James Jackson Toth (NPR):
Missing from a larger discussion is the radical idea that maybe it is the consumers who are being done the greatest disservice, and that this access-bonanza may be cheapening the listening experience by transforming fans into file clerks and experts into dilettantes. I don’t want my musical discoveries dictated by a series of intuitive algorithms any more than I want to experience Jamaica via an all-inclusive trip to Sandals.
I want to love Instagram. Really. It’s the least toxic of the big social networks and it’s mostly photography-centric. My problem with Instagram isn’t the content. My problem is with the feed. I don’t like it. In fact I don’t like it to the point of quitting the whole thing.
I get it, we’re beyond the halcyon days of reverse-chronological timelines on any significant social network, but good grief I can’t make heads or tails of what Instagram is feeding me (see this article for a few examples.
Dave Winer:
The “glory days” of news readers are as irrelevant as the print edition of the NY Times. News readers were never that good. Twitter and Facebook are better as news readers. New news flows demand new approaches.
Pffft, I still get most of my news from either a news reader or the print edition of the Times, so there! ;).
Matt Birchler:
Meanwhile, a stationary voice assistant is always in the same place and is always ready to respond to requests. There is no extra thought that needs to go into a request like this, you just ask away. It’s easy.
This is exactly why I prefer the Echo-on-a-shelf to Siri-on-a-device in every case except when I’m not at home. I just ask a question and get an answer.
If I’m honest, the reason I originally backed and then joined Micro.blog by Manton Reece is that I enjoy tinkering with new platforms and social networks. I try them all. Manton’s ideas about “owning your content” and the hooks into IndieWeb ideas were just icing.
I came for the novelty, but stayed because it’s become my favorite place to be.
@Smokey’s recent post, Two Weeks with Micro.blog, had me nodding in agreement throughout.
Om Malik, “The Internet of Love”:
I share these stories, not to laud these individuals, but as a way to remind us that the web we had before the madness and monetization of relationships began, is still around. We don’t need to focus on the negative, and instead try to use the social web, by being accountable to each other. All it takes is one to focus on how to be good to each other on the Internet – not by shouting, but by helping and encouraging absolute strangers.
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