Archive for December, 2008

  • Thoughts on the concepts of popularity, authority and originality on Twitter

    So the Twittersphere is abuzz again. This time with talks of who the people with authority on Twitter are, or, as these sites prefer to call it, Twitority or Twithority. To start with, let me point you to a few well-written blog posts – which were highlighted by the folks at Made By Many – that provide much of the food for this post: Pete Sabilla on Twitter Combinatorics, Phil Windley on Asymmetric Follow, JP Rangaswami’s experiment on the breadth of information on Twitter, TechCrunch on re-tweeting as a measure of authority, Dan Zarrella on the most re-tweeted people on Twitter and Michael Litman’s thoughts on Twitority.

    So, we’re finally at a stage where people are moving on from using Twitter to tell us what they’re doing, eating or thinking to the deeper questions regarding it’s use as a source of information and authority. (I’m not discounting its use during exigencies like the Mumbai attacks or even the recent plane crash in Denver, they are just not within the purview of this post). What are the basic facts? All we need right now is this: Twitter has 4-5 million users currently, of which 30% are very new or unengaged. Let’s be conservative and use 4 million as our base. Minus the 30% unengaged, we’re left with 2.8 million active users.

    As all the posts above also opine, the measure of authority on Twitter is often judged to be the number of followers you have. In actual fact, if I had 50,000 followers, most of whom were people who never participated in conversation, how does that make me an expert? Secondly, even if I had 50,000 active followers, how does that automatically make me an ‘authority’ – in other words, how can popularity equal authority? (Twitter Grader is a good measure of popularity). Third, just because I have 50,000 followers, what subjects can I be counted as an expert on? The sun? Anthropology? The colour blue? The internet? Or, alternatively, if I am the CEO of a software firm and can be counted as an expert on software, who is to say that I am also not an expert on the Beatles, whose music I may have devoted years of my time to out of pure interest? Finally, assuming being the head of a tech firm qualifies you to be a subject authority, who ranks higher: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or the head of a small start-up in Silicon Valley?

    The question therefore becomes not who is an authority or what their popularity rank is, but what is being said that is worth spreading or knowing. In other words, re-tweeting. Remember, again, that re-tweeting can be of original thoughts and of already quoted ones. If I am tweeting something that XYZ, George Bush or Martin Luther King said that is picked up and re-tweeted by people because they find it inspiring, interesting or entertaining, I should’nt automatically climb the re-tweet charts, because it isn’t my viewpoint that I am tweeting in that instance. What counts, drilling further down, is originality of data. So if I come up with an idea to solve the world’s problems (just kidding) – if I come up with an idea or the seed for an idea that can create actual change or ignite further discussion, then perhaps I am worth following or re-tweeting. If I come up with multiple original ideas, then, depending on the definition of the term in the Twitter sense, I am an ‘authority’. But who has the right to judge originality of thought? You? Me? Barack Obama? In essence, there could be billions of original thoughts coming from 2.8 million people on Twitter.

    The internet is devoid of bias. On Twitter, we can choose who we want to follow, and even who follows us (blocking is an option). We can, in other words, exercise our choice. People use Twitter for different reasons: some for personal ones, to stay in touch only with close friends and family – they’re the ones most likely to have protected updates. Then there are those who want to spread their knowledge, increase their knowledge or build their personal brand image. Finally, and increasingly of late, there are entities – corporate or non-profit bodies – who aim to build their brand equity. For this last category, the larger the number of people they can access, the better, with one caveat: they must be able to add value to their followers.

    As we at Made By Many were discussing this whole issue internally yesterday and today, Stuart said this: ‘What Twitter authority needs is a page-rank system like Google which measures authority based on who follows you based on their authority based on who follows them and on and on, for any given keyword, of how much they talk about it in their Twitter’.

    Now that’s the seed of a truly valuable idea. I’m sure this is only the beginning of the debate. We’ll be exploring this whole idea of Twitter authority vs. popularity vs. originality further. Stay tuned.

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    Anjali Ramachandran By Anjali Ramachandran

    30th December 08

    1 comment

     Made by Many

    Social Web

  • Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

    Elin took this photo of us during the Christmas trip to Dorset last week, and now she’s customised it beautifully as well!!! Happy Holidays, everyone!

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    Anjali Ramachandran By Anjali Ramachandran

    24th December 08

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     Made by Many

  • Stuff that’s been floating around the office – December 2008

    I thought I might as well make a habit out of this, since there are some really entertaining and interesting websites or news articles that continue to be passed around at Made By Many – some new, some not so new but all a good read. In December, these were some of the things that occupied our attention, however briefly (we do work, in case you were wondering!):

    1. Good.is: A collaboration of individuals, businesses and nonprofits pushing the world forward. (courtesy David)

    2. Grader.com: Evaluates your websites, press releases and Twitter profiles. (courtesy Elin)

    3. Ushahidi: Meaning ‘testimony’ in Swahili, Ushahidi is a platform that crowdsources crisis information, originally started to map reports of violence in Kenya during their elections at the beginning of the year. (courtesy David)

    4. 30threads: We don’t live in North Carolina, but if you do, then you’d want to track the most talked-about stuff in your area with this site. (courtesy Elin)

    5. The 20-year warranty calendar: This calendar, which sticks out of the wall more than 60 centimetres, was created by a brand to illustrate their 20-year quality warranty. You’re not going to forget that in a hurry! (courtesy David)

    6. The Groupery: If you are part of a volunteer group of any kind, then you can make your life much easier thanks to this. (courtesy Matt)

    7. MealBaby: A meal registry for people who’ve just had babies or are recuperating from an illness. It’s not as funny as it sounds! (courtesy me)

    8. Popego: Popego filters the stuff that you and your friends are interested in, so you get what you want and are not lost in the volume. (courtesy me)

    9. Spot.us: Community-funded reporting, as they say. One of the more interesting things I’ve seen this year. (courtesy me)

    10. 2009 Social Media predictions: Originally compiled by Peter Kim, this list summarizes some predictions for next year from key people in the social media sphere. (courtesy Tim)

    11. Man flu: I was sick with the flu recently, and lots of people around have been sniffing and coughing. So when Elin sent this video around, I for one doubled over in laughter!! 

    12. Merry Christmas: ‘Tis the season to be jolly…and light up like a microwave, perhaps?! (courtesy Isaac)

     

    3 Comments

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    Anjali Ramachandran By Anjali Ramachandran

    24th December 08

    3 comments

     Social Web

  • BBC IPlayer Desktop on AIR. It’s all a little bit tricky.

    It’s news we have expected for a while, and it’s here in big bold BETA. The BBC IPlayer Desktop is going to let you download IPlayer video to watch offline at a later date (well within 7 days as it’s using Flash Digital Rights Management Server to protect the catch-up window).

    But it was a little tricky and use to find to say the least, although they have updated the site with some docs during the day. Sign up to the IPlayer Labs. Then you can install the player from http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/install/bbc_iplayer_desktop. Or find some content to download (it’s not all of the content mind you) and look for the download button at the bottom and right after the video.

    After that it works nicely. Well as long as you remember to change the Settings in the application to give it more than 0 GB Hard disk space to use. So kind-of nicely, it certainly doesn’t feel intuitive.

    But it’s just a download manager, that’s all, there is no navigation experience like in Adobe Media Player. It’s just a respository to play your Iplayer from. A bit of a disappointment but if it means getting it this year rather than next, i’m for it.

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    By Stuart Eccles

    19th December 08

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     Social Web

  • A Christmas Story

    At Made by Many, young as we are, a tradition has emerged. This involves heaps of driftwood, the sound of wet, salty waves, mud that sticks like glue to your boots and pants, a terrifying death slide and a frying pan with attitude. Not necessarily in that order.

    It must be obvious to you by now that I am talking about the annual Christmas bash. Yes, that one – THE party of office parties – the day when anything is possible and everything becomes legal since on the next morning, people usually don’t remember exactly what happened anyway.

    Well. You won’t forget a Christmas party on the beach in late December! We started early and had a lovely train ride down to a pittoresque village called Worth Matravers, where we visited  the Square and Compass Pub, a “pub so olde that they don’t even have a bar, just a hole in the wall” (Tim’s quote). From there, we walked through beautiful scenery, past a duck pound, a farm, a scary looking ox (and some friendlier cows), until we reached the infamous and terrifying death slide leading down to the beach.

    Safely down, we collected driftwood and put together a bon fire, which Flint the dog almost caught fire from but Chef Oli then tamed with a noisy frying pan, masterfully dishing up the most amazingly superb dishes. On the menu was:

    Various pork saussages, + some lovely chorizo that David supplied
    Bifa Ana (mozambique style) – Marinated rump steak: parsley; garlic; chili; bay leaf; olive oil and a little red wine
    Grilled leg of lamb – Marinated in: Olive paste; garlic; anchovy and rosemary
    Lentils -  onion; leak; carrots; bay leaf; garlic and toasted cumin seeds

    Also (although nobody ate it cause we were too cold by now)

    Cous cous – grilled veg (courgette; aubergine; onion; pepper); roasted cherry tomatoes; pomegranate and parsley

    Julia served Polish mulled beer with honey and Tim made the best ever mulled wine. Stuart, adding to the atmosphere, braved the cold by playing Hallelujah on his guitar.

    In spite of the December cold, we all had a fantastic time together. But I must admit that my fave moment came on the train back, when Tim suggested we’d add a new and different spin to our Christmas beach tradition by spending five days on a beach in the Caribbean next year…

    Isaac’s photos

    William’s photos

    Matt’s photos

    Simon’s photos

    Tim’s photos

    My photos

    4 Comments

    4
    Elin Sjursen By Elin

    18th December 08

    4 comments

     Made by Many

  • Metrotwin’s in Contagious!

    It’s almost the end of the year, and everyone and their sister is bringing out a ‘best of 2008′ list. One of the more interesting ones to read through is Contagious Magazine’s compilation of the Most Contagious things of 2008, spanning 16 categories from technology, entertainment and social media to gaming, viral and mobile.

    It warmed the cockles of our hearts to notice that Metrotwin is mentioned in the ‘Most Contagious Social Media’ category. Woohoo!

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    Anjali Ramachandran By Anjali Ramachandran

    18th December 08

    0 comments

     British Airways

    Made by Many

  • World Economic Forum goes full steam ahead with social media

    I read in the Guardian yesterday that the World Economic Forum, held in Davos in January/February every year, is really picking up in terms of outreach to users through social media. In advance of the meeting next month, they are inviting web users to start discussing important global issues. They are going to open their YouTube channel for the second year, and one carefully selected citizen reporter who uploads a relevant video will be give the chance to attend the conference, travel and expenses fully paid. The World Economic Forum will also disseminate and encourage discussion during the event through Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Flickr and an OpenForum wiki, with press conferences scheduled to be broadcast through Mogulus and Qik. I didn’t even know they had a YouTube Channel – it looks like it is along the lines of TED, arguably one of the best video-sharing conference sites that currently exist. It looks like the WEF is on to something important in terms of sharing and crowdsourcing with these initiatives – stay tuned!

     

    9 Comments

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    Anjali Ramachandran By Anjali Ramachandran

    18th December 08

    9 comments

     Social Web

  • A nice note from Amnesty UK

    Last week we received a nice email from Amnesty UK, one of our clients, about the work we’re doing on Protect The Human.

    I mentioned to William some feedback on PTH our Head of IT, Kamesh received at an IT conference last week. Please pass on to all involved. As part of a panel discussion on best practise websites he submitted PTH.com to be reviewed as one of 5 sites. It came out on top. It was referred to time and time again by the panel as an excellent example of user engagement that worked on many levels and incentivised users. It was also held up as a leading example of good user experience and best practise in terms of site usability and accessibility.

    What can we say, it’s always nice to hear good things! We still have some distance to go with it, but Protect The Human is especially important to us because of the causes that it aims to garner public support for. If you’re not on it yet, then you should be – and please pass the word along to everyone you know.

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    Anjali Ramachandran By Anjali Ramachandran

    8th December 08

    0 comments

     Amnesty International

    Made by Many

  • We love Mixwit

    We’ve been having a lot of fun with Mixwit recently. We did one for Metrotwin – a mixtape based on places in New York to match one that was done by one of Metrotwin’s blogging contributors Wee Birdy for London. Now we’ve gone and done one for our client Amnesty International UK to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

    Please suggest any other suitable songs/tracks in the comments area below.


    MixwitMixwit make a mixtapeMixwit mixtapes

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    Tim Malbon By Tim Malbon

    5th December 08

    0 comments

     Social Web

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