Overview: Social Web

Seems that, 3+ years after "The Filter Bubble" was pubished, it takes an event like #Ferguson to make people realise what it is. "if there was no Twitter to catch on nationally, would #Ferguson ever make it through the algorithmic filtering on Facebook? ... or be buried in algorithmic censorship?... Facebook has become like a digital version of…

"relying too heavily on Facebook’s algorithmic content streams can result in de facto censorship. Readers are deprived a say in what they get to see, whereas anything goes on Twitter." Puts some numbers to the opacity of the filter bubble experienced by Facebook users in comparison with Twitter users, by comparing coverage of #Ferguson and 'Ice B…

Sonar Solo allows you to search any topic to find trends and influencers about any subject, in real time. Sonar Solo visualizes what’s on people's minds right now, by combining data mining, trend intelligence and advanced sentiment analysis on the world's social media chatter.

Beat this: "Each day, HBR.org publish five to seven pieces of top-notch content with a staff of fewer than 10 full-time digital editors and no full-time writers ... four million unique visitors every month." What really stood out for me was how they get the "expert take", using the Content Partnership model I used when trying to decentralise com…

(and why I joined a technology company, not another comms agency): "...organizations that had software engineers and Web enthusiasts in the room when big decisions were made navigated the seas of change more successfully than those that didn’t... When you think about how news and entertainment have been delivered over the internet so far, four m…

"Because blogging isn’t new and hip, many people dismiss this form of content as less effective.... Blogging is a great front door for any individual or organization because it is real estate that you can own.... Contrast that with social networks like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and G+. All are good, but you will never own your real estate the…

Tracking #Ferguson on Twitter. Via @Mathewi, GigaOm

"Analyze what content performs best for any topic or competitor Find the key influencers to promote your content "

"Continuing its tradition of airing its internal discussions outside the office, the staff at Jezebel today called out the higher-ups at parent Gawker Media today over some pretty disgusting trolling at the site." I wonder how much more loyalty Jezebel's community feel for the site because they air their internal problems so publicly? I wonder ho…

"I wanted to see if I could trick Facebook into believing I'd had one of those big life updates that always hang out at the top of the feed. ... Let's see if I can fabricate some social love. I posted: "Hey everyone, big news!! I've accepted a position trying to make Facebook believe this is an important post about my life! I'm so excited to beg…

"Thinking of the people you are reaching as multipliers and your content as “spreadable” rather than “viral” will help you avoid several all-too-common pitfalls" OK, so I've been building projects around multipliers and avoiding the v-word like - well - the plague, for years, but these insights are worth repeating nevertheless. - 4 Mistakes Mark…

"BuzzFeed UK editor Luke Lewis shared his tips and advice for effective use of social networks as part of news:rewired last week" You've probably read this already, but just in case... - Lessons in creating a buzz on social media from BuzzFeed | Media news

These figures need to be compared with other research shows that people seem happy to consume long articles on their mobiles. "Ad Age looked at ... Tumblr, WordPress, Blogger to see how their traffic has changed over the last year and what effect [mobile] has had on the time people spend with each service...." On the one hand we read about the …

What it says on the tin: "Below I have listed five nifty pieces of software to enable you to effectively analyse and keep up to date with your twitter presence:" - 5 Free Tools to Manage and Monitor Your Twitter Account

In Germany, "the government forced Google to pay newspaper editors if they were included in Google News... Google excluded all newspapers from Google News and asked anyone wanting to be listed to reapply explicitly declaring that they renounced to be compensated. All newspaper did reapply not wanting to miss out on the traffic it generates. Google…

"Canadian researchers have confirmed what most people suspected all along: that internet trolls are archetypal Machiavellian sadists.... via Heather-Anne MacLean's post: https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140730175026-5723090-don-t-feed-the-trolls-research-reveals-psychopathy - Online trolls are psychopaths and sadists, psychologists …

"Any time something as complex as SEO is painted in such broad strokes – which many blogs do in order to appeal to a larger audience – there are going to be things left out. And unfortunately for many marketers trying to improve their search rankings, they’re often very important things." Good guide. Particularly like: "Your first priority shoul…

Apart from 3 good videos to watch, a good example of content curation... "We have all heard (ad nauseam) about the “power of brand storytelling,” and I know that I have read more than one blog that spits off a numeric list of tips that I just “can’t live without” as a content marketer..." - 3 TED Talks That Uncover the Secrets of Storytelling | …

"The absolute worst thing that can happen as a result of this furore is that (a) Facebook keep any and all data they collect private, and run these sorts of studies behind closed doors, and (b) scientists wouldn’t want to touch their data anyway, for fear of public outrage. This would be disastrous, because social media hosts a wealth of informati…

"When you’re very interested in a single topic, it’s great to have a place that constantly aggregates news and commentary, adds new information and, in general, speaks to your passion. And because the writers of blogs often are invested in the subject – “they tend to be labors of love,” Mr. Fisher said – their deep interest and knowledge paid off …

Truly excellent, insightful piece. "if Facebook did make the content that users see more positive, should we simply be happy? ... If Alice is happier when she is oblivious to Bob’s pain because Facebook chooses to keep that from her, are we willing to sacrifice Bob’s need for support and validation? This is a hard ethical choice ... Facebook is…

“Do companies that create platforms that are broadly adopted (and which become almost obligatory to use) have ethical obligations in the conduct of research that go beyond what we would expect from, say, market research firms?"

LinkedIn lost my last post, so I expect that this will be my last post there. Apart from announcing that, the post also sets out some of the other problems I’ve discovered with LinkedIn’s attempt to become a blogging platform.I’m not predicting their failure - as my first post pointed out, the concept has huge inbuilt advantages. But any system wh…

"We’re tracking the ethical, legal, and philosophical response to this Facebook experiment here. "

"Whether we regard the Facebook study as one in the field of psychology or market research, there are ethical standards that each requires of its members. Let's take an in-depth look at each" Guess what? It doesn't do that well. Surprise, surprise. - Facebook's Trust Problem | Scott Monty

"blogs are ... just one specific kind of publishing format, with posts that appear in reverse chronological order.... this is a little like saying that a sonnet is just a specific way of ordering text, featuring iambic pentameter and an offset rhyming scheme. Obviously not every blog post is a poem, but there is something inherent in the practice …

"where this style of reporting was once reserved for a newspaper’s resident weird .... [it now] represents a sort of merging between the opinion page and the front page. ... helps keep journalism outlets more accountable for backing up their opinions. No longer can the Wall Street Journal espouse climate denialism from the fact-less safety of the …

"Scientists at Facebook have published a paper showing that they manipulated the content seen by more than 600,000 users in an attempt to determine whether this would affect their emotional state. " - Facebook tinkered with users’ feeds for a massive psychology experiment · Newswire · The A.V. Club

As if blogs were just a question of conversational tone and reverse-chronology ... "We’re going to continue to provide bloggy content with a more conversational tone ... We’re just not going to do them as much in standard reverse-chronological blogs.” " - ‘Almost half’ of the NYT’s blogs will close or merge | Poynter.

Fascinating article in Issue 14 (theme: Evolution): "It is a case of convergent evolution—where different species separately developed similar biological adaptations when faced with the same environmental pressures. Salamanders are Wake’s go-to example when asked a decades-old question in evolutionary biology: If you could replay the “tape of lif…