DISQUS

Technically, Lala has free streaming music — for the first time it's played. They also have unlimited for those that it detects you already own.

Inherent game mechanics has always been fascinating to me in every social network. I think giving so much visual prominence to follower count definitely plays into the leader board syndrome. I disagree that it's human nature to compete for it though. I think it appeals to some but there are many who are inspired or motivated by other mechanisms. Cameron Marlowe did a bunch of research on that various systems and motivators a couple of years ago as did Bryce Glass from Yahoo!. Both have a bunch of material worth checking out though I don't know if Cameron's stuff is online.

True. Mine was switched to MP3 because that's what I wanted to rip CDs to months ago. Regardless, the conversion settings are buried now in a nonsensical place. Import != convert.

I got a few nice shots from turn 5: http://flickr.com/photos/kurioso/sets/721576042...

George: You realize the conversation we had at CampCamp was a pivotal point in the iPhone change of heart right? =)

Kars: Yes, I've been thinking about and applying as much as possible game design principles into social media website design and have a lot I want to write about in that regard.

So my question is, and this isn't meant to be taking away from your point, how come there's so much less focus on Asian Firsts in comparison? e.g., we've seen the Academy Awards for both best actor and best actress but never to an Asian. Is it just that Asians don't speak up enough or recognize it enough? This whole thought barely occurred to me from a political standpoint until I recently saw a chart that showed a number of APA firsts.

Hm. Interesting. I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

Charles,

Thanks for your very detailed and thoughtful response. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the changes you mention. I'm not sure if you would want to shed the dating aspect entirely, but one thing I didn't mention was that the visual design of the site, while fun and pleasing, made me think it was targeted at teenagers and was a big reason why it took me a few weeks before I joined. Numerous others I've invited have said the same, "I don't think this site is for me."

In any case, I could go on and on but for now, looking forward to seeing some of the changes you mentioned.

and just like blogging, there will be lots of people who are NOT interesting enough to lifecast.

Michael: Networks are about quality. People trust my judgment when I refer someone and sometimes, I want to add a note o indicate how much I endorse an individual. Also, not everyone has been diligent about keeping the quality of whom they accept high. Some have felt the social awkwardness of not accepting an invite from someone outweighed the need to keep a high quality network (and it also implied you felt they weren't "quality" if you didn't accept). So for these people, it's important to be able to filter.

In the end, it's that one extra step that makes it a personal referral rather than spam. Which brings me to ...

Mike: I'm aware of both the features you mentioned. The fact is these are barely higher than spam level in my book. Or at best, they're not an improvement on the person telling me in person they're looking for someone because I tend to just forget. Here's how I see the feature playing out:

Job Provider: posts a job through your system much the way you have it now, with keywords to help with the matching.

Job Seeker: sets some flag to show they are actively looking. This part has some issues as many people on an individual's linkedin includes their current employer so maybe there's privacy settings on who won't see this flag.

Whenever matches are found where I am a potential mediator between the two, inform me (or have a dashboard and/or feed I can check). Each one requires an active action on my part which could be as simple as clicking a button to open the gate but optionally allows me to endorse the candidate in more detail (or endorse the job).

Job hunting is like matchmaking or online personals. The ideal case of online personals, as John Abrhams put it when he realized Friendster wasn't doing anything, is that you are meeting your friend's friends. The likelihood of successful matches in such situations is much greater. And so it is with jobs, it's a different field, same problem.

"New web 2.0 startup with rounded corners seeking a designer who has equal passion for rounded corners and loves walks on the beach with sexy drop shadows from the setting sun."

If any of this doesn't make sense or my motivations for needing such a thing don't make sense, let me know. I'll be happy to elaborate. And thanks for writing, Mike!

groc,

Totally agree with you that the learning is Yahoo! learning from Flickr. I'd say there've been huge strides in this department from the much touted maps API and Yahoo! developer network to the open hack day and in general, an openness to a lot of our data. Can it be better? Yes. Wayyyyyyyy better. Can it be faster? Most definitely.

It _is_ like moving a battleship sometimes and is rather frustrating but on the other hand, I at least know that some of us inside are working to change things.

Steve:

Apologies for the hostile tone, it was late and I was frustrated with sifting through even less civil responses that had little grounding on reason.

You're absolutely correct with regards to the ownership of the photos. Although that also should be pointed out as a plus. One of the biggest mistakes Yahoo! made in its history was when it made all Geocities content the property of Yahoo!. Flickr lets the photographers keep the rights, as it should.

I can totally see someone messing up on the tag stream and getting the non-CC licensed photos. Alas, these kinds of oversights are kind of par for the course in these kind of roll outs, not just at Yahoo!, but pretty much across the web. I'm glad they fixed it quickly and responsively.

eviltwin:

First, I've added a disclaimer that I'm not a staff on Flickr. So take what I say as you will.

Yes, Web 2.0 is about sharing and openness. Which exactly is what Flickr does. If someone created a mashup using Google Maps and Flickr's geo-data, that's great. Having Google Maps integrated with Flickr is not just problematic for the obvious reasons, Flickr's traffic would also require a specific deal since it overloads the request limits imposed by Google's API. Not to mention, when you integrate an external product into something that core, you're susceptible to any changes they make, including any advertising they may decide to put on it.

I'm not sure why you got that message about the Yahoo! mail. When I merged a year or so ago, I never once accessed my Yahoo! mail on that account. When I went yesterday for the first time, it gave me a sign up and the only mail I had on it was "welcome to Yahoo! mail".

Ben, most of your points are around the screaming part, which I actually have the least problem with. I know that that's well beyond your control and personally, I usually deal with that just fine with my earphones. Just as my mos recent flight, I had a loud snorer next to me and I don't expect him not to sleep but instead just put on my music.

Mostly, this was a way for me to vent from an experience where I was surrounded by most of the things you wish you don't have to fly with but I do think the parent behind me, who's kid never screamed but literally climbed on my seat quite a few times, might have at least tried to restrain him for a bit. I know even that's not entirely in a parent's control - I have numerous friends with young children/babies that I've seen or played with - but hey, even just a, "sorry, he's a bit hyperactive right now" probably would have made me feel better.

Hadn't heard of the knee protector before but that's pretty conspicuous ... I can deal with seat leanback people. It's the combination of all the worst aspects together that made me want to scream.

Hey Dannie, it was great meeting you at SHiFT. I guess one doesn't want to patent when you want to really keep it secret like the Coke thing. The one I have in preparation is not actually quite that worthy, but I'll take what I can get. I'm not really sure why it's a goal other than, "hey, that'd be cool".

For those that are joining this discussion, Dannie spoke at the conference I was at in Lisbon about patents and software. I unfortunately wasn't able to attend that particular session so I'm glad she's posted the slides!

Ben, that's probably because you're in Taiwan and there isn't a lot of critical mass / cult effect. Snakes is definitely a b-horror type of film and really, the awesomeness comes from a) it having Samuel L. and b) from having a group of enthusiastic fans to watch it with. I thought it was funny and awesome but I like this sort of "awesome because it's awful" =)

haha. shouldn't you be the one moving since you're lamenting that all your friends have deserted you?

Zephyr, I'll work on doing that and will update here when they're up. Until then I recommend you check out Luke's notes (linked in the post).

Glad to hear it, David! Hope you spread the word and more people will do the same. Too bad I didn't get to meet you, though =(

Credit to BarCamp Austin for using nametags with room for tagging. Boo to all the attendees that only put their blog and tags like "geek" and "design" as their tag. Seriously. Geek. You're at BarCamp. Ya think?

Not all of the conferences I've listed are ones I'm attending but it is conference season so I'm out and about a lot (or oot and aboot if you will).

It's not which conference that is the problem, it's when I go for the first time, it's difficult to "break in". This is not unique to any conference as I've found, but I think can be alleviated with a mentor or "Friend" program.

maybe because you never actually name yourself there deliberately? ;)