Twitter? Hearts? Have you no…um, Heart?
People like to accuse Twitter of having “Facebook Envy,” adding features to its idiotically simple core service (some better than others). Now that Twitter has changed Favorite” to “Like,” complete with heart icon, people are going nuts.
I really could care less about this change but it is fun watching the reactions. I guess Twitter used to watch Facebook have all the fun, seeing people kvetch loudly every time they tweaked the interface, and decided that was a great model to copy.
I saw one comment from a user that he/she once used Favorites as a bookmark, as did I. With the onset of “Notifications” though, Favorites were included, making them more of a Like than a stealth cataloging anyway, so it’s really not a big change now. But it was noticed. The screaming has probably died down even by the time I started writing this, however. Enjoy the hearts. Gotta have ’em, right? Maybe Twitter can go Facebook one better by introducing a “Dislike” button?
Nah, let’s keep it positive. Here is how the hearts make me feel:
LinkedIn Groups Moderation Changes- Worst Nightmare or Slight Migraine?
LinkedIn made changes to the way Groups moderation works, and some marketers are mad about it. I suspect there are more masters for LinkedIn to serve here than professionals, and that one of the major changes – making comment moderation retroactive rather than prior to posting – will help some lightly-managed groups move along their conversations better. But community managers who want to actively manage their accounts – and to be honest, most LinkedIn Groups I have seen are spammy wastelands – now have to be more vigilant and put out fires rather than prevent them.
Timeliness is definitely an issue; moderation queues only work if the moderator is active. That may work for an active, professional community manager like Lauren at Search Engine Land, but for many people looking at groups that are less formalized, queues mean it can be forever before a comment gets posted, and that kills conversation. Yes, spam is worse – but it appears LinkedIn is erring on the side of free conversation. Preferable would be a more flexible approach offering moderators the choice of how to pursue comment moderation. It will be interesting to see if there are more changes.
Spotify not Killing Music?
I found this article interesting, as I have been following the Spotify music industry debates. I am a happy Spotify user, but am concerned when some artists start pulling out, whether it be Taylor Swift pulling her music in seeming (I wonder about true motivations) solidarity with independent artists who are not getting paid so much, and other artists pulling streaming music because of supposed sound quality issues, generally espoused by septuagenarian rockers with septuagenarian hearing who spent their early years hawking us their music on 8-track tapes. The bottom line for me at this point is if you’re not on Spotify I’m not listening to you, Neil Young/Robert Plant/Black Keys (Taylor Swift hadn’t made her way into my playlist in any case- imagine that).
The article focused on David Lowery of the bands Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, who explained that Spotify exposure exposed Cracker to larger audiences and more sales, while he supposes the effect on Camper Van Beethoven’s fortunes is probably less rosy. So? A mixed bag. Meanwhile, the FiveThirtyEight article goes on to provide highlights of a not-yet peer-reviewed study of Spotify’s effects on the music business. This will continue to be interesting stuff- and I am continuing to put my money into Spotify as it allows me to mine my owned collection and combine it with a wider collection for discovery (new “Discovery” playlists are excellent and worth trying, by the way).
Star Trek Streaming? Future of Media Consumption? Too Soon?
Star Trek is getting a new TV series, and its delivery will not be on regular TV or cable, but over streaming for the Next Generation (ugh!) of media consumers. CBS is placing its bets and boldly go…ah, forget it
Comedy is Hard
The Merseyside Police in Liverpool, England – or to be specific, whoever was running their Twitter account – provided the latest example of why comedy is best left to the professionals (see below), or at least those who aren’t performing a serious public service. Rape jokes are never funny, and the (most certainly reprimanded and possibly now on the job hunt) social media manager was reminded of that the hard way after trying to be chummy online with local soccer (ok, football) fans.
Doing Twitter for a police department? Let’s be careful out there.
