DISQUS

If you end up writing a book, I want an autographed copy... :)

I am eager to read what you come up with, should it start completely gelling and solidify for you.

I think there's so much to explore as online and offline lives start to reach parity in importance.

-Dean (from ND&P Blog)

Wow... Really takes the notion to the extreme in testing whether you really can be anywhere and be connected, productive. But it will be interesting when your experiment is done and you can look back on that period of life and see whether you should really be anywhere and everywhere connected and productive, or if there's an advantage to being stationary, anywhere (be that Appalachia or NYC).

d

I think the idea that everyone will become content creators is predicated on the notion that everyone needs to (or wants to). Generationally, Boomers aren't so much about creating content as they are consuming - particularly reviews and such. Whereas Gen X'ers like to create reviews more and tend to be more verbose. Gen Y prefers burst exchanges between people. So I think we will see a number of trends in flux as blogs give way to more Twitter/Wall- like interactions. I'm not sure that Boomers will ever create as much content as the subsequent generations.

Repurposing content is the at the root of any worthwhile action online right now. It's your blog post also appearing as a note on Facebook and a link from Twitter. I think it's less about adhering to the word "blog" and what connotations we have for it, and more about length of content. Now that video has been democratized and even 140 character comments becoming the norm, the adherence to a single communique dump is moving more toward WHERE all your thoughts get dumped as a centralized system (a'la Facebook) rather than HOW.

So a question, that you bring up, is how do people comment on that blog? Lots of ways, as you point out.

But the re-configured question is: Who are the comments for?

The conversation that results from your blog post is something you clearly want everyone to see, but the truth is that conversation is really taking the place of the personal email. Sure, some people post just to be seen posting and to have the conversation as an open dialogue- but many people also are writing comments to you directly, as if it was a quick personal email.

But having the conversation cloud extend from blog to Tweet to... etc. is an important way that all of these conversations help perpetuate themselves. So maybe it's that Blogs have gone from formal, final destinations to the beginning.

It's possibly moved from the last domino to the first.

Wow, nice move Blackboard.. with Web CT under them too, this will be a boon for distance education students and teachers.

But it also has another potential application: getting more working, older adults onto Facebook. How? Because Blackboard/Web Ct is used by millions of working adults doing adult education in hundreds of schools... Smart educators will see a natural link here in communication and smart administrators will see how integrating with social media in this way will help cultivate alumni connections and get them and their students (soon to be graduates) on the right side of the wall.

Good news. They're learning to play ball- quickly after launch of a service.

Well, it's gone after a prolonged (48 hour +) downtime of the Twitter app for Facebook, so I'm as inclined to believe that it's only a temporary absence, possibly something ruby/code related versus an official plug-pulling of the "is twittering" feature.

The existence of "fun" applications does not discount the variety of uses a platform can provide.

Is the home PC for kids because of the tens of thousands of games that have been released for decades? It seems like her argument would eventually lead her to announce the internet is just for lechers and teens too...

And I know many people that use Facebook frequently and deeply but hardly ever interact with applications.

Thank goodness you and others are posting about this. I've found that generational differences are a massive angle that few seem to want to consider and yet largely informs some of the behaviors we witness (sorry, I get excited over this kind of thing- it was/is a PhD research interest of mine).

That said, you're leaving out a crucial part of the equation. Where is Gen X anywhere in your analysis?

One other bit I would take issue with: Gen X and Y are "experimenting" with identities less and less. Right now the trends seem to be that you experiment with identities (a'la Sherry Turkle's fabulous early work) up until the age of 17-18, when you transition over to a more firm focus on a self-actualized identity, sort of an aggregate of your best, and that is embodied in the Facebook need for singular identity.

So the Boomers entering in the equation... I think this is relevant, but Boomers aren't interacting with Gen X and Y as much- they are still only engaging with their own generation at a lopsided level, but they ARE still viewing, reading and window-shopping at a high-level. just like on Amazon and ePinions, Boomers are less likely to write a review, but far more likely to research and read many to form decisions.

Point being, there are far more opportunities than challenges ahead for a multi-generational social network. The largest challenge, I feel, would be if Boomer encroachment on MySpace soars, since that is seen right now as being a developmental sandbox for identity. But with Facebook, the site is merely adding a mature audience to an already mature interface. It's not like the Boomers are invading 4chan, but rather like they are suddenly shopping at Ameoba records, who already served music many liked anyway.

Could they chase away younger users? Doubt it. But they may help make younger users more aware of how they can use privacy features to speak how they like to the audiences they wish to address. Not having Boomers in the pool is a far bigger risk for Facebook's longevity, trust and partnership.

Good post...

For me, the next four years will be the most interesting. As a half-gen of grad students, VP's, 30-somethings start maturing in the workplaces, the "digital divide" for Web 2.0 will be between those who browse and review (BabyBoomers) and those that engage (everyone else younger).

It's like I tell hospitals and Healthcare admin grad students: right now babyboomer doctors are retro-fitting their activity to include blogs, etc., with or without hospital consent. What happens when the med school students of today become doctors in just a few short years? New media won't just be inescapable, it will be inevitable. That's just one small industry example, but it will be interesting to watch the maturing of 2.0's audiences.

Looks like Orli's issues were with Group Tweet, not Twitter's API.

I do agree that Facebook's ads are sometimes wrong for the user, but would people reach out to you to tell you they were right on target?

I do think the social ads aspect is pretty compelling in smaller urban and rural settings. Seeing that your friend has become a fan of the local zoo can both surprise you that the zoo is even on Facebook, as well as impress on you that it is likely a real, official page because your friend has already vetted it.

There's power, but the wrong ones are easy to detect.

Having worked in and consulted for higher education and new media, don't let any amount of shock surprise you.

Those photos aren't even that bad... And certainly aren't of the overreacting horror-story variety. The school should do some sort of quiet punishment, not offer to speak on the matter and leave it at that. Making a loud example is silly.

I continuously warned college administrators in the last several years that their students will only be handed more and more privacy tools (and will gain the savvy to use the ones they already had)... which means that if they only use Facebook for prosecution that their constituency will drive their actions further underground. They can help decide how high the cultural wall will be.

Why is Scoble apologizing to Sarah Lacy and yet everyone whose information he skimmed for another company against Facebook poliicy did not get an apology? Being cheeky... just kidding...

Look, the interview went badly because it would have only gone right if:
A) Lacy interviewed Zuckerberg as the friend she is in a fireside chat.
B) Lacy interviewed Zuckerberg as the journalist she is in a serious Q&A.
Unfortunately she (or SXSW, or Facebook) wanted to split the difference. The audience acted like pricks. It's actually possible that more than one party acted poorly. It doesn't need to be so black and white that all are wrong or right. But when Lacy constantly compares herself to Leslie Stahl, or reveals to everyone who will listen afterward how she and Zuckerberg had planned to hug on stage - the uneasy dichotomy is real. As I mentioned in Solis' comments: Would Tom Brokaw hug his interview? Is it sexist to point out that if Scoble had interviewed Mark that there'd likely be no planned onstage hugging?

If this entire episode has revealed anything it's revealed that many Web 2.0 audiences can be jerks even in public, and that we have grown far too comfortable with a technorati that is it's own best friend. I'm not sure who is a journalist and who's an expert insider anymore. But it turns out the transparency we've all spent time craving isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Totally agree and that's a great point...

I'm not sure ConnectU wants to wave their arms about Facebook stealing an abysmal search feature from them.

Or is Beacon the equivalent of someone knowing you came out of an Adult Book Store. But in a good way. :)