Clunky Flow

From here:

The problem that I’m seeing with most of the current social networks is that 90% of the time spent on those social networks is work that is done in order to maintain currency, keep content fresh, and continue building a sprawling network of friends and raise popularity.

So, what does that mean? What it boils down to is this: If you are working for your social network instead of your social network working for you, you my friend, are standing on top of a classic MMO-style treadmill grind.

I have bobbed in and out of various social networks and there is something that every single one of them had in common: for me to gain any value from that network, I had to go out of my way to perform repetitive, out-of-band tasks just to gain any value from the network. Having been the victim of many a MMO treadmill grind, I recognize an infinite loop of horse poo when I see it, so I bailed.
I have yet to find a measurable value in Facebook or any of a dozen other social networks I’ve played with.

At some point, someone is going to get it “right”, and there will be a social network that gives us tremendous value without us having to sacrifice for the cause, and all of the apologists using MySpace, Facebook, and the others who don’t know they’re apologists will flee to the new network in droves.

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via Ina

Social network is a terrrible metaphor
If you’ve ever talked to me, I have probably taken you by the pin of your collar and blasted something like this in your direction: ‘Social networks!? Don’t talk to me about social networks! I despise the term. Not only is a terrrible metaphor for reality. Its dangerrous and damaging as well”

We must start using the social cloud
If you didn’t manage to escape at this point, I’d have continued “We need a new metaphor, such as a social cloud, that recognizes the esssential fluidity and dynanism of social relationships. Only then can we hope to build platforms that don’t direct people into autistic-style interactions that plague these so-called social networks”

At which point, I’d generally point up to the sky and get a far away look in my eye. Which was also your cue to slip away unnoticed.

Its not just me…
Well, I think its only fair to warn you that there’s more of the same coming. You’ll no longer be able to escape by simply avoiding me. Other people are starting to say the same thing. Normal people. Respectable people. Using almost exactly the same words. But unaccompanied by the wild-eyed look.

Skip the first 14 minutes and watch to the end.

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Over at eirepreneur.com I dropped what started as a short comment but got carried away. James then higlighted the comment by republishing it in full as a post in its own right. So I thought should have a record of it on my own blog too. If you’re a regular reader of eirepreneur my apologies for the comment burp. Please excuse…

In response to my post about Continuous Partial Attention and Flow Niall Larkin posts another one of those comments that’s just too good to leave drifting downstream -

“Maybe these guys are getting into a tangle ‘cos they are just mixing up their ideas and flow streams. Off the top of my head, Stowe Boyd was talking about social flow or the flow of information through ambient channels in social groups. While Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi was talking about the sensation of flow that we experience internally when focused and tuned into and deeply engaged in a specific task that challenges us. And Marc Andreesen is talking about the other side of Linda’s ‘continuous partial attention’ coin by describing ‘continuous partial interruption’…. more

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