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General Software Discussion / Re: Short Attention Spans with regards to Technology - Does it really exist?
« Last post by app103 on September 29, 2009, 02:01 PM »The difference between the 140 char "articles" such as you find in twitter and a real article of longer length is how you read them. On twitter you don't read...you scan. It's like looking at a list of post titles, and you scan for ones of interest to you. The fact that so many people share so much stuff you are not interested in and you know that, but also know they share things you might be interested in, you approach it knowing full well you are looking for needles in a haystack and you'll be throwing most of it away.
With a feed reader, you subscribe to content of all the same type when you subscribe to a feed. Less noise, more signal. More articles, no list of what the blogger had for lunch.
If you want to see how interested people can really be with a simple 140 char post, compare the level of engagement in the original format of twitter and to the same posts imported to Friendfeed. Human filtering can make all the difference when it comes to separating the noise from the signal and generating an interesting discussion around the content that 140 chars was pointing to.
The post on twitter might pick up a comment or 2, and might even get a bunch of RT's, but a substantial group discussion that is more interesting than the original 140 chars? Not going to happen. People don't really read tweets. And there is no way to keep the entire discussion on the same page. It's too fragmented.
On friendfeed, you are still scanning for content of interest, but if you like something you mark it and it makes it more noticeable, sending it again past the people that missed it the first time. If another marks it, it starts to grow more visible, and again goes past those that missed it the first 2 times. Then comments make it a larger block, sending it past again. The more times it comes past you and the bigger it gets, the more likely you will notice it, read it, and interact with it. Your friends have filtered for you to help you find the signal among the noise. But if it is noise to you, despite the interest others have in it, you can hide it and never see it again.
Plus the discussion is all on the same page and you see the whole thing, including the contributions made by those you are not following.
It's not a substitute for a feed reader, but it compliments it, and allows you to follow writers rather than just the words they write. You can see their influences, the thought process, and sometimes the inspiration behind the words they write.
Plus, just like in google reader you can group people into one or more categories based on your interests and the type of content they share, just like you would classify a blog's feed.
Instead of category of Photography, I have one called Photographers, where I not only have the listing of the blog posts they write, I also see their stuff they upload to Flickr, the things they favorite, the list of the music they listen to, the jokes they tell, their rants they don't share on their blog. Yes, it's the same stuff they share on twitter in some cases, but it's not fragmented as much, and I see a whole lot more and it can have more meaning.
Because Twitter lacks the ability to filter people into categories like this, it makes it much more difficult to get the most out of it.
Plus unlike Twitter, Friendfeed does give more than 140 chars, which can grab your attention better, keeping you from missing the really interesting stuff.
These are examples of posts I made that I cross posted to twitter that most people probably let slip right past them without noticing, but with added content and with the way the human filtering works, combined with the conversation all on the same page, it had a much greater reaction on friendfeed, with more interest shown. (I saw no evidence of anyone noticing I posted these, on twitter)
The Kopp-Etchells Effect
I'm Hungry
Is It Ethical To Engineer Delicious Cows That Feel No Pain?
The Finger Test to Check the Doneness of Meat
If you want to see it in all its glory, view this page not for the content but for how things grab your attention, making note of why. It will be a real lesson in how things grab your attention and why you miss some things (is it because of the image? the comments? the number of people that liked it? the number of times it keeps coming back to the top?)
Everyone I am subscribed to
Keep in mind that I don't view it like this, I use filters a lot, I have other enhancements & scripts I use, and I keep the real-time scrolling turned off so it's much slower for me.
With a feed reader, you subscribe to content of all the same type when you subscribe to a feed. Less noise, more signal. More articles, no list of what the blogger had for lunch.
If you want to see how interested people can really be with a simple 140 char post, compare the level of engagement in the original format of twitter and to the same posts imported to Friendfeed. Human filtering can make all the difference when it comes to separating the noise from the signal and generating an interesting discussion around the content that 140 chars was pointing to.
The post on twitter might pick up a comment or 2, and might even get a bunch of RT's, but a substantial group discussion that is more interesting than the original 140 chars? Not going to happen. People don't really read tweets. And there is no way to keep the entire discussion on the same page. It's too fragmented.
On friendfeed, you are still scanning for content of interest, but if you like something you mark it and it makes it more noticeable, sending it again past the people that missed it the first time. If another marks it, it starts to grow more visible, and again goes past those that missed it the first 2 times. Then comments make it a larger block, sending it past again. The more times it comes past you and the bigger it gets, the more likely you will notice it, read it, and interact with it. Your friends have filtered for you to help you find the signal among the noise. But if it is noise to you, despite the interest others have in it, you can hide it and never see it again.
Plus the discussion is all on the same page and you see the whole thing, including the contributions made by those you are not following.
It's not a substitute for a feed reader, but it compliments it, and allows you to follow writers rather than just the words they write. You can see their influences, the thought process, and sometimes the inspiration behind the words they write.
Plus, just like in google reader you can group people into one or more categories based on your interests and the type of content they share, just like you would classify a blog's feed.
Instead of category of Photography, I have one called Photographers, where I not only have the listing of the blog posts they write, I also see their stuff they upload to Flickr, the things they favorite, the list of the music they listen to, the jokes they tell, their rants they don't share on their blog. Yes, it's the same stuff they share on twitter in some cases, but it's not fragmented as much, and I see a whole lot more and it can have more meaning.
Because Twitter lacks the ability to filter people into categories like this, it makes it much more difficult to get the most out of it.
Plus unlike Twitter, Friendfeed does give more than 140 chars, which can grab your attention better, keeping you from missing the really interesting stuff.
These are examples of posts I made that I cross posted to twitter that most people probably let slip right past them without noticing, but with added content and with the way the human filtering works, combined with the conversation all on the same page, it had a much greater reaction on friendfeed, with more interest shown. (I saw no evidence of anyone noticing I posted these, on twitter)
The Kopp-Etchells Effect
I'm Hungry
Is It Ethical To Engineer Delicious Cows That Feel No Pain?
The Finger Test to Check the Doneness of Meat
If you want to see it in all its glory, view this page not for the content but for how things grab your attention, making note of why. It will be a real lesson in how things grab your attention and why you miss some things (is it because of the image? the comments? the number of people that liked it? the number of times it keeps coming back to the top?)
Everyone I am subscribed to
Keep in mind that I don't view it like this, I use filters a lot, I have other enhancements & scripts I use, and I keep the real-time scrolling turned off so it's much slower for me.
