Thanks to @mikepfs he tweeted about an awesome article from TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Blog) that the iPhone 4 works with the 1st Generation iPhone Dock. Now I am immediately led to wonder if Apple knew about this or was it a major oversight, among other things. Anyway here are pics of my iPhone 4 in my 1st Gen iPhone dock.
Hey! I’m just getting around to even have time, let alone interest in another social network. I’ve read that Google Buzz’s self-proclaimed purpose is to unify or reduce the social information flood from being on so many social networks. Although I can’t shake this statement running through my head: “Hey reduce the information flood of too many social networking sites by joining my social networking site.” o_O
I would love any user feedback from folks that have tried it out. Love it or hate it, I wanna know. Now for your entertainment needs, compare and contrast. 
Check out this revealing video on Google Buzz.
Okay, just kidding. Below is the real one.
Should I even bother joining this?
What strikes me is that this is a potentially emotional exchange to what should be a simple choice of data management. Think about it. If you remove someone as a friend, it says something more than just a line of data, doesn’t it? There’s an emotional transference. Some of you will argue that there shouldn’t be, or that someone should get over it, or whatever, but for the most part, I’d say that people who use social networks extensively (versus people trying to plumb the system for business purposes) would feel a little something, should they find themselves defriended.
It says you’re not important. It says you’re no longer relevant. It says you’re no longer entitled to a more intimate view and sharing. There are lots of potential combinations to feel when one is unfollowed or defriended.
from chrisbrogan.com “The Problems With Friends Lists”
I think that I am unfollowed on Twitter every other week, and for every one that departs, I gain two shortly after, give or take. My thoughts are, when I do rarely take the time to look at my follower count, I think, “Oh. Oh, well. Peace!” and then I move on. I get it. I wasn’t interesting. Nothing personal, no offense taken. Peace out!
What I don’t get is the emotionalism that some folks go through. In my view, if the person left and you weren’t already talking closely with this person, then it wasn’t a loss, but rather a gain. I cherish my solitude, probably too much, but I digress… Think about it. The people you do build deep meaningful relationships with online will obviously stay with you, and those with whom you have no connection don’t really matter. I know that may seem cold to you, but I think it guards one from having an unhealthy relationship with social networking itself–lest you begin to exhibit what I call the Creepy Factor, just a little too overly zealous. In other words, some people follow Buddha, some Allah, some Jesus Christ and some Steve Jobs (jk). But then there are the Tweetheads and The Church of Zuckerberg of the Book of Faces (Facebook). I jest, but seriously. Dude!?
Being able to get up and walk away from the computer, iPhone, or MyTouch after talking with these folks is necessary. I swear, there are people that spend large portions of their day on Twitter and Facebook. I almost fell into that trap. A had a realization that before these networks, people were living their lives just fine. And if tomorrow all three major social networks blew up (I’m dramatic, get over it), my life wouldn’t end. I’d miss the convenience, but I’d get over and life will go on. Detachment is vital.
Also, I will confess that I have a come hither mentality. I’m not really going to go too far out of my way to connect with people online unless I really want to form a lasting mutual online friendship that, if attempted, could be a real life friendship or business relationship. That’s one way I separate the goats from the sheep. A lot of people on Twitter appear to be what I call seasonal followers or opportunists–here for a time and then gone or here to use you then gone. The one’s who hang around and actually talk back to me, I keep or I stick around for them and have great conversations with them. That may be bad, but I’m finding it hard to change. My relationships–whatever level they may be–work like my heart: When you’re in, you’re in. And when you’re out, you’re out.
Oh, one clarification. I’m not trying to say that it’s bad to have an emotional response when someone unfollows or defriends you. I’m actually differentiating between a healthy and potentially unhealthy emotional response to being unfollowed or defriended. I implied that, if you don’t really know the person that left you, what the french fry are you fretting over?! There’s a balance I think.
Any questions?
That’s all.
I was invited to go but can’t. That’s the long and short of this video. Wish I could go, but I am glorying in the fact that I have a small victory of being recognized and at least invited to attend. I think it says a lot. 
I’m currently in a mad rush to finish reading an advance copy of a book due out in November 2009 by Darren Barefoot Julie Szabo. This book is a phenomenal read and is titled “Friends with Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook”. Before I go on, I just want to put it out there that I was thrown by the title at first. In other words, I was confused about the authors meaning until I continued reading the rest of the title, “A Social Media Marketing Handbook” after which I grabbed my gut and had a big chuckle to myself as continued reading the press release. Just thought I’d share that little anecdote.
Without doing a direct quote from the book, there is a part that addresses honesty and authenticity on the internet through social media, be it via a blog, YouTube, Twitter, etc. The example used in the book was the lonelygirl15 marketing scheme that was, to my recollection, both lauded and looked down upon (Read this and this as examples). On the one hand it was incredibly cool that this so-called video blogger named “Bree” (16 years old) also known as lonelygirl15 on YouTube, was actually a 19-year old actress–which was astoundingly clever. But on the other hand, this reveal was bittersweet in that it immediately alienated the fans and betrayed the cool-factor of how transparent Bree was and the authenticity of what she talked about in her videos.
The good part of that “experiment” is that it served as a litmus test if you will, for just how people want use the internet and the immensely strong resolve for how people want to connect with others online. The closeness of getting to learn about a person who seemed to have no reason to lie about what she shared was betrayed. Fans were inadvertently made the butt of what effectively came across as a viral marketing trick. The feeling of connectedness with Bree and her honesty was amazing and it made you feel like you (the viewer and fan) were friends with a real person. While the medium (the internet) is virtual the desire to connect with real people real, and the eventual relationships that people do build via the many tools on the internet, (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Viddler, Blogger, etc) are also real–NEVER forget this! (As an aside, other iterations of this marketing scheme were used, but in a way that wasn’t alienating by virtue of the kind of content that was being marketed–in this case a film along the lines of the shaky Blair Witch camera film style. For example, the video clips that were posted to the internet and passed off as if they were real to market the film “Cloverfield”, by my standards, was a sheer genius means of getting the film known and built a strong following before it’s release. Learn more… with J.J.’s Viral ‘Clovefield’ Diary)
A real, genuine, and positive testament to what kind of community could have continued around lonelygirl15 before news broke of it’s falsehood, were she blond, 25 and an even more active video blogger, is the very real, Justine Ezarik of ijustine.com. She has a huge following–primarily young females–and most of what she does is in real time, in that she shoots a lot of video and posts it to the web relatively close to the time she shot it. She essentially streams a portion of her life on the internet, interacts with her fans, or friends as she puts it, via different social networking sites, and even features them in her own mini web show, “Ask iJ“. The majority of the tools that she uses are free social networks that she uses to share and connect. More importantly, I haven confirmed whether she did this on purpose or it just happened this way, but all the internet tools that she uses and what she does with them now serve as her calling card or business card as far as her personal Brand “iJustine” is concerned. Finally, all of this is done in a positive way that is honest, authentic and non-alienating to her fans and business partners, while never compromising her own privacy and safety.
Authenticity goes a long, long way and that is what continues to amaze me so much about this present phase in our age of the internet.
In closing, I’ll give a more thorough review once I’ve gotten through this book.
‘Til then, stay synced!
Brizzly from Thing Labs is a new and much needed way to experience the twittersphere! That's all! Follow Brizzly on Twitter: Brizzly on Twitter
Follow Thing Labs on Twitter: Thing Labs on Twitter
