Where to find me

Imported from the Blogactiv.eu blogging platform, closed without warning in 2021. Links, images and embeds not guaranteed, and comments not displayed.

With BlogActiv feeling a bit creaky, I spent the summer taking a hard look at Google+ and Tumblr, and integrated my GTD (Getting Things Done) system with my online presence.

Original link

Tumblr vs Google+ vs Wordpress

Tumblr disappointed - it's more Facebook than a true blogging platform, and so good for brands, less so for thinking out loud. But I liked what's been done with Google+ since the last time I looked, so as late as last weekend I'd decided to adopt Google+ for blogging, relegating my Tumblr to an el cheapo approximation of a Content Hub - i.e., almost everything I post and like across the web will show up there.

Then I tried to publish a post on Google+.  The post, on relaunching Bloggingportal, was image-rich because one of my main reasons for checking out these new platforms was to force myself to communicate more visually. So I made four sketches using my mobile phone on the Metro to 'tell the story' ... but Google+ wouldn't publish them in the right order.

So I came back and published them here, having (re)learnt an old lesson: whenever you adopt a social media platform, you make a bargain. Sure, you get a shot at their audience. But you have to use their technology, their way. While the results are often prettier, they decide how you will publish, and who will see it, on the basis of their commercial strategy, not on the basis of what you want to say, or how you want to say it.

So while a lot of my activity will be on G+ and Twitter, I'll keep this channel open, particularly for the BloggingPortal relaunch. For now at least.

Content Hub? GTD system?

And most stuff - both the stuff I post and the stuff I like - will end up on my TumblrHub and its associated enewsletter. With some exceptions, "Because a proper Content Hub will have to wait". I did post on Google+ about these ideas, but Blogactiv won't allow me to embed those posts (sigh).

The Content Hub is an integral part of my GTD-driven system for managing my Inboxes (email & social); ToDos & Calendar; personal and public Libraries of useful stuff; and the stuff I Share on my Content Hub and social media.

As explained on G+ a few weeks ago, it combines Hootsuite, Gmail, Pocket, Papyrus, DoIt, Diigo, Yammer & more, all tied together with IFTTT (If This Then That) and as such is very flexible and futureproof. I'm always looking for ways it can be improved, so take a look and share your thoughts:

As the above Prezicast explains, having a Content Hub helps. I've adopted Tumblr for now but it's missing some pretty important technologies (semantic analyses, faceted search), so I've drawn up some reasonably detailed specs for a Drupal site which I'll get around to someday. In the meantime, a full explanation is set out in situ, or you can just watch the PreziCast: