Social Networks
#digiday - Gamifying The News
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 09:13One of the most interesting comments from Digiday Social conference in New York City on Tuesday was that more people play social games, like Farmville, than read the newspaper. I haven't found a source to back up this comment or to get details about exactly who they are counting, or how, but on the surface, it is frightening. More people seem more concerned about acquiring fictitious grapes from a fictitious farm stand than about acquiring information that is necessary for our democracy to thrive. Perhaps the politician seeking to get elected would do better seeking ad placements in social games than they would be in participating in debates.
Yet perhaps there is a glimmer of hope from the Digiday Mobile conference for the future of journalism coming in the form of a neologism. The emerging buzzword of the conference was "Gamification". A San Francisco startup calledGamify defines the verb gamify, as "Applying game mechanics to bring fun and engagement where needed." Perhaps it is sorely needed to bring fun and engagement back to the news industry.
A few years ago, I participated in some "Play The News" games where participants would read up on a news story and make predictions about how it would turn out. As an example, people might read up on the primaries that happened last night, and make predictions about the outcomes. Will Christine O'Donnell and Karl Rove make nice? Will she win the general election? People who follow the news would be expected to perform better in this game. With game mechanics in place to track who is doing the best, people will feel encouraged to participate.
Unfortunately, this was a couple years ago, before social gaming really took off and I don't know whatever happened to the game. Another site that I've always been interested in is NewsTrust. This site crowdsources efforts to find quality journalism. They base their results not on gaming the news the way people do at Digg or Reddit, but on aspects of whether the story has multiple sources, anonymous sources, uses purple language, only presents one side of the story, and other means of judging the quality of a news story. You could review reviewers as well and see how well each reviewer was doing. They are on their way to gamification.
Of course, NPR listeners are likely to think of Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me!, the NPR news quiz show. They have done a great job of gamification of the news. However, a social media game for listeners to play along at home could take this to a whole new level.
So, it may be frightening that more people play social games than read newspapers. On the other hand, it might be a great opportunity to encourage greater understanding of what is going on around us and greater civic engagement by gamifying the news.
#Digiday Social and Gestalt Blogging
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 07:41What am I doing, sitting on a 6:56 AM train to New York City writing a blog post on my cellphone? That is what I asl myself as the fine fall morning slips quickly by my train window, punctuated by red spikes of sumack.
Yesterday was a frustrating day. The spam filter on my server failed bringing everything to a crawl. I had hoped to go into the city yesterday as well, but between feeling rundown, having server problems, having some family logistical issues, and dealing with the foster puppies, that just didn't happen.
I am way behind on my emails and hoped that at least I could catch up on them a little. No luck. I did get a chance to respond to a couple PR requests and pursue a job lead a little bit. I took some time to research some articles. I watched a mailing list struggle as members left because other members wouldn't stay on task. All of this is good blog fodder, but it leaves me further behind.
So what does all of this have to do with #digiday social and gestalt blogging and why have I taken so long to get to my point? Don't I remember the rule about not buring my lede?
One of the emails I responded to yesterday was from a communications director who questioned if I deserved press credentials from her organization. While most organizations are all too eager to grant me press credentials, I still run into this from time to time and it still bugs me.
I can understand some of it. I write in my own style, often using the first person and often avoiding the conventions of the AP style guide. At the same time, I shun some of the conventional wisdom about blogging. I do not limit myself to a single niche.
This finally gets me to my point. One niche I like to write about is digital advertising and marketting, not something political bloggers often write about, although I think they should. When you get to social marketting, it becomes all the more complicated.
While some people try to segment their online lives; Facebook for family and friends, LinkedIn for business contacts and Twitter and other sites for random noise, our real lives are notso neat. We see co-workers at church. We run into former classmates at PTO meetings. We try to integrate our lives as much as possible..
The brand that is launching a social campaign would be well advised to pay attention to this, especially if they are seeking that digital holy grail of marketing, viralness.
A campaign goes viral when people take it across the artificial boundaries of our lives. It happens when someone shares a link at work on Facebook with their friends after hearing about it at the water cooler.
Will the folks at digiday social get this and talk about it? Hard to tell. Will the communications directors for various organizations get? We'll see. What about the political operatives? Let us hope so.
The train continues rolling towards New York City. The sumac is being replaced by graffiti. Perhaps that, also, is a metaphor about what is happening in social marketting, but that's a different post.
#ff @grovenh
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 09/10/2010 - 11:28@RetailGoddesses @SheSoSocial @giuliag @jwierin @derekkoch @MatthewBrowning @joecascio @timtracey @leecruz @Mertens4Senate @TTHofficial @MyConnecticut
Last night, I attended the opening of The Grove, a coworking space in New Haven, CT. Many of my friends have used coworking spaces in New York and San Francisco and I've hoped that a coworking space would open up here in Connecticut.
Coworking fits hand in hand with social media, so it was great to see many friends from various social media activities there. There was the standard group of people from SocialWebWeek, @RetailGoddesses @SheSoSocial @giuliag @jwierin @derekkoch and @MatthewBrowning. Although I don't remember if I ran into @MyConnecticut as part of the Social Web Week activities, Courtney is very much a social web person and I would include her in this group.
There was the tweetcrawl and podcamp crew, @joecascio and @timtracey. There was the nonprofit and advocacy crew, @leecruz and @TTHofficial. @timtracey also sort of fits in that space with his Yougottacall project. Also part of this group was Nathan Bixby.
In the political sphere a couple friends from Governor's Dean's 2004 Presidential campaign were there as was John Mertens who is running for U.S. Senate in Connecticut, @Mertens4Senate.
Also there were Matt and Lindsay Branscombe. Lindsay made a splash at the technologists and entrepreneurs meet during Social Web Week when she reminded everyone of the importance of design and it was good to have an arts and design perspective reflected not only in the photographs on the wall of the Grove but also by some of the participants.
I'm probably missing a bunch of other people that I spoke with at the opening of The Grove last night, but it gives a good flavor the variety of people that were there. It helps illustrate why I believe coworking is so important. It is when you connect with people from a bunch of different viewpoints that you can gain the insights to make whatever project you are working on more successful. The Grove is setting out to be a place where connections like this are made. They got off to a great start and I wish them well.
Wordless Wednesday
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 09/08/2010 - 07:46#ff @khynes2000 @shesosocial @ctnewsjunkie
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 15:40It's my birthday! I went out to lunch with my boss and am having dinner with family and friends. Well, sort of. You see, about ten years ago, I participated in a strange mystical ceremony where I became 'one flesh' with the person I loved.
Today, it is Kim's birthday. Through the mystical ceremony, I am one flesh with her, so to that extent, it is also my birthday. I was with Kim, as part of being one flesh, as she had dinner with her boss. We will be one flesh as she eats dinner with our family and friends this evening.
Whenever she is joyful, it is no longer just she who is joyful, it is both of us. The same applies to sadness and sickness. Today, we also mourn the death of Kim's mother, who left this world eleven years ago today, when Kim and I were having dinner with Kim's father, brother and sister-in-law.
Over the past couple of years, I've had a horrible time fighting lyme disease. While a doctor might test my blood and find no traces of lyme disease in me, being of one flesh with Kim, I have lyme disease. We have experienced the disease in different ways, just as the nose and the stomach may experience different aspects of the flu, but we have fought this together.
In a similar fashion, a couple years ago, Kim and I developed a shellfish allergy. We first noticed it when I prepared shrimp for her for mother's day. It is disappointing that I cannot eat shrimp or lobster any more. Yet in fact, really, I can. It is just that my other digestive system, Kim's, needs to eat the lobster, and not I.
Being Friday, I am putting this up as a Follow Friday post. If you follow me on Twitter, you should follow @khynes2000 as well.
Not only is today Kim's (and by extension, my) birthday. It also sees the celebration of anniversaries of some friends. @ctnewsjunkie and her husband celebrated their third wedding anniversary this week. Tomorrow, @SheSoSocial and her husband are celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary.
I hope their relationships may flourish the way Kim and mine has.
A final thought: I had a philosophy professor that commented, "It isn't love that keeps marriage together, it is marriage that keeps love together." Kim and I have had some pretty rough times over the past decade. I'm sure we will have plenty more. If we were relying on the first flush of love to keep our marriage together, things probably would have been more difficult when we went through hard times. Yet it is birthdays and anniversaries, it is marriage, that is our opportunities to be reminded of and rekindle those early days of mad love.
Happy Birthday, Kim.