The following is an edited version of a wishlist I had been keeping on the side. The main idea is to define what would be, in my mind, the “ultimate social bookmarking system.” Which, obviously, goes way beyond social bookmarking. In a way, I even conceive of it as the ultimate tool for sharing online content. Yes, it’s that ambitious. Will it ever exist? Probably not. Should it exist? I personally think so. But I may be alone in this. Surely, you’ll tell me that I am indeed alone, which is fine. As long as you share your own wishlist items.
The trigger for my posting this is that someone contacted me, asking for what I’d like in a social bookmarking system. I find this person’s move quite remarkable, as a thoughtful strategy. Not only because this person contacted me directly (almost flattering), but because such a request reveals an approach to listening and responding to people’s needs that I find lacking in some software development circles.
This person’s message served as a prompt for my blogging this, but I’ve been meaning to blog this for a while. In fact, my guess is that I created a first version of this wishlist in 2007 after having it on my mind for a while before that. As such, it represents a type of “diachronic” or “longitudinal” view of social bookmarking and the way it works in the broader scheme of social media.
Which also means that I wrote this before I heard about Google Wave. In fact, I’m still unclear about Google Wave and I’ll need to blog about that. Not that I expect Wave to fulfill all the needs I set up for a sharing tool, but I get the impression that Google is finally putting some cards on the table.
The main part of this post is in outline form. I often think through outlines, especially with such a type of notes. I fully realize that it may not be that clear, as a structure, for other people to understand. Some of these bullet points cover a much broader issue than what they look like. But the overall idea might be fairly obvious to grasp, even if it may sound crazy to other people.
I’m posting this to the benefit of anyone who may wish to build the killer app for social media. Of course, it’s just one man’s opinion. But it’s my entitled opinion.
Concepts
What do we share online?
- “Link”
- “Page”
- Identified content
- Text
- Narrative
- Contact information
- Event description
- Contact information
- Event invitation
- Image
- Recording
- Structured content
- Snippet
- Access to semi-private content
- Site’s entry point
Selective sharing
Private
Individually shared
- “Check this out”
- Access to address book
- Password protection
- Specialization/expertise
- Friendship
Group shared
- Shared interests (SIG)
- Collaboration (task-based)
Shared through network
- Define identity in network
- Semi-public
Public
- Publishing
- Processed
- Reading lists
Notetaking
- Active reading
- Anchoring text
- Ad hoc list of bookmarks
- “Empty URL”
- Create container/page
- Personal notes
Todos
- To read
- To blog
- To share
- To update
- Projects
- Add to calendar (recognized as event)
Outlining/Mindmapping
- Manage lists of links
- Prioritize
- Easily group
Social aspects of sharing
- Gift economy
- Personal interaction
- Trust
- Hype
- Value
- Customized
Cloud computing
- Webware
- “Online disk”
- Without download
- Touch devices
- Edit online
Personal streaming
- Activities through pages
- Logging
- Flesh out personal profile
Tagging
- “Folksonomy”
- Enables non-hierarchical structure
- Semantic fields
- Related tags
- Can include hierarchy
- Tagclouds define concept map
Required Features
Crossplatform, crossbrowser
- Browser-specific tools
- Bookmarklets
- Complete access through cloud
Keyboard shortcuts
- Quick add (to account)
- Vote
- Bookmark all tabs (à la Flock)
- Quick tags
Related pages
Recommended
- Based on social graph
- Based on tags
- Based on content
- Based on popularity
- Pointing to this page
Quickly enter links
- Add in place (while editing)
- Similar to “spell as you type”
- Incremental search
- Add full link (title, URL, text, metadata)
Archiving
- Prevent linkrot
- Prepare for post-processing (offline reading, blogging…)
- Enable bulk processing
- Maintain version history
- Internet Archive
Automatic processing
- Tags
- Summary
- Wordcount
- Reading time
- Language(s)
- Page structure analysis
- Geotagging
- Vote
Thread following
- Blog comments
- Forum comments
- Trackbacks
- Pings
Exporting
All
- Archiving
- Prepare for import
- Maintain hierarchy
Selected
- Tag
- Category
- Recently used
- Shared
- Site homepage
- Blogroll
- Blogs
Formats
- Other services
- HTML
- RSS
- OPML
- Widget
Features
- Comments
- Tags
- Statistics
- Content
Offline processing
- Browser-based
- Device based
- Offline archiving
- Include content
- Synchronization
Microblogging support
- Laconi.ca/Identi.ca
- Twitter
- Ping.fm
- Jaiku
Fixed/Static URL
- Prevent linkrot
- Maintain list for same page
- Short URLs
- Automatically generated
- Expansion on mouseover
- Statistics
Authentication
- Use of resources
- Identify
- Privacy
- Unnecessary for basic processing
- Sticks (no need to login frequently)
- Access to contacts and social graph
- Multiple accounts
- Personal/professional
- Contexts
- Group accounts
-
Premium accounts
- Server space
- Usage statistics
- Promotion
-
Support
- OpenID
- Google Accounts
- Facebook Connect
- OAuth
Integration
- Web history
- Notebook
- Blogging platform
- Blog editor
- Microblogging platform
- Logbook
- General purpose content editor
- Toolbar
- URL shortening
- Address book
- Social graph
- Personal profile
- Browser
- Bookmarks
- History
- Autocomplete
- Analytics
- Email
- Search
Related Tools
- Diigo
- WebCitation
- Ping.fm
- BackType
- Facebook share
- Blog This
- Link This
- Share this
- Digg
- Plum
- Spurl
- CoComments
- MyBlogLog
- TwtVite
- Twistory
- Windows Live Writer
- Magnolia
- Stumble Upon
- Delicious
- Google Reader
- Yahoo Pipes
- Google Notebook
- Zoho Notebook
- Google Browser Sync
- YouTube
- Flock
- Zotero
Relevant Blogposts
3 Comments | tags: analytics, App Store, archiving, automatic processing, BackType, Blog this, bookmarking, bookmarklets, bookmarks, browsers, Chrome, cloud computing, CoComments, comment threads, content, content editors, del.icio.us, Diigo, Facebook Connect, Firefox, Flock, folksonomies, Google Accounts, Google Browser Sync, Google Friend Connect, Google Reader, Google Wave, handhelds, Identi.ca, Internet Archive, is.gd, Jaiku, Laconi.ca, Link This, linkrot, links, logbook, logging, microblogging, mindmaps, MyBlogLog, nanoblogging, notebooks, notetaking, OAuth, OpenID, Outlining, pages, personal streaming, personal wishlists, Ping.fm, quick add, Safari, Share This, short URLs, social bookmarks, social graph, social media, social Web, Spurl.net, StumpleUpon, Touch devices, Twistory, Twitter, TwtVite, ultimate tool, URL shortening, WebCitation, wishlists, Yahoo! Pipes, Zoho, Zoho Notebook, Zotero | posted in A, Amazon, blog comments, blogging systems, blogging tools, cluefulness, comment-fishing, Crazy Predictions, creativity, del.icio.us, enthusiasm, Facebook, getting things done, Google, Google Notebook, hype, knowledge management, linkfest, musings, MySpace, naïveté, new media, online privacy, online publishing, openness, optimism, participatory culture, Placeholders, predictions, productivity, ramblings, RefWorks, social bookmarking, social butterfly effect, social networks, social software, software, Spurl, tagging, tags, Tech, techno enthusiasts, techno lust, Technorati, Web 2.0, wishful thinking, wishlists, workflow, writing, YouTube
In response to David Giesberg.
How Do You Facebook? | david giesberg dot com
How have I used Facebook so far?
- Reconnected with old friends.
- Bringing some to Facebook
- Noticing some mutual friends.
- Made some new contacts.
- Through mutual acquaintances and foafs.
- Through random circumstances.
- Thought about social networks from an ethnographic perspective.
- Discussed social networks in educational context.
- Blogged about online forms of social networking.
- “Communicated”
- Sent messages to contacts in a relatively unintrusive way (less “pushy” than regular email).
- Used “wall posts” to have short, public conversations about diverse items.
- Micro-/nanoblogged, social-bookmarked:
- Shared content (links, videos…) with contacts.
- Found and discussed shared items.
- Used my “status update” to keep contacts updated on recent developments on my life (something I rarely do in my blogposts).
- Managed something of a public persona.
- Maintained a semi-public profile.
- Gained some social capital.
- Found an alternative to Linkup/Upcoming/MeetUp/GCal?
- Kept track of several events.
- Had some aimless fun:
- Teased people through their walls.
- Played a few games.
- Discovered bands through contacts who “became fans” of them (I don’t use iLike).
Leave a comment | tags: comment-fishing, contacts, Deli.icio.us, events, Facebook, FOAF, friendship, fun, Gcal, Google, iLike, Linkup, Ma.gnolia, MeetUp, nanoblogging, personal, play, Plum.com, ramblings, rolodex, social animal, social butterflies, Spurl.net, Twitter, Upcoming, Yahoo! | posted in acquaintances, Ethnography, friendliness, friends, friendship, social, social bookmarking, social butterflies, social butterfly effect, social capital, social networking, social networks, social software
Tools I Use: Spurl.net 1.0 – Free online bookmarks with so much more…
Been using Spurl for a while now. Far from perfect but very useful. To me, it brings together the functionalities of Del.icio.us (and other “social bookmarking” services) with those of the Scrapbook Firefox extension. Like Delicious, it allows you to tag and share bookmarks. Like Scrapbook, it keeps a copy of the bookmarked page.
At this point, I got the habit of spurling just anything that I find interesting on the Web. In some cases, I also blog on the bookmarked item. But I don’t necessarily feel a need to put everything in my “to-blog” list. I don’t even tag my bookmarks.
The upshot of my spurling habits is that anyone who wants to know what I’m reading on the Web can just look at my Spurl RSS feed (or Atom feed). In this case, Spurl serves one of the purposes people are using Twitter and other nanoblogging tools for. Yeah, I know it’s not the same thing at all. But, to me, spurling is the lazyperson’s version of nanoblogging.
Now, once the Flock browser does “spell as you type” and Spurl does del.icio.us syncs, I could just use keystrokes to spurl pages I visit.
Hey! Who do you call “lazy?”
5 Comments | tags: Jaiku, nanoblogging, Scrapbook (Firefox extension), Spurl.net, Tools I Use, Twitter | posted in del.icio.us, Digital Life, social bookmarking, Spurl, tagging, workflow
Sharing Tool Wishlist
The following is an edited version of a wishlist I had been keeping on the side. The main idea is to define what would be, in my mind, the “ultimate social bookmarking system.” Which, obviously, goes way beyond social bookmarking. In a way, I even conceive of it as the ultimate tool for sharing online content. Yes, it’s that ambitious. Will it ever exist? Probably not. Should it exist? I personally think so. But I may be alone in this. Surely, you’ll tell me that I am indeed alone, which is fine. As long as you share your own wishlist items.
The trigger for my posting this is that someone contacted me, asking for what I’d like in a social bookmarking system. I find this person’s move quite remarkable, as a thoughtful strategy. Not only because this person contacted me directly (almost flattering), but because such a request reveals an approach to listening and responding to people’s needs that I find lacking in some software development circles.
This person’s message served as a prompt for my blogging this, but I’ve been meaning to blog this for a while. In fact, my guess is that I created a first version of this wishlist in 2007 after having it on my mind for a while before that. As such, it represents a type of “diachronic” or “longitudinal” view of social bookmarking and the way it works in the broader scheme of social media.
Which also means that I wrote this before I heard about Google Wave. In fact, I’m still unclear about Google Wave and I’ll need to blog about that. Not that I expect Wave to fulfill all the needs I set up for a sharing tool, but I get the impression that Google is finally putting some cards on the table.
The main part of this post is in outline form. I often think through outlines, especially with such a type of notes. I fully realize that it may not be that clear, as a structure, for other people to understand. Some of these bullet points cover a much broader issue than what they look like. But the overall idea might be fairly obvious to grasp, even if it may sound crazy to other people.
I’m posting this to the benefit of anyone who may wish to build the killer app for social media. Of course, it’s just one man’s opinion. But it’s my entitled opinion.
Concepts
What do we share online?
Selective sharing
Private
Individually shared
Group shared
Shared through network
Public
Notetaking
Todos
Outlining/Mindmapping
Social aspects of sharing
Cloud computing
Personal streaming
Tagging
Required Features
Crossplatform, crossbrowser
Keyboard shortcuts
Related pages
Recommended
Quickly enter links
Archiving
Automatic processing
Thread following
Exporting
All
Selected
Formats
Features
Offline processing
Microblogging support
Fixed/Static URL
Authentication
Premium accounts
Support
Integration
Related Tools
Relevant Blogposts
3 Comments | tags: analytics, App Store, archiving, automatic processing, BackType, Blog this, bookmarking, bookmarklets, bookmarks, browsers, Chrome, cloud computing, CoComments, comment threads, content, content editors, del.icio.us, Diigo, Facebook Connect, Firefox, Flock, folksonomies, Google Accounts, Google Browser Sync, Google Friend Connect, Google Reader, Google Wave, handhelds, Identi.ca, Internet Archive, is.gd, Jaiku, Laconi.ca, Link This, linkrot, links, logbook, logging, microblogging, mindmaps, MyBlogLog, nanoblogging, notebooks, notetaking, OAuth, OpenID, Outlining, pages, personal streaming, personal wishlists, Ping.fm, quick add, Safari, Share This, short URLs, social bookmarks, social graph, social media, social Web, Spurl.net, StumpleUpon, Touch devices, Twistory, Twitter, TwtVite, ultimate tool, URL shortening, WebCitation, wishlists, Yahoo! Pipes, Zoho, Zoho Notebook, Zotero | posted in A, Amazon, blog comments, blogging systems, blogging tools, cluefulness, comment-fishing, Crazy Predictions, creativity, del.icio.us, enthusiasm, Facebook, getting things done, Google, Google Notebook, hype, knowledge management, linkfest, musings, MySpace, naïveté, new media, online privacy, online publishing, openness, optimism, participatory culture, Placeholders, predictions, productivity, ramblings, RefWorks, social bookmarking, social butterfly effect, social networks, social software, software, Spurl, tagging, tags, Tech, techno enthusiasts, techno lust, Technorati, Web 2.0, wishful thinking, wishlists, workflow, writing, YouTube