Comments on: boing boing and baked-in sociality etc.

By: James Cioban

James Cioban — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:08:11 +0000

Just came across this and love the conceptual framework. With the social web driving so much more business today, the concept of measuring your marketing’s potential as “social objects” is a powerful. More businesspeople, especially in stodgy, old-line industries (e.g. automobiles or copiers need to grasp this simple, but elegant idea if they want to propel their marketing from the “as-is” to the “needs-to-be” in a timely manner.

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:15:52 +0000

Your take on Boing Boing is right in line with mine. I agree that the reason they are so popular is because their content is the kind of stuff that people want to share with their friends. This generates the kind of natural linking that all bloggers want for their blogs.

By: John R. Sedivy

John R. Sedivy — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:59:58 +0000

Well said — I had not considered the aspect of sociality before! You are correct that great content alone does not create a great blog. I believe that great content is the foundation and the social experience (sharing) is what propels the bog to greater heights.

By: David Carr

David Carr — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:35:45 +0000

The internet lets the crowd raise-up the things it likes with links and tags and re-posts, and damn the things it doesn’t like with a pointed lack of attention. Old passive message, big idea, objective correlative creative with a big call to action, and series of key frame proof points doesn’t cut it anymore. There is too much noise: now things have to be good enough to share.
But just because something is good enough to share and inherently interesting doesn’t mean it will catch on and spread through the network. The work that is interesting must be structured for the network, as demonstrated by SharedEgg. That is the nature of successful Social Objects or the ideas that use them.
Work/Ideas must allow the crowd to create nodal points within their part of the network. A Nodal point is a (potentially distributed) collection of content, conversations and links that spread a meme/concept and cause the ideas and journeys around it to be reshaped and dragged just like a planet’s mass influences the passage of time around it. It is a key point in the narrative of the net.
Anything we create must also contain an idea that can be reprocessed and played with, passed on and owned.
This gives us two key challenges, one commercial and one sociological: (1) how do we make things that are good enough to share, and good enough to create or contribute to nodal points; and (2) how do we use creative to help shape the network so that the nodal points it throws up in the future are useful and “the best for society”?

By: Layne

Layne — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:27:03 +0000

Hugh, we used to read (in those annoying books about how men and women are different) that males bond over objects and females over “secrets” or basically communication. I wonder if anyone’s done a study in social networking stats, by gender, of link sending/posting? Thanks for the BoingBoing links — I’d not been there — go figure.

By: Jamie Lee

Jamie Lee — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:28:10 +0000

What a great insight. Reading your post prompted one of those little “a-ha!” moments that remind me how much fun learning can be.
As an iPhone junkie, I especially appreciate that reference and can unabashedly relate to the truth that half the fun of having an iPhone is chatting with other addicts about all the great apps I’ve “discovered.” I have started spontaneous iPhone conversations with waiters, random coffee house patrons, people on the street, playground moms, and other complete strangers. My favorite encounters are with iPhone newbies who are delighted to have the input of a more “seasoned” addict.
Business may be business, but humans are — as you point out — “social creatures.” In personal and business relationships, it always behooves us to remember that fact and tailor our communications accordingly.
Thanks for the moment of clarity!

By: vasantharaj

vasantharaj — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 07:41:32 +0000

this information is really useful to me, thank u