Social media

I came across some more stuff thats kinda interesting (if not earth-shattering) about social media. I found 'em both on the Pugly Pixel blog - another favourite. The owner shares lots of tips on the technical side of blogging. The two snippets I've chosen were in a Links loved post which directs you towards lots of online cool stuff that Katrina has been enjoying of late. The first is a short video from Techcrunch with entrepeneur Gary Vaynerchuk  about why manners and a human touch matter when using social media for business and how "99.5% of social media experts are clowns". Oh dear. The second is an article called "The illusion of social networks" by Semil Shah, and it somewhat reinforces my own flimsy and dubious stance on social media. Useful yes. Truly social? ...not so sure. I must say I really enjoy the interaction we've been having on our blogs! But that might be because I know you all:)

What would you save if your house/squat/apartment was burning down?

Last bit of Friday fun...this is a new blog dedicated to documenting people's favourite and most meaningful possessions. I think I'd save my old photos (from before computer-days!), my box of personal documents (containing everything from certs and qualifications to old hand-made valentines cards and diaries), my two cameras (a 70's Canon A1 I inherited from my uncle and my little digital), my phone, and ...my life! Most of the rest of what I want to own (teapots, plants, rugs, beautiful antiques) I dont own yet and thus only exists in my head... so I guess there are advantages to being young and relatively possession-less!

What would you save?

Creative Commons

I'm going to be the dissenting voice here and say that I think Creative Commons is great. I don't know a huge amount about it but what I've read would indicate that it simply offers a more web-based, social-media-friendly flexibility to copyright. Obviously creators of works need to apply a good amount of thought before making the decision about whether to go CC or C, and which type of licence to go for, but that's kind of for the best! For something like a blog it makes complete sense to me; on the web the lines are blurred between sharing and copying - but (without knowing about CC before) I'd picked up on the fact that bloggers always attribute who owns what when using content from other blogs/sites/images etc. With something like a blog the idea is to get people to read your blog - otherwise you're in a vacuum and its no fun. If a well-known blogger namedrops you in a post you get a thousand extra people who wouldn't noramlly know where to begin finding you are clicking on links to your blog. I think its broadly indicative of the new ways in which communities regulate themselves and share at the same time. I'm not using Flickr yet but I cant wait til we get there! Flickr uses CC. However, if you did want to make money from your photos you might need to double-think...But for me the bottom line is that people borrow ideas all the time and build upon them to make something new.