When I was first introduced to Twitter, I was a bit overwhelmed. Was I supposed to start recording every event in my life now? Do I want to record the fact that I just ate a chicken salad? And if I do, does anyone care? But then I realized that this is the beauty of Twitter. Yes, people actually care.

Twitter is a great way to stay informed about what your friends are up to even if you haven’t talked to them in a long time. It’s also great for all those networking parties where you need to make small talk with various people and you don’t know where to start off. If you know who will be at the event, you can check out their twitter page the day before and surprise them by knowing what they did last night, what conferences they just attended, or even when was the last time they had the flu.

I also think it can be useful for oneself, sort of like a diary, to look back at and remember what you did on a particular day.

The real beauty of Twitter is in its simplicity of use. It’s easy, it’s fast, it doesn’t require a large attention span. Just type in anything - your thoughts, the event you just attended, the post you just wrote, the movie you just saw. Everyone has their own style of using Twitter.

Twitter allows you to learn little details about the daily lives of your online friends that you wouldn’t otherwise know. For instance, I would have never imagined that Kent spent his evening dining twelve nine year old girls (sorry Kent, it was just too funny :-)). At the same time, I can let my online friends know a little about my own daily activities, stuff they wouldn’t find out from reading my blog posts or looking at my digg links.

In conclusion, much to my surprise, I really like and enjoy Twitter. Everyone has their own way of using Twitter, so find your own. I recommend it to all of you. Oh, and make sure to add me as a contact!

Technorati tags: twitter, networking, kent newsome, blog, digg

Today I tried YoName , a service that allows you to find users on all the following social networks: MySpace, LinkedIn, Digg, FaceBook, Friendster, Match, and Xanga.

Its homepage looks like a typical search engine start page. You can search for someone by their user-name or email address. I entered my name, and although I am registered on most of these networks, the search came back with only one result. Therefore results don’t seem to be that accurate. Search results typically include the user photo, location and age, as well as a link to the public URL of the respective social network. If YoName can’t find an exact match, they will show all similar matches.

What YoName doesn’t mention is the fact that if you search for someone by his/her email address it will send an email notification to that person letting them know someone is searching for them. Kinda creepy no? First of all, why don’t they mention this anywhere? Second, I understand that YoName is using this technic to let everyone know about its service, but does this really act as an incentive for me to go and search for someone knowing that this person will receive such an email? Granted, the email doesn’t specify who was searching, but still. Is this the kind of email you want to wake up to?

YoName which launched about a week ago, has received much coverage. Much more than it expected probably. The service was down for a little while this week as servers could not keep up with the large volume of traffic. Matt Dusig, the CEO of YoName commented: “We just launched the service 1 week ago and have been a victim of our own success. A great problem to have… but yes, we don’t have enough servers yet. We’ll take care of solving that problem on right away”.

YoName is targeting the social network aggregator crowd. The most useful place for YoName would seem to be within a social network aggregating service, so you can find the users you want to add to your centralized profile location. YoName won’t offer you updates on information and you can’t save searches.

Some questions I still have:

1) How does YoName plan to make a profit off of this?

2) When can we expect accurate search results?

4) Does YoName plan to add all of the other social networks as well?

Technorati tags: yoname, myspace, linkedin, digg, facebook, friendster, match, xanga, social networks, search, matt dusig

Jeff Pulver and Chris Brogan invite you to watch their live TV show later today at 12 PM EST (9am PST / 1700 GST / 1800 CET / 1900 Tel Aviv). To watch, please visit the show page on Ustream.tv.

Jeff & Chris urge you all to call in with any comments or questions you have regarding internet tv (The call-in number will be announced during the show).

As for the reason for the new show? Jeff says: “In the past few days I had seen others go live on Ustream.tv with just a laptop and a webcam and I wanted to see if I could make something of higher production value for our viewers.”

The changes we are experiencing today in the media world are astounding and there’s no turning back. In Jeff’s words: “From a traditional media perspective, I could not fathom what the costs would have been for us to rent satellite time for us to broadcast our live Internet TV show into all of the locations where we had viewers….now anyone with a laptop, broadband access and a webcam can create their own live Internet TV show in a matter of minutes.”

The first live call-in show was held April 18th and today will mark its second appearance. If for some reason, you cannot view it today, don’t worry, there will be more to come. Make sure to check the show page for updates.

Technorati tags: jeff pulver, chris brogan, internet tv, ustream.tv, media

As a follow up to my earlier post entitled “what does community mean to you?”, it is interesting to see how social networking sites and blogs helped the Virginia Tech community communicate during the shootings. InformationWeek reported that day: “Virginia Tech students and staff reported on what appeared to be the deadliest shooting on a U.S. college campus as it unfolded, using blogs, social networking sites, podcasts, and cell phones to do it…A student captured the sound of several gunshots on campus.”

You can see some of the blog entries posted during the time of the shooting on CollegeMedia.com, the website of the publisher of Virginia Tech’s campus newspaper. Cybersoc.com has rounded up a few shocking first hand accounts from bloggers on the traumatic events, as well as Boing Boing which also has a roundup of first-hand coverage that includes Flickr photos of police cars on the scene.

Dan Gillmor from Center for Citizen Media Blog writes: “More and more major news stories will be amplified in this way. Spot news will be, in part, a citizen-captured phenomenon, and there’s no going back.”

I think that news events being covered by citizens in this format is definitely the wave of the future and this will allow us all to further understand the power of these social tools and to record events in a more truthful and accurate manner.

Thanks to Kevin Cupp for the pic.

Technorati tags: blogs, cell phones, virginia tech, shootings, community, social networking, informationweek, podcasts, collegemedia, cybersoc, boingboing, flickr, dan gillmor, center for citizen media, news

Since it was Holocaust Remembrance Day this week, I found myself thinking: Would the holocaust be possible in a time like today when we have the internet, online communities, and blogs? In an age of endless networking and community building, what do these communities really mean to us? How do we define a community today?

If a mass killing were to happen now, how would we all react? Would we reach out to those from our online communities who need our help? Would we take care of each other and write about it in our blogs, asking governments to take action? Would we digg and delicious our posts, giving them a common tag on technorati in hope that they reach the widest possible audience? Would we open a flickr account so we could share photos and upload a video to YouTube? In a social networking age like today, how would we deal?

When you enter an online community. you start building your profile, uploading videos and pictures, blogging, adding your favorite sites and widgets. You share little bits and pieces of yourself with your community hoping that members will be interested enough to go through the pieces, and also share a couple of their own. In any such network, you will probably make some connections. Certain people like to explore and learn about others before making them contacts, while others simply add contacts randomly. Some approve every request for a connection whereas others have certain criteria for approving a contact. Everyone’s behavioral patterns are different.

You may start chatting, skyping, emailing, perhaps even meeting your connections in person. But how close do you feel to your online connections? If they need you, will you be there? What meaning do these connections take on for you? Given the large number of contacts that we each have in the various communities, is it even possible to form personal connections with everyone? Probably not, Just like in real life, you will most often make deeper connections with certain members than others. Are these connections that we can depend on?

I’d like to believe that community and sharing have not become empty words in our lexicon and that we’re not using the word community only to define a business model that prevents churn. I can only hope that in an age where open communication has been made so easy, horrible tragedies like the Holocaust could not happen again. Hopefully we will never need to find out.

I would like to thank John Suler for the brilliant pic.

Technorati tags: holocaust, community, internet, blogs, digg, delicious, technorati, flickr, youtube, social networking, contacts, skyping, sharing, John Suler

There’s been a lot of talk recently in the blogosphere regarding Tim O’Reilly’s call for a “Blogger’s Code of Conduct“. O’Reilly wants us all to play nice now and put civility badges on our sites. Frankly I find this whole idea to be pretentious and disturbing. O’Reilly will decide what I can or cannot post on my blog? And if I don’t place a badge on my blog, will I be called a “commie”?

I think that such a code of conduct misses the point of blogging, the internet, and human behavior in general. The whole idea of blogging is based on the notion that I as a blogger have the freedom to write my opinion, no matter what it should be, and that people have the right to react to my opinions. Isn’t that what freedom of speech is all about? The minute we start regulating blogging behavior and adding rules and censorship to the blogosphere, we lose its most precious element of freedom.

Of course I am not saying that derogatory comments such as the death threats that were sent to Kathy Sierra should be ignored. However, don’t we have the law to deal with these sorts of issues? Why do we need to add extra regulations specifically pertaining to the blogosphere?

I completely agree with Kent Newsome’s words:

“Here’s an Idea: Just Be Nice

Rather than try to recreate the world, how about just apply the real world rules of common sense and courtesy to the blogosphere. Everyone interacts with other people all day every day in the real world, and we don’t need Tim O’Reilly to rewrite the Golden Rule for us.”

I act as a civilized member of my online and offline community not because I put a badge on my forehead saying that I will do so, but because I just do. I don’t need Tim O’Reilly or any other form of “higher authority” controlling what I do or say on my blog. This type of control scares me more than all the nasty comments I had read about.

Robert Scoble writes:

“I do find disquieting the social pressure to get on board with this program. Tim O’Reilly is a guy who really can affect one’s career online (and off, too). I do have to admit that I feel some pressure just to get on board here and that makes me feel very uneasy.”

I find this picture very disturbing. Don’t you?

Let us focus on writing good blogs, interacting in good and meaningful debate, and not on limiting our abilities to express our minds and our notions in a world that was meant to do just that.

Technorati tags: Tim O’Reilly, Blogger’s Code of Conduct, badge, blogging, internet, law, freedom, blogosphere, Kathy Sierra, Kent Newsome, Robert Scoble

It may be time for Darwin’s theory of “Survival of the Fittest” to take its place in the Web 2.0 industry. It seems that we have been bombarded with yet another social networking site, yet another social bookmarking site, yet another video site, and yet no real differentiation or improvement of the user experience between the different services. I try to cover as many of the web 2.0 sites which I think are making a difference, but it seems the market has been saturated with similar sites, all offering the same services. Every person I’ve met recently has his own startup or is thinking of opening one. Perhaps it is time that we take a step back and reconsider new and innovative ideas that are not meant to add to the users’ list of already available services, but to provide them with better and enhanced services than what is being offered today.

Technorati tags: startup, darwin, survival of fittest, web 2.0, video, social networking, social bookmarking, saturation, innovation

SuTree, a new Israeli startup which aggregates instructional “how to” videos, will announce its launch today.

SuTree videos are submitted and rated by users, and come mainly from sites like VideoJug and Metacafe.

All videos are nicely organized and there are many different topics to choose from such as: Health, Food & Drink, Home & Garden, Languages. There’s a lot of good stuff there for students as well…wow, I wish I had these tools when I was back in high school. It’s much more fun learning algebra or studying for the SAT’s like this.

SuTree is targeting the same audience as 5min.com, but it has the advantage of containing videos from different communites. I also found SuTree to be clearer, better organized, and more pleasing to the eye in its design. However the big problem with SuTree is this: Even though the site calls itself a “knowledge community”, it is missing the community. Users don’t add profiles and don’t connect with one another. This is a huge advantage that 5min.com has over it. If SuTree is to compete effectively in the instructional videos sector, it should definitely add the social aspect to its platform.

Technorati tags: sutree, israeli, startup, video, user generated, content, videojug, metacafe, instructional, tutorials, 5min, community, social

nPost.com , a leading technology experts interviews website, has recently launched a new job board specifically targeted towards individuals looking for positions in small to medium-sized startups. The board currently lists over 350 jobs from more than 50 different companies. Nathan Kaiser, the founder of nPost.com, says: “By focusing on this market, we hope to bring together startups with the type of individuals who want to help build, grow, and create something new and dynamic.”

In addition to the job board, Nathan has conducted over 160 interviews with CEOs and entrepreneurs talking about their insights, goals, revenue models, funding, and hiring practices. nPost.com also holds networking events in Vancouver BC and soon will be holding such events in Seattle and Portland as well.

Even though design-wise the site could use a makeover, I found nPost.com to be a great resource for people seeking jobs in the startup industry, and for any entrepreneur looking to learn from the experience of some of the market’s leading technology experts. I especially enjoyed the interviews conducted with Tim Westergren founder and CSO of Pandora, Michael Tanne founder and CEO of Wink, and Aaron Levie, founder and CEO of Box.net.

I think that nPost.com should consider adding more features to its site such as its own social network where members with similar job positions and professional skills could connect.

Technorati tags: npost, interviews, startup, jobs, boards, nathan kaiser, revenue models, funding, tim westergren, pandora, michael tanne, wink, aaron levie, box.net, social network

The user-generated video media landscape is changing quickly. While all of us enjoy seeing frat boys burping on one another or cute puppies who have special licking skills on YouTube every once in a while, Network2 offers those of us looking for higher quality, episodic programming on the web, an alternative.

Network2 which launched on October 16th, 2006, has created an internet TV guide of the best independently produced video shows on the web. Shows were picked based on their quality and originality. You can find over 500 web shows all aggregated into one site, add your own comments, rate the shows, and add tags to help users find what they’re looking for.

Once you’ve found your favorite shows, you can create your own channel, share it with friends, create a widget on your site, and also load it into your video browser like FireAnt or iTunes, even into your portable media player. You can check out my channel widget on this blog. Just click on any of the shows and you will be redirected to the episode page.

It is not surprising that the idea to create Network2 originated with Jeff Pulver, who had made VoIP a household term and VON a force. Pulver along with Video-on-the-Net Alliance, has also recently petitioned the FCC to keep Internet video free of the kinds of content regulations that currently apply to broadcasting and cable services. See petition here.

I have to say that I am already hooked on some of the shows. My favorites so far: The Clip Show, which reviews the world of vloggers, sort of like the “Talk Soup” of Vlogging, WallStrip which mixes stock news and pop culture (highly recommended), Alive in Baghdad featuring citizen journalists covering the war with a camcorder, and Technorati’s own show covering just about everything on the web and beyond.

For vloggers, Network2 gives the platform to show their talent to the world and gain publicity. Television and cable networks are already looking into these shows and who they want to sign up. As viewers, Network2 allows us to decide what we want to watch, when we want to watch it, and experience the amazing talent of these vloggers. Believe me, most of what I’ve watched on Network2 was much more entertaining and interesting than anything I’ve recently seen on TV.

I don’t believe that Internet TV will kill broadcast network TV nor cable, just like TV didn’t kill radio or movies, but Network2 provides a more suitable product for the world we live in today. We the viewers now hold the remote control.

Network2 had recently held a contest where they asked people to create a clip that shows others “How to Watch Internet TV“. I couldn’t end this post without showing you this hilarious video created by Adam Swan displaying just how great Network2 is compared to regular TV.

Click To Play

Lastly, for those of you who are familiar with Network2, check out the new “look and feel” of the site.

Technorati tags: network2, internettv, usergenerated, video, youtube, widget, fireant, itunes, jeff pulver, VoIP, VON, Video on the Net Alliance, FCC, The Clip Show, vlogging, Talk Soup, WallStrip, Alive in Baghdad, Technorati, TV, cable, Adam Swan