Category Archives: Socialization

The Twitter Tradeoff

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Do you follow many people or few? This is the most essential question and most disputed aspect of Twitter, although it is also a huge part of other networks as well. I’ve been thinking about it alot the past month and  the answer is both depending on how you want to use the service. You can go small and extract alot of data and make deeper relationships or you can go big and funnel your relationships though they would be diluted.

Why go Small?

The main reason to go small is that you can stay heavily connected and have relevant data flowing constantly with out much noise in the stream. The system was originally designed for keeping track of friends so it makes sense to stay small. There are still problems with only following a few people and the main problem is based on the reciprocal friending that occurs on the service, if you are followed by someone they want you to follow them back. Having only a small group makes it hard to get a large set of advice and responses when you ask a question.

Why go Big?

The main reason to go big is to spur on the reciprocity that I mentioned above that allows you to poll your followers for answers. Also with the reciprocal reaction that gives you lots of followers it allows you to market yourself and your products to them. Another plus that comes with the mass friending is if your able to monitor and track the data that is coming through your stream you can pull out large amounts of focused data.

Now the downside of big is that you can’t build meaningful relationships easily with your friends based off of their tweets. You are opening the door to spammers by (auto-)following everyone back. It makes it harder to use apps because of to much data coming into the API for your user.

My Choice: Small

To me I’d rather have a large group of followers that I could ping off of but only be following a subset of them so that I can have a wealthy stream of information that’s relevant to me. To me I don’t want to have a lot of crap, I want to have valuable wealth inducing assets in my stream. It’s up to you whether you are marketing or there to extract information and build relationships to decide which path you want.

Note this is something that is equally applicable through the broad area of Social Media and it’s up to you. Twitter just takes this single aspect and inflames it in how their service is used making the way you use the service change based on the numbers. One site that has a similar set of changing data based on the numbers of friends & followers is Digg in that you have the ability to shout a story(currently being analysed for removal) to your friends to get dugg up.

Social Impacts Of A Stone Soup

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Have you heard the Grimm tale “Stone Soup“? It’s a tale of travelers that, being famished, come up with an ingenious plot to get food. In doing so they create an air of mystery by starting their plot with a fire and placing a kettle, filled with nothing but water and a stone, upon it. As the townspeople come forth to question what they are creating they reply with the simple response, “Stone soup, but it would be more delicious if we had such and such ingredients.” As everyone in the town comes forth the soup has grown into a meat and vegetable soup, with a fairly hearty broth, that everyone shares. It is a tale of co-operation and compassion that provide all parties better off than they were as individuals.

It is a story that aligns very well with the depression and wartime era’s of the early 20th century. During these tough times, friends, family, and neighbors would gather what little they had and make hearty feasts to share with each other. This would provide them with more variety in the foods they were able to make and they were also connecting with each other.

Co-operation and compassion are key in tough times in keeping your communities strong.

There is no greater proof than David Armano’s assistance with his family friend, on Tuesday night. He used his personal capital on Twitter, friendfeed, and his blog to raise just under $15,000 for her in the past 24 hours. What this proves, is what we are all involved in on these social arenas is very much a community, nearly as real as that which we walk through each day. When we had raised $7,000 for Daniela, David created a video thanking everyone who contributed, with donations or spreading the word, but the thing that stuck out is he spoke of a feast with neighbors in which they would all cook everything when the power would go out and share with each other.

If one person can start an initiative to help another and raise that much in a day, what is stopping us from helping those that need it now more than ever. We have hit a period in which everyone is hurting, much like the depression and wartime eras. If we can share what we have with others to make our community better and also make connections what is the hindrance.

If we can share what we have with others to make our community better and also make connections what is the hindrance.

Non-Linearity Of Education

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I was re-reading through, “The Black Swan,” and came across this passage.

Your child does not seem to have a learning impediment, but he does not seem to want to speak. The schoolmaster pressures you to start considering “other options,” namely therapy. You argue with her to no avail (she is supposed to be the “expert”). Then, suddenly, the child starts composing elaborate sentences, perhaps a  bit too elaborate for his age group. I will repeat that linear progression, a Platonic idea, is not the norm.”

Now, the reason I mention this is that I know for a fact that this exact example is very true. I went through it when I was in  2nd grade, of the K-12 system, at age 7. I didn’t know how to tie my shoes, dress myself, but the big one where school comes in was my reading comprehension and verbal language.  However, by my 3rd grade year, age 8, I could tie my shoes and dress myself, but also my reading comprehension had jumped to that of an average 10th graders, verbal language was also on par with older students. Over time, they have both lost that advantage.

Education will never be a linear system, yet, that’s how our systems treats it. Our system focuses on the ones with the most promise to fill the position, the rest are left alone or sent to remediation to see if they can recover, most can’t. I was the exception to this case and even now I’m behind in my composition and verbal usage, I’m sure it shows.

I would be pleased to hear any stories that you may have to share on the subject.

Walking Through Darkness To Find Life

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As I begin my decent down the side of the winding mountain road, the air is frigid and the world silent. This night is young and shall welcome emotion all along the way; let it be fear, love, the search for something more, or just serenity. I have left my home on a voyage seeking something unknown for an unknown reason, but tonight my feet shall carry me.

As I walk through this frigid world, I have nothing to distract me from what is inside. I open myself up to everything that enters my mind. I am only on this journey for the pleasure that may wait on the other end. As I reach the bottom of the mountain, the lights begin to grow dim from the world above. I have a strong sense of fear growing over me as I don’t know what awaits around the next turn, could be nothing, could be pain. I hear a river rippling off in the distance and walk towards it, because I know it will be my guide through the night. My only friend, the only sound in the dark, it leads me along yet never fails me. This shall go on for multiple hours, tonight.

After about two hours, my mind begins to wander, “What have I done?”, “Why are you doing this?”, “What do you seek that is this important?” My answer to the first is a triviality, because there is no turning back from here, not now. I can only assume that I have to do this for my fear or for the fact of my own humanity. ” What do you seek that is this important,” how do you answer, so many possible things. This is when I come to realize I have lost myself in society. We have no knowledge of what it is to be free from everything, no one to bother you, nothing to distract you, just the open mind that you find filling your body with brash feelings.

The mind shall fill you full of hope, even when there is none. The mind shall fill you full of the memories of love, even if they be only memories. The mind shall fill you with dreams and delusions, even if they can never come true. Some dreams can come true; all they require is a steady will and a challenge for it. Your will can get you over the obstacles in life, if you allow it.

This is the challenge that I face, and is one I cannot do without in my life; the challenge of understanding me and what I want from life. I realized then that all I ever wanted was to take care of everyone that I care for. I cannot do this in my current state so I will have to apply everything to make this work. I have to force my way through life, ambition will get me there but only if I am wise enough to know how to control it.

Learn While Working

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Skimming through my library this afternoon, I came across Rich Dad, Poor Dad and it has maybe one section worth reading, ‘Work to Learn’. This is a great idea that I employed in my job search, over the last couple of months.This is one of approach that many people don’t think about though it’s one of the best ways to search for a job.

The work you do should rub off on you in positive ways that add to your value as a person, provides a skill or increases your abilities. In the formal education system we choose our education to help us get work when we’re done. Many  people don’t choose a job for what value it will add to their skills but for what it will add to their wallet. This principle is best suited for the younger job seekers, late teens-early 30′s. The older age groups may gain something from it but with far less potential for reinvesting those skills.

A great example is myself and how this principle has improved me. I’ve been socially inept all my life, except for close friends I didn’t enjoy dealing with people. Even in college I only interacted with the people I had to and friends from high school. However, just over a month ago, I got a job as a rental agent and have become a much more social person. I have to interact with people every day, settling complaints, providing them directions, and helping them find assistance if I can provide it. I have seen this skill improve as I’m more comfortable sharing with people than ever before. I went from a secluded introvert to a secluded extrovert(geographically secluded, for now).

I’m also working on several web projects. These projects have provided me a way to learn more languages and study them deeper, than I would if I was just doing it for fun, though it is. I have increased my knowledge in this area though it’s still inefficient and everything is in the red. Several hundred dollars versus several thousand for school though put’s it in perspective 40-60 hrs/week vs. 80-100 hrs/week. It seems like a fair trade; though, it punishes me if I want to go search for a job at a top Tech Company.

This is example of how successful it can be, I learned how to socialize and that wouldn’t have been taught to me in any school. If you wanted to learn skills through interaction; try and find a position, or create one, where you are forced to learn the valuable lessons, relating to that skill. Think about it your getting paid to increase your personal assets that you can take elsewhere, if you hate the job pick a new skill.