Danny Brown

podcaster - author - creator

social media

The Social Media Drinking Game

IMG_25581The weekend’s almost here, and for the U.S. it’s the Fourth of July weekend.

So, in honour of that and to help your weekend get off to a flier let me introduce the Social Media Drinking Game. It’s ideal for long drunken sessions or short thirst quenchers – or even both at once.

And if you’re not celebrating Independence Day this weekend – join in the fun anyway!

The rules are simple – just follow the instructions below. And remember to leave the car keys at home!

  • If you hear the phrase “echo chamber”, have a full glass of beer. You may hear this a lot and being drunk and comatose will help you get by.
  • If you’re dissed by Amanda Chapel… actually, you get nothing. This isn’t a challenge at all.
  • Every time Mashable does a Twitter story, have a shot of chilled vodka. Be prepared to get very drunk.
  • If Brian Solis writes a blog post less than 1,000 words, have some champagne. This deserves a special drink.
  • For every Twitter profile that has “guru”, “ninja”, “jedi”, “expert” or “master” in it, have a Jack Daniel’s and coke. The soft drink might just keep you going longer.
  • If someone is speaking at the equivalent of a conference a month on the same topic to the same audience, have a single malt Scotch.

Okay, these are just some to get you started. What others would you add to the cocktail?

Note – this is just a bit of fun to lead into the weekend; don’t take it too seriously. The majority of people on here I respect immensely. Happy Fourth of July!

Creative Commons License photo credit: mark sebastian

A Burst of Reality in Social Media

We spend so much time in social media that it’s easy to forget real life. Yes, social media is “real life” but I think you know what I mean.

I just found out from a friend that blogger and Twitter user Meg Porter (@megapixel) was killed in a car crash last week.

She was 24-years old. Just a kid, really, with a huge life ahead of her.

I’d chatted a few times with Meg a while back but, like so many other connections, never really had? a chance to get to know her really well. But I do recall her making me laugh a few times with her words.

Even though I didn’t know Meg as much as some of my other online friends, the news of her death still came as a shock and upsets me. So much life taken away in an instant. So much for Meg to live for.

Meg was a great video blogger, and her videos show you a lot more behind the person. She also took some great photographs and you could tell that a brilliant, creative mind lived inside this young lady.

We move in such fast circles and fast times, always chasing the newest application or technology, that we can forget there are real people and real things happening every hour, every day away from our computer screens.

Meg Porter was one of these people. Her sad death is one of these real things.

While social media is the space we live in, let’s make sure we enjoy the space away from it too. We never know when it might end.

My thoughts go out to Meg’s family and friends – I’m sorry for your loss.

What Does Social Action Mean to You?

So it’s been a quiet few days here. Mainly because I’ve been busy with this special 12for12k event.

Since I’m still in catch-up-on-rest mode after 24 hours of fundraising and fun, I’m going to share this interesting video that Nicole D’Alonzo made as part of the 12for12k event.

In it she asks the question, “What does social action mean to you?”

The answers are interesting (and good to see so much awareness as well). My sincere thanks to Niki for going out on the streets of New York to do this, and I guess the same question goes to you.

What does social action mean to you?

Why Semanti Smart Search is Going to Rock Your Social Web Experience

While Bing has been making the news recently, new web browser add-on Semanti Smart Social Search looks set to take search to another level again.

Released to the public today, Semanti doesn’t seek to replace Google, Yahoo, or Bing. Instead, it aims to offer a truly semantic experience for anyone using these search engines to find information.

Not only that, but it offers interaction as well with your friends on Facebook using the Facebook Connect option. More on that in a bit.

So how does Semanti work and why should you be excited about using it? To get the full scoop, I chatted with Semanti CEO Bruce Johnson about some of the key features and future plans and tinkered with the beta version over the weekend.

Why Semanti?

Search engines have come a long way in the last year. Newcomers continue to try improve how we gather information, some more successful than others.

Yet a lot of the time, results can vary depending on what search engine you’re using and how well a website or web page has been optimized for search. The top results aren’t necessarily the best.

Currently available as a download for Firefox 3 or greater, where Semanti differs is how the information is both gathered and displayed.

“The problem with the current search engines is that there’s a lot of ambiguity,” says Bruce. “Which isn’t surprising – there are over 10 billion web pages on the web, and dissecting this noise can be tough, especially with different names or terms for the same thing.” Thanks to Semanti Suggest?, any ambiguity is soon dealt with.

Better Results with Semanti Suggest

An example is the word “apple” – type that into Google and it returns the Apple company, apple the fruit, images from Flickr and similar. With Semanti Suggest, however, a drop-down menu with a descriptive side box allows you to choose which definition you mean.

You can then edit labels regarding that result, so the next time you used search and you typed in “computer” or “Mac”, Apple the company would be the result.

Semanti Suggest also takes into account the difference between users internationally. An apartment in the U.S. may be a condo in Canada, which may be a flat in the U.K. Or, New York may be searched as NYC or the Big Apple as well. Thanks to Semanti’s ontology software, it will recognize that these mean the same thing and bring up the results you’re after.

“At the moment, Semanti has more than 8 million terms and 2.7 million unique concepts to grab this information and we will continue to add as new yet related phrases come to light,” explains Bruce. “We also plan to use our community to help keep us up-to-date by using a Wiki-like system further down the line.”

Semanti Suggest also gives you an option to preview the results. Just click the preview tab and you’ll be able to view the website in question via an in-line box opening up. Simple yet incredibly useful.

Making Search Results Personal

Another of the cool concepts behind the Semanti web browser is MyWeb. Similar to standard bookmarking options, MyWeb allows you to save a page you like to your favourites.

However, unlike standard bookmarking options, Semanti saves all the text and the search options for that page. Semanti then scans your saved pages as well as the search engines for your keywords. The results appear at the top of your search, making it far easier to find a previous page than having to dig through hundreds of bookmarks.

Also, the pages are saved on Semanti’s servers. All you need to do is log-in to your Semanti account and you’re good to go, regardless of whether you’re on the same computer you bookmarked the site with or not.

Because Semanti is looking to build community recommendations as well as that of personal friends, you do need an account to use the browser. This can either be via Semanti itself, or Facebook Connect. If you go with the latter choice, this is where the fun really begins.

Semanti, Facebook and Search Results You Can Trust

Since social networking is such a big part of our online experience, it’d make sense to use these connections when looking for something, no? Semanti agrees and, through its use of Facebook Connect, allows you to see recommendations from your Facebook friends.

By signing up using your Facebook account details, Semanti then lets you send invites to your Facebook friends to open a Semanti account. This then opens up a whole new level of interaction.

Because Semanti (understandably) believes that you and your friends share common interests, this will transfer itself to search engine queries. Video games, music, bars, clubs, cars, fashion, etc – everyday things that make you and your friends… well, friends.

Now, if that friend has the Semanti plug-in running, their search for shared interests will appear at the top of your own search. Not only that, but their edits and recommendations will appear too. If you hover over the little Facebook icon next to the result, it will show which of your friends recommended that result.

If you’re like me, you know which friends are better judges on certain topics, so you listen to them more. Semanti allows this word-of-mouth recommendation from a search engine point of view. Again, simple yet incredibly effective.

Future Plans

Although Semanti is new to the search engine table, it’s clear to see why it offers great potential. I know I’d rather trust the word of my friends and community over someone who knows how to game search engine optimization.

Additionally, I really like the idea of the Semanti Suggest option taking into account different terminology for the same product. This alone could make a huge difference to web users. But it’s just the beginning, according to Bruce.

“While we’re using Facebook Connect at the moment, we don’t rule out Twitter Connect, or LinkedIn, or blog plugins, etc. And there are the other browsers to include, like Safari and IE (Google Chrome doesn’t currently support plug-ins). We want to make search engines better and I think Semanti does that.”

From playing with it over the weekend and seeing it in action, I have to agree. It’s the natural evolution in web browsing and is true Web 3.0 in feel and approach. You can download the plug-in from the Semanti website, and follow them on Twitter or Facebook for the latest news.

How about you? Do you think you’ll be using Semanti and what features would you like to see that aren’t in the initial build?

  • My thanks to Bruce Johnson for chatting with me and answering my queries, and to Nicole Roseveare for arranging the chat.

Why Twitter Mobile Apps Don’t Interest Me

Twitterical MassI’m a mobile Luddite. I don’t have an iPhone or Blackberry (although I do like the look of the new Palm Pre) and to be honest I’m not too bothered about having a smart phone at the minute.

Now you might say that for someone that is involved in the online world as I am, not having an iPhone or similar makes me some kind of heathen. And maybe it does.

But here’s the thing.

I’m a people person. I like to know people. I like to connect people. My aim is to meet and introduce as many folks as I can, and help make one big interconnected community that can call on each other when needed.

This could be for advice, knowledge, help, charity or anything else. The more quality people I know and can put in touch with each other, the better.

For me to be an effective people person and an effective connector, I need (and want) to know a person. What makes them tick. What makes them laugh. What upsets them. What motivates them.

Basically, I want to know why that person is who they are. Then I can help put them in touch with like-minded souls.

But to do this, I need to offer my full attention to that person at that given time. And maybe it’s just me, but Twitter mobile apps are a major stumbling block to this aim.

The amount of times I’ve been out with friends or connections and they’ve been tweeting merrily away on their smart phones is scary.

Do we really need to be so technologically connected all the time? This is meant to be downtime. Drinks and a meal with friends. Can’t that super important tweet wait until you get home?

Don’t get me wrong – I’m as big a Twitter user as the next tweeter. But tweeting while in company – isn’t that kind of rude and anti-social media?

But what about conferences and events, you might ask? I have a laptop if I want to live tweet and I have a web-enabled cell phone for my email. So let’s flip that around – aren’t you at conferences and events to learn from people as opposed to hearing the odd snippet of info between live tweeting?

I’m not denying that Twitter mobile apps are useful, to some more than others. But aren’t people more important than the tools? Or am I just being idealistic in a technological world?

Creative Commons License photo credit: ekai