyone else that replies. So maybe someone didn’t log on to Plurk for 30 hours (the travesty!) and comments on Introduction Friday, the thread suddenly goes live again and maybe someone else replies to that comment, and the conversation continues.
In fact waynesutton asked the community what feature they’d most want to see on Plurk a good five days ago, and I woke up this morning to see new replies still coming in. When was the last time that happened for you on Twitter?
If you’re on Plurk, do connect with me: http://plurk.com/user/uniquefrequency
Tags: introduction friday, Plurk, time-sensitive, timeless conversations, twitter, uniquefrequency on plurk
Posted in Plurk | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
#1 and #2 reasons why Plurk over Twitter are cliques and threaded conversations respectively. Cliques allow you to send plurks to specified subsets of your followers. I have a local clique, and that’s where all the chatter that is unique to Singapore goes to, instead of spamming it to everyone. Threaded conversations allow you to follow one conversation, unlike Twitter where replies are rather fragmented.
Let’s go on to #3: Organic Conversations.
Yesterday I posted about EA Games getting customer service. I posted about it on Plurk as well:
Within seconds of posting, NovelistKat talked about how they may get customer service, but not how to treat their employees. This went back and forth awhile until litford hopped in to talk about jPod and how it’s a spoof of EA and its programmers. (full conversation here)
Isn’t this how true conversations happen? Imagine talking about a shoe brand (no names) over dinner. “Man those new shoes I bought are comfortable“. Somehow the conversation meanders to “I hope that comfort is deserving of the child labour that it took to make it” and then after a little more it goes to “Did you see the new ad for the shoes on tv last night?”
Conversations have a life of their own. Seeing them grow organically has a lot of value. How many brands could listen in or participate in the EA conversation and learn from it? EA certainly. Douglas Coupland perhaps. The jPod network could’ve pointed us to a website to stream the first episode for free and get us hooked. The possibilities are endless.
I write this post partially in reply to @jonathank of Fabrikade who isn’t sure of the personal/business possibilities of Plurk yet, hope this is one step towards convincing you, Jonathan!
Tags: customer service, ea games, following the conversation, joining the conversation, organic conversation, Plurk, Singapore, twitter
Posted in Blogs, Plurk, Singapore, social media, twitter | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008
Twitter’s downtime over the last couple of months has really pissed off a lot of people, most of all me. And I’m a #1 Twitter advocate. I mentioned it as a conference, been interviewed in the papers on Twitter, I wrote how to guides, encouraged an SMU Twitter challenge, the works.
I tried to be tolerant, but waking up every morning and finding out that Twitter isn’t working just disappoints.
First I turned to FriendFeed, with the new Room function, I was hopeful that it would be a nice replacement, but that has yet to gain any traction, at least in the Singaporeans Room. It just lacks the personal element that Twitter has. (Had?)
Enter Plurk. It has the same personal element that Twitter did, an innovative timeline system (takes some time to get used to) and a personality that I’d call… quirky. There are some elements I don’t like, let informing me about comments on posts I don’t care about, and the timeline interface is a little chunky and takes some time getting used to (I can’t imagine my 300 followers on it), but the introduction of cliques has officially won me over.
Cliques
Basically these are groups or segments that you can form within your followers. I blogged once about using Twitter like IRC and spamming the rest of your contact. No worries about that on Plurk. I’ve separated my chatter from my proper Plurking, and am very happy with the results. I can have fun, personal conversations without disturbing the rest of my followers.
Since Twitter seems to be spending all its time just putting out fires, I don’t think I can look forward to similar improvements from them anytime soon.
In the last 24 hours that I’ve joined Plurk, I’ve seen plenty of Twitter folk move over. chrisbrogan, colinwalker, daphnemaia, derrickkwa, foxtwo, hendri, howiec, jljohansen, kevinlim, kevyn, litford, marinamartin, mhisham, mintea, moby74, nicole85, ridz84, rinaz, scabr, sentosagirl, shahw, sonnygill, waynesutton and yuhui. Add them by typing http://plurk.com/user/[username].
That’s almost 10% of my network on Twitter. The value for Twitter now is the 300 or so contacts I painfully built up over five months. But unfortunately at this point in time, I’d rather move than stick with a network that doesn’t work. Do connect with me on Plurk at http://plurk.com/user/uniquefrequency
Tags: bye twitter, hello plurk, move from twitter to plurk, Plurk, plurk cliques, plurk rocks, twitter downtime, twitter sucks, uniquefrequency
Posted in Plurk | 8 Comments »
