Left Behind

is it being left behind?
or not keeping up ?

I think there is a sense from time to time of not being left out, of not wanting to be an “uncool” kid again that factors into this. For example, I appreicate the number of people on myspace, but because I received a lewd solicitation in my first three minutes online, it is not a main source I use with any regularity. In second life, I spent a quiet afternoon trying to figure it out, and I found it slow and clunky in many ways. Lots of opeople smarter than me have talked about what it’s good for and what it’s not; I don’t feel I have the calories to give to get good at it right now, or use it in anything but an adjunct manner.

We all come into this space with a different set of talents, and getting up to speed on everything, especially as things change so face from twitter to Jaiku to the next big thing, is frankly difficult. It means we are forced to make choices about how to spend our time and what gives you that value add.

I like twitter for keeping me up to date with my far flung friends. I like flickr for the same reason. But I still teach, have a podcast to get out, learn more about my new power book, manage the family, etc. Oh yea, and plan Podcamp Philly as well.

My workplace and friends are virtual in many ways- and in order to learn, you need to keep up, on some level, where the crowd is going and what they’re doing. It’s not all about being a sheep. It’s about keeping abreast of a world that keeps changing by the keystroke, where time is the most precious commodity of all.

If I were a psychologist — and I’m not, I just need to see one for spending so much time online — I’d say there are multiple reasons related to personality for why folks jump to the latest media tool. Different users have different levels of Internet gratification. Folks who announced they were making the Exodus from Twitter to Jaiku, whether it was for a better experience, the knowledge, another presence outlet, or the result of mass churn, may have been influenced by any number of factors. There’s fear (as you mentioned), group think, celeb status, and so on. Some folks had the perception that the departure of Leo was a predictor Twitter was on the way out. While others waited (not the early adopters, mind you) to see some results first, such as comments on Jaiku’s feature set or performance levels. Still others decided they would hedge both bets by feeding their Twitter RSS through Jaiku. As for Second Life? I see it as a mixture of self-exploration (assuming I like my new SL moniker) and potential business opportunity, based on my current situation. Fear factor? Nah. I am an explorer, so finding out what all the fuss is about is my real motivation. And, yes, I took the Twitter/Jaiku hedge bet, so time will tell. In the world of Web 2.0, Jaiku could be just another “flavor of the month.”

Keeping in touch and staying connected can be important, but it should never run your life…. Remember to always stay in control of your obsessions and addictions. That’s all I’m saying.

I think Facebook will be the nadir of my social networking experimentation. There’s just SO MANY of these thigns popping up all at once, and once can sense the inevitable bubble burst around the corner. What will be next years big fad?

I just opined about the future of MySpace, and I have a feeling I’ll be writing something similar about Twitter/Jaiku in a few months.

The difference between “keeping up with the Joneses” and the jump to Jaiku is noteworthy, though: Twitter is a conversation. It’s a party. if the party leaves the room, the people at that party / having that conversation don’t want to be left behind.

Funny observation: who was the tipping point for the Jaiku migration? Which of the top-level Twitterers said, “I’m moving to Jaiku,” and everyone else suddenly realized they had to take it seriously?

Those are people with the power to shift markets. And I’m betting it was Brogan and / or Scoble.

I think it’s that new toy feeling that keeps people jumping from new product to new product. You get that high from using something new for the first time and adding new friends, and especially from new friend requests. It feels good to be asked to be someone’s friend. After awhile though it slows down and you get used to it and the high is gone. You start searching for the next new thing to play with.

Is it really a question about assimilation into a new medium?

I’m sick of jumping around social networking sites. I don’t care about being left behind, I prefer that to having to sign up to the cool new site every week.

Besides, the reason Leo Laporte started this exodus to Jaiku is pretty childish (to put it in a polite way) in my opinion. That alone makes me want to ignore Jaiku.

I agree with Justin, part of it is not wanting to miss the conversation/party. I didn’t think of Twitter as a community when I joined, but it became one for me, and sure, I don’t want to leave the party (or watch it leave me.) I do like to be there in the “beginning” and watch things develop, I’ve done that since the web was a toddler, but I don’t join everything. MySpace never appealed to me, both because it was full of kids, and it’s ugly. It could just be a generational thing. I joined FaceBook when it opened to the general public but until recently never saw a use for it. LinkedIn is more handy, I plan to get deeper into that. As for Second Life, I tried it awhile back. but I’m not a gamer and it seemed like too much effort for little return. Maybe that will change, but it looks unlikely, unless I find a compelling reason (business?) to join again.

And unsurprising, I just got an email blast from Twitter to make sure people are paying attention.

As I twittered yesterday, perhaps it’s something about not wanting to be on the “outside looking in.” For me personally, Twitter is about connecting with the people that have become part of my online social circle. I plopped my Twitter rss feed into Jaiku not because someone like Leo Laporte did, but rather, people in MY community are trying it out. What if they all discontinue Twitter and post exclusively over there? It would be like all of my friends moved away and I’d be talking to myself… The whole draw of Twitter for me has been ongoing conversations and just keeping in touch. Honestly, if it ends up being splintered and people post there exclusively, I’ll probably have to only “follow” one because I can’t physically spend that much time keeping up with both. My hope is that most people stick with Twitter but I can’t swear that I’ll never switch,….. it totally depends on if I’m left standing all alone and the party has moved across the hall. I’m just a social butterfly…..

I don’t use Twitter myself, but I do have an account for a huge range of social networks, but rather then seek out new people, I actually use them to keep in touch with people I already know, MySpace was the long time leader, but finally people are moving away to Facebook which from a technical and design point of view, is a much cleaner site to use as a social network tool (Though it lacks the Music/Film aspect,it means it’s much more focused)

What I do find is that as a technically inclined person who is more often then not on these things from beta stages if I can, is that my relatively normal friends look at and use these sites very differently to me so while I am usually the first, and last to use a site within my social groups, I am guided by what sticks with other people, because I like keeping in touch with people easily, not using a tool for the sake of using it.

I have often felt very much like an outsider when it comes to the concept of social networking. What motivates me to use any of these kinds of tools is wanting to keep in touch with people I actually know and build new relationships toward some professional or creative end. What often happens after a pretty short while, though, is I start to get the sense that I’m spreading myself too thin and not giving enough to sustain each medium. Basically, I worry about running out of things to say and being of no interest to anyone so I periodically scale back, regroup and revise. Except for my blog, which I’ve come to accept is going to probably remain an unfocused, self-indulgent and obscure presence.

The trick is to stop worrying about what the cool kids are up to and focus on figuring out what actually works for me.

-Jon

I don’t know about most people, but I know I sometimes do things to keep up with the cultural references. For example, I don’t watch TV and I don’t for the most part watch movies, even though some segments of my social circles do watch both. However, some movies have heavy impacts on cultural references/frameworks. Think of The Matrix, or even Wayne’s World. So sometimes I will watch a movie just to share a cultural reference.

With Second Life I went there because it was begining to sound like technical conferences were going to start happening there and given that I live in the conference/training wasteland of Colorado I thought I’d probably want to go and I would want to know how to use the tool before I was “needing” to be there. Twitter was a similar phenomenon for me – I wanted to understand what it was that was being talked about so I wanted to try it to understand it. Not so much “don’t want to be left behind” but wanting understanding. I suppose it isn’t unlike the cultural reference movies I watch. Much of what I do is about understanding things because I tend to be a communicator of ideas between groups. Is this most people’s motivation?