Tag: socialnetworking

Categories
Disliked

Vimeo vs. Gamers

Today, in tech news:

  • Twitter has announced that they are banning all messages (or “tweets”) relating to Apple, due to capacity concerns, given the massive usage spikes during Apple keynotes and product releases.
  • Flickr announced that screenshots and drawn artwork will no longer be allowed for upload, as they do not truly constitute ‘creative expression’ and do not jive with the mission of the site.
  • LiveJournal specified new policy, banning posts about user’s parents. “We simply do not want to spend the money and resources to host these entries,” said management.

To users of these services, all of this probably sounds ridiculous. Sites based around user submitted content would be foolish to restrict content based on topic, media type, or content.

The above headlines are fake, but this one is not: Vimeo is banning videos related to video games.

“The Vimeo staff has decided that we are no longer going to allow gaming videos on Vimeo. Specifically, we are no longer going to allow game walk-throughs, game strategy videos, depictions of player vs player battles, raids, fraps, or any other video gaming videos that simply depict individuals playing a video game. Videos falling into this category will be subject to deletion as of September 1st; new videos of this type will be removed.” – Blake Whitman, Vimeo Staff

Continue reading “Vimeo vs. Gamers”
Categories
Reflected

Feed Me

My family, my colleagues, and my friends are all saying the same thing: Dan, you idiot, you aren’t posting to your blog enough.
Sure, I can see how if you’re reading just this one page, you’re not seeing much happen on a daily basis. But this is hardly the only place I am “posting to”, if you want to call it that. I, like so many of my peers, sign up for nearly every new fangled website that comes along. Some fall by the wayside, but the ones that stick get constant attention. Here’s a list of where I am, effective now.

What is a man? A miserable pile of web services. But enough talk – have at you.

## Vimeo

I recently acquired a Flip Ultra video camera, and rather than deal with the brilliant human condition known as “YouTube commenters”, I’d rather post my random shit to Vimeo. Not a ton there right now, but as time goes by, more should appear. You can find my account at [www.vimeo.com/remy](http://www.vimeo.com/remy)

## Yelp

Buzz Anderson, god love him, told me that the time to join Yelp was two years ago. I never mind being late to the party. So for business reviews of all sorts and sizes, you’ll find me over here.

## Tumblr

There are two types of blog posts I specialize in: the needlessly long, and the short/stupid. I had intended for the short/stupid to end up on my Vox account, but something about the service didn’t stick. But Tumblr has what I crave – whether that be electrolytes or simple quick blogging. You can find my tumble-blog at t.vjarmy.com.

## Kongregate

I do enjoy a good bit of social gaming from time to time, and Kongregate seems like a pretty good way to do it. Add me as a friend and enjoy all sorts of crazy gaming experiences.

## The Others

Are you checking my photos regularly? Reading my bookmarks? Following my Twittering? Coordinating travel with me? Going to all tomorrow’s parties? Getting my checkins?

Following me is a full time job, I suppose.

Categories
Debated

Social Network De-evolution

The first social network to rise to any degree of prominence was [Friendster](http://www.friendster.com/). Friendster allows you to punch in a bunch of your interests, link to other friends, pull in your blog posts, share photos, etc.

Then came [Orkut](http://www.orkut.com). Orkut grew quickly because of it’s exclusive “you have to be invited in” rules, but then quickly burned out as everyone went to [MySpace](http://www.myspace.com/). MySpace was – and is – ugly as sin, horribly non-functional, and generally is a contradiction of all that had gone to move the web forward since its inception. This, somehow, made it immensely popular.

Since MySpace has become the unstoppable force in the “this is all of who I am” space, recent social networks have forced you to specialize. Music users can plug in to [lastfm](http://last.fm) or [iLike](http://www.ilike.com]; people looking for business connections can network on [LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/). [Flickr](http://www.flickr.com/) can act as a glorified social network for photographers. And so on.

Meanwhile, activity-based social networks sprang up. [Dodgeball](http://www.dodgeball.com/) broadcasts your location to your friends. [Upcoming](http://www.upcoming.org/) lets you plan events – Evite on steroids.

The many splinter social networks are interesting, because each one limits your scope. I can’t find my friends who aren’t into digital photography on Flickr. I’m not going to link up with people outside of NYC on Dodgeball. Each network becomes more insular, more specialized.

And so now we reach [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/). Twitter is, as best I can tell, the exact reverse of the original sorts of social networks – your profile is meager, your interests unimportant. Twitter allows you to bomb your friends with updates about what you’re doing in 145 character or less – like Dodgeball, only without the locations. Or neighborhood detection.

I’ve been using it a bit more today after signing up last month – and while Twitterific is a nice client, I’m still trying to get the appeal. It’s certainly an interesting sort of party-line chat that doesn’t require you to be constantly signed in, but there’s something I’m not quite catching. Maybe it’s because after two years on Dodgeball, I know that most people aren’t using the chat functions.

My profiles for all the sites mentioned above: [Friendster](http://www.friendster.com/dandickinson) – [MySpace](http://myspace.com/remydwd) – [last.fm](http://last.fm/user/remydwd) – [iLike](http://ilike.com/user/Dan_D2) – [LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/in/remydwd) � [Flickr](http://flickr.com/people/remydwd) � [Dodgeball](http://www.dodgeball.com/user?uid=16789) � [Upcoming](http://upcoming.org/user/384/) � [Twitter](http://twitter.com/Remy)