One of the things that I have come to appreciate through social media is that more is more. I mean this in direct opposition to the notion that "less is more" — where there is a suggestion that quality is a rare feature and that ideas or even commodities gain power through their exclusiveness.
Online conversation is a great example of this. For example, when someone new visits your blog and leaves a messages, what do you do? Do you respond personally via email? Do you comment back through the comments section on your blog? Do you visit THEIR blog (if they have one)? OR … is it too much? Do you not have the time to respond? Or are you at saturation point with your online networking and feel that it is beginning to impinge on your FIRST LIFE?
Many of these questions also apply to the raft of new software and application releases. Do you try Pownce, watch Joost, chat on Twitter and digg your favourite posts? Of course, entry for these rides is FREE — the only thing you need is a jot of time and perhaps an invitation — but this "free" price is becoming par for the course … and we may not be interested in being paid for trialling. The only way out of this conundrum will be to head back the other way … exclusive subscription use. And as I have not done a prediction in ages, here is one now — exclusive subscriptions due to come from Apple for the next must-have social networking site.
Oh, and as more is always more, take a look at the Australian focused news/bookmarking/sharing site called Confer. It is free.
I remember the first time that you tried to comment on my first blog. Do you remember? It was so difficult for you because of that daft system I was using. You had to send me emails, ask for advise and register. I will never forget the effort you went through just to leave a comment on my blog.
The effort sealed this strange online relationship we have.
Does that make sense?
Well… This is definitely something that I think about a lot. A LOT.
I notice that each person I “know” in the blogosphere has a different way of doing things, a different way of using the technologies that they associate with. I’ve personally tried a lot of these networking tools and I have since whittled down my online “portfolio” to the things I use the most, where I actually have friends and associates that use the services as well. These are:
Wordpress Blogs (I have 3)
Myspace
Facebook
Flickr
Twitter
IILWY
LinkedIn
Delicious
And of course 3 emails, and AIM.
I use all of these quite a bit, and I really like the functionality. They all enrich my online AND offline life. Of course, I have profiles here and there that I never use… I probably still have one on Friendster. Any more, though, and I might explode.