system.reflecti0n.net

Everybody puts their foot in their mouth sometime.

Yeah, What the Hell is Up With That?

I suppose when posting to such a small blog you start to forget that just because nobody is listening, doesn't mean somebody could be listening. Once you forget, the part of your brain that's supposed to jump in and say "Is it really worth saying out loud?... really?"

Yesterday I made a post that was not just a bunch of noise but a kind of post that I'd never want on this blog in the first place, if I'd really been using my brain in the first place. At least, if I'm going to incidentally get traffic to this blog, it better not be for trashing other people or their ideas.

I Suppose We're Supposed to Believe This Song-and-Dance?

At my end, this all seems like incidental traffic to me because like I said earlier, I forgot that people could be listening. That's what makes me foolish. I mean, of course people noticed! Its a BLOG... on the INTERNET. If some part of me didn't expect this stuff to get seen, I'd have saved a lot of time and effort by buying a spiral notebook and put my ideas in there.

Sometimes I worry... if two trains collided at Union station, I'd be the only one on the platform who'd say, did you hear something? Obviousness eludes me at the worst times.

So Now What?

Go back to business as usual-- Wake up and think harder before I press the "Publish" button. I'm sticking to thinking up ideas and concepts and newsy things like I intended to in the first place. Now there's a red flag to notice when I'm going off-course.

Update: I believe this order has taught me the meaning of "comparisons are odious!"

Tags:

Web Culture 2.0: Made in Silicon Valley

In this day and age we outsiders get a look inside to the cabal that makes up the current web culture. And like so many cliques, they spend a lot of time watching/talking about each other. Scoble talks about TechCrunch, Twitter and Techmeme almost like these are the only things worth using. That is, he applies a certain amount of importance to these sites that seems directly proportional to his involvement/visibility in these sites. Sites Scoble can't get front-and-center on, he just can't be bothered with you know? Scoble doesn't get the love from Technorati, so it's all yesterday's technology and surely it's a site dwindling in importance and not nearly as important or relevant as Techmeme.

The Tale of the Tape: technorati.com vs techmeme.com

So scoble doesn't dig the 'rait. Big deal. He's an insider, the guy with a finger on the pulse. Surely he's all right? Yet, comparing these two at alexa.com tells this tale:

...So Scoble has a point in that Technorati's reach is dwindling. ButTechmeme, his choice for up-and-comer has simply changed little-to-none in the past year. I've seen rain-puddles with more activity. Yet if you were to read his blog, one would think that Techmeme is as popular or better than Technorati. I certainly thought so until I went to alexa.com.

This I feel, is what makes Scoble seem inward looking. If his friends don't hang out there, it's no place he wants to be. Just a feeling. Not personally knowing the guy I have little to judge him on but his own blog posts.

Hang On, the Title Says "Dave Winer is Cool"

No doubt in my mind, Dave Winer is one of those guys who is on that same inside track as Scoble. Heck, he blogs about Scoble's blogs and vice-versa. Winer also spends a lot of time being active in, and talking about being in, the Twitterverse.

But, in spite of Winer and Scoble's similar M.O.'s, Winer still differs in at least one way that this post illustrates nicely:

"Dare Obasanjo, who works at Microsoft, says that..."

...the rest doesn't really matter. What impressed me was here's one of those insiders actually blogging about someone they don't really know, just because they had something interesting to say. That's it. That's why Dave is cool. He's the insider that takes the time to look outside.

To sum it up: no one changes the world by staring at their shoes. The real world-changers have their eye on the horizon.

Tags: dave winer, comparisons are odious, blogging, demotivator