The Social Media Safari

Introducing Gravity!

So what's gravity? Here's an explanation from Alan who works at Gravity.

"Several years ago, people used to ask why social networks are different - especially when email, IM, and address books provided the tools needed to connect you with the people you knew. Today, we all understand the value a networked social experience can unlock. In the future, I hope we'll all see the value a networked interest-centric experience will unlock as well. We hope Gravity will become the place you visit to talk about the things you care about, a place where what you know and what you're interested in is more important than who you know."


So I've been using gravity for two days now. It's a new innovative way of social networking. Ans So far, I'm loving it. I might have some reply's left, so if you'd like to join, please tell me why I should invite you in the comments section of this post.

Interactive Documentary - Future plans

I have had some wild dreams about Interactive Documentary's made by different digital storytellers  like me over the world. Emerging technology's are popping up while I'm writing this, and I strongly believe that through culture differences people tend to use these tools in a different way.

However, we are not aware of that due to the way we are sucked into our own culture. Only by actually talking to people, living in another culture, experiencing it or seeing this technology being used, you can look sideways and actually see what brilliant use of technology is happening in the world.

You sometimes can't believe what brilliant ideas in other cultures can help your way of communicating or doing business in your own culture. I always think that sharing these ideas can be very useful in letting other people know what is actually going on in the world. And it would allow to basically make a map of the world in which technology's are popping up and what is happening with them.

I want to set up a group of people, a community, digital storytellers, a reporter group if you like, with which we can make a video documentary. (one to start with :D )

I'd like to have brainstorms with you so we can come up with questions we can ask promising people active in our culture, and comparing these people with each other in this video montage. (Don't worry, we will use social media to make this video I know some tricks :) )

I thought that it might be hard to keep standards such as video formats, but don't let you get down by that. I'm far more interested in the content. We will find ways to show the information. And maybe have a worldwide documentary release one day. :)

We also have a language problem. However this barrier can be solved by tools like babelgum or google translate. The words and grammar isn't as important as the message we'd like to share. I do think it would be handy if we all understand English. But even if you don't, you might have translated this message...

I've had a similar project started with Erick Alejandro living in Guetemala which I see as a great friend thanks to Internet. This project hasn't continued due to lack of experience in managing the project. A loss for it had a great potential! I'd like to step up and manage this Global community of storytellers concerning the use of proper social media.

Please feel free to share this message with others, maybe your brother/sister/son/daughter/friend can be one of these young personalities and make this documentary a success. I don't have insights in every culture, and I'm eager to learn how this works.

Please let me know if you'd like to participate in any way. I'm thinking about building a Wordpress site where we can have online discussions concerning this project.

Think about it, it would be the first documentary made by different people who've never even met...

Let's make something beautiful!

Video - Google Nexus One Vs. iPhone 3GS

This video has certainly cleared my mind. Though I'm a mac user, I'm also a Google user (who isn't? ;) ). I do find the google docs, gmail, calendar features etc. working better on Google than with Apple. I do wonder how content playback (photos, video and music) is working on the Nexus. Will it also sync with Itunes magically? But well, for those things I always will have my Ipod Touch.

What is VEVO?!

Since Vevo "isn't available" in The Netherlands, and you can't easily get information about what it is. I thought I would share some stuff which they have posted on their website. I just used a proxy to get on the website so no 'big magic' however I think this platform is worth sharing :).





So what the hell is it? " On their website

What is VEVO?

VEVO is a new music video network on the web. VEVO videos can be found at VEVO.com and at the VEVO Channel on YouTube as well as in thousands of VEVO/YouTube artist channels. VEVO videos are available via Search at YouTube as well.


example of one of these pages: http://www.youtube.com/user/KevinRudolfVEVO and
http://www.youtube.com/user/vevo


This is what I found on the About page: 


VEVO is the leading innovative online premium music and entertainment service for consumers, advertisers and content owners that blends the very best in musical content with cutting-edge video technology and a thriving user community powered by YouTube. The content is made available on YouTube through a VEVO-branded channel, on VEVO.com, the service's marquee destination site, and through a VEVO-branded embedded player. The service also serves as a syndication platform for additional internet destination sites, expanding the reach of the VEVO brand across the worldwide Web.


VEVO was created in partnership by Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music Entertainment (SME) and the Abu Dhabi Media Company. It is operated independently by a dedicated management team with offices in Los Angeles and New York. VEVO features the most extensive catalog of premium music content found anywhere on the web thanks to deals with such leading music companies as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music, Hollywood Records, Walt Disney Records, CBS Interactive Music Group, Big Machine Records, Concord Music Group, Lyric Street Records, ABKCO, Caroline Distribution, Fontana Distribution, INgrooves, IODA, RED and The Orchard, among many others.


Here are some questions found on the F.A.Q. page:

Why do some videos give me a "Sorry, this video is not available in your region" error?

Not all videos can be viewed globally. Videos unavailable now should be available in the near future. VEVO is actively pursuing the ability to display all of its videos in all countries.

Can I sign up/register and become a member of VEVO?

VEVO Sign Up is simple and fast. Registering with VEVO will allow you to post comments, favorite videos, artists, and playlists, and create and save your own personalized music video playlists. To register click on the Sign Up link on the upper right hand corner of the page. If you are a member of YouTube, Google, Twitter, Yahoo, or Facebook, you can even use your existing accounts to make sign up even easier.

Where do videos play at VEVO?

Videos play in the VEVO Player. Instead of navigating to a VEVO Player directly, you get there by selecting a specific video or playlist that you want to see. Once you hit Play or Play All at VEVO, you are taken to the VEVO Player where you can enjoy your favorite video.

What is the VEVO Player?

The VEVO Player at VEVO.com is a high-quality, state-of-the-art Video Player that includes exclusive, one-of-a-kind synchronized lyric playback with many of its videos. Enjoy getting to know the VEVO brand and singing along or rapping with your favorite artists!


All this seems pretty cool , the website certainly looks clean.  I wonder when there will be a dutch version. #probablynever


Cheers,

Hyperwords - Brilliant Browser Add on

I heard about this plugin through the twitter channel of Le Web 09. I think It's a brilliant plugin. " Hyperwords is a system for Servers and Browsers (Mozilla Firefox {Version 5.6.5 & 6.0 Beta} & Google Chrome) which lets you select any words on the web for useful options."


Checkout the demo below.

Note! It doesn't work on Safari and Chrome on the Mac yet. It will work on Chrome (developer preview) for Mac some time next week, when Google updates Mac Chrome to make it possible.

Gmail tip - "still need to reply inbox"

So you also get around 150 e-mails a day (or not ;). An inbox never is that clear. I mean I get automatically generated e-mails like Newsletters, personal e-mail, business e-mails etc. You read your e-mail and you think I need to reply this one. However at that moment you might not have time to reply directly. So you either send an e-mail saying: I will reply later, or you don't and you might forget.

I had that problem and have found a way to highlight all my e-mails which I still need to reply. A function which is very useful for me. And you might have fun from it as well..














You might recognize this screen it's the normal gmail interface where you see your Inbox and all the other gadgets which you installed on your Gmail. Go to the green Icon on the right top side of the Gmail interface.

Here you can find a list for all the Gmail extra's which you can install on to your gmail. Please have a look around. Some of them are quite useful! For now look for the "Multiple Inboxes" and enable this option. Save your configurations and go back to your inbox.

Here you see your new inbox. What this option does is it enables multiple inboxes on your home interface. My normal inbox is the bottom one. Here all my new e-mail comes in as normal. Now, when I see an e-mail which I really need to read or need to reply I highlight it by giving it a star. What happens is that this e-mails moves to the top inbox. Now every time I open my e-mail I see my "still need to reply" e-mail. My new e-mails and my drafts.

It works perfectly for me. Since I use this function from Google Labs. I "hardly" miss an e-mail which I need to reply.

It might just work for you to.

cheers.