I wrote a blog yesterday with the Tumblr app and aside from the fact that it didn't share to Twitter I was very impressed with the experience.
So now I try with Blogger.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
Targeted Sharing: Facebook vs. Google+
A friend of mine over on Twitter, @gojeffcho, has been auditing Google+ for the second time and asked me what I thought of it. My reply is below:
First, some background on the two mechanics and how I use them. In Facebook, there are what they call smart lists. They can be created around your networks (university or city), or around who you talk and interact with most frequently. They came out after the Google+ service and were touted as a better way for most people to organize their friends (the implication being that no one wanted to put people into circles). However, the lists in Facebook I have created are as follows: Close Friends, Family, Acquaintances, Alumni, Kingstonians (used mostly for when I am actually heading to Kingston), and then everyone else I assume is in one massive list called friends.
In Google+, I have two types of circles. I have circles which denote how close people are to me, for the purposes of restricting access to personal information. These are the circles which most closely relate to Facebook: Family, friends, acquaintances, co-workers. Then I have circles based on interest, which Facebook doesn't really have a mechanism for: Tech/Developers, Torontonians, Gamers, etc. These circles are the ones I use to filter myself for the benefit of my followers.
The fact that Google+'s circles allow me to target my posts not only by familiarity but also by interest speaks to the flexibility that I mentioned above. It means that I can post my tech questions and opinions to that group without boring my family, and I can post hilarious pictures of the dog to the family without boring, well, everyone else on the planet. I have no issues with other people seeing the content, but I prefer to focus content towards them that they will appreciate. I also make sure to keep enough content public so that people I haven't filtered yet (or I haven't followed back yet) get a taste for my interests.
I anticipate two counter-points to my above arguments. One, that Facebook lists allow me to target based on content just as well as Google+ does. While this is true, there are two things that Google+ has over Facebook in this regard that make Google+ a better system for it. Namely, the ability to modify circles for any person any time their name appears in a post or on a comment and the ability to search through the system based on interest. The second counter-point is that Google+ circles don't do a very good job of filtering content since a follower can't choose the content they want (onus is on the creator).
To the second point, I must concede. It's not a perfect system by any stretch. However, I feel based on my current usage that it is both enough for my current needs and has the potential to expand further in that service. I don't feel that Facebook is even interested in raising the bar of content filtering given their preference that everyone share everything as openly as possible.
Those are my main reasons for preferring Google+'s method of targeted sharing, and that doesn't even get into my tertiary reason for using the system: being able to send e-mails with comments and pictures from Google+ to those who aren't using the system. If you have any comments or critiques, I look forward to hearing them.
@gojeffcho My reason for being attached to G+ is I like targeted sharing, and I like Google's philosophy towards passive sharing in search.However, as Jeff pointed out, Facebook also has targeted sharing so I felt the need to classify why I prefer one system of sharing over the other. I believe that circles on Google+ better allow me to control who can and should see my content than Facebook, and that Google+ circles are more versatile and flexible as a mechanic. I'll expand more below.
— Shawn Drape (@shawndrape) January 10, 2012
First, some background on the two mechanics and how I use them. In Facebook, there are what they call smart lists. They can be created around your networks (university or city), or around who you talk and interact with most frequently. They came out after the Google+ service and were touted as a better way for most people to organize their friends (the implication being that no one wanted to put people into circles). However, the lists in Facebook I have created are as follows: Close Friends, Family, Acquaintances, Alumni, Kingstonians (used mostly for when I am actually heading to Kingston), and then everyone else I assume is in one massive list called friends.
In Google+, I have two types of circles. I have circles which denote how close people are to me, for the purposes of restricting access to personal information. These are the circles which most closely relate to Facebook: Family, friends, acquaintances, co-workers. Then I have circles based on interest, which Facebook doesn't really have a mechanism for: Tech/Developers, Torontonians, Gamers, etc. These circles are the ones I use to filter myself for the benefit of my followers.
The fact that Google+'s circles allow me to target my posts not only by familiarity but also by interest speaks to the flexibility that I mentioned above. It means that I can post my tech questions and opinions to that group without boring my family, and I can post hilarious pictures of the dog to the family without boring, well, everyone else on the planet. I have no issues with other people seeing the content, but I prefer to focus content towards them that they will appreciate. I also make sure to keep enough content public so that people I haven't filtered yet (or I haven't followed back yet) get a taste for my interests.
I anticipate two counter-points to my above arguments. One, that Facebook lists allow me to target based on content just as well as Google+ does. While this is true, there are two things that Google+ has over Facebook in this regard that make Google+ a better system for it. Namely, the ability to modify circles for any person any time their name appears in a post or on a comment and the ability to search through the system based on interest. The second counter-point is that Google+ circles don't do a very good job of filtering content since a follower can't choose the content they want (onus is on the creator).
To the second point, I must concede. It's not a perfect system by any stretch. However, I feel based on my current usage that it is both enough for my current needs and has the potential to expand further in that service. I don't feel that Facebook is even interested in raising the bar of content filtering given their preference that everyone share everything as openly as possible.
Those are my main reasons for preferring Google+'s method of targeted sharing, and that doesn't even get into my tertiary reason for using the system: being able to send e-mails with comments and pictures from Google+ to those who aren't using the system. If you have any comments or critiques, I look forward to hearing them.
A better kind of nutrition point system
Over the past two months I’ve been brainstorming ideas for startups. I’m increasingly anxious to get some of my work out into the public eye so I can really get a feel for what caliber of programmer I am.
One of those ideas is loosely based on Fitocracy, an application which uses game mechanics to encourage efficient workouts. It’s a winner because while few people know which exercises are better than others anyone can look at a points total and see how the exercises they chose measure up against someone else’s. I figured if someone can make it that easy to see which exercises you can do then there is a niche for someone to come along and do the same thing to show which food is better than others.
The goal of this system would be healthy eating as opposed to weight loss and would assign higher point values for healthier foods. The methodology of diet plans which use points like a cost is flawed. Why? People don’t like to spend things but we love to collect them: especially points!
The unique position such a service would be in would allow calculations based on what else you have eaten that day, week and month as well. Been having too much sugar from juice, for example? We can give you point penalties based on the combination of food you’ve been eating. Have you eaten a lot of really good food recently? We can reward you with badges and recognition from your friends.
Oh yeah, did I forget to mention friends? That’s another thing that traditional nutrition systems don’t take into consideration. Keeping your friends in the loop to the general status of your eating habits can let them congratulate you, or serve as a warning ;)
Obviously there is a lot to flesh out and a lit of work to be done getting proper information on food. I’m still amazed at how much work the Fitocracy team goes through to get the numbers crunched for any given exercise. But I’d still love to do it and I think it’s about time I stopped wishing.
One of those ideas is loosely based on Fitocracy, an application which uses game mechanics to encourage efficient workouts. It’s a winner because while few people know which exercises are better than others anyone can look at a points total and see how the exercises they chose measure up against someone else’s. I figured if someone can make it that easy to see which exercises you can do then there is a niche for someone to come along and do the same thing to show which food is better than others.
The goal of this system would be healthy eating as opposed to weight loss and would assign higher point values for healthier foods. The methodology of diet plans which use points like a cost is flawed. Why? People don’t like to spend things but we love to collect them: especially points!
The unique position such a service would be in would allow calculations based on what else you have eaten that day, week and month as well. Been having too much sugar from juice, for example? We can give you point penalties based on the combination of food you’ve been eating. Have you eaten a lot of really good food recently? We can reward you with badges and recognition from your friends.
Oh yeah, did I forget to mention friends? That’s another thing that traditional nutrition systems don’t take into consideration. Keeping your friends in the loop to the general status of your eating habits can let them congratulate you, or serve as a warning ;)
Obviously there is a lot to flesh out and a lit of work to be done getting proper information on food. I’m still amazed at how much work the Fitocracy team goes through to get the numbers crunched for any given exercise. But I’d still love to do it and I think it’s about time I stopped wishing.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
A re-introduction
I spent some time fiddling around with a personal blog on tumblr (shawndrape.tumblr.com) but due to conflicts with another blog (which I may move over here as well) being labeled as the primary blog on their system it created come conflicts and issues that I just didn't want to deal with.
To be completely honest, I had forgotten about this blog that I started waaaay back when. I don't have many thoughts here, but I think I can put up a couple more pretty quickly within the next few weeks. I have been having many long discussions with @gojeffcho and @jasonpkaplan on Twitter about the quality of recent Zelda games (namely, Skyward Sword) compared to the older ones. As a result, I'll have material for a review/opinion piece on Skyward Sword AND Ocarina of Time to share before too long.
Otherwise, I'm just going to see where this goes. ;D
To be completely honest, I had forgotten about this blog that I started waaaay back when. I don't have many thoughts here, but I think I can put up a couple more pretty quickly within the next few weeks. I have been having many long discussions with @gojeffcho and @jasonpkaplan on Twitter about the quality of recent Zelda games (namely, Skyward Sword) compared to the older ones. As a result, I'll have material for a review/opinion piece on Skyward Sword AND Ocarina of Time to share before too long.
Otherwise, I'm just going to see where this goes. ;D
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