Social Software

Lunch & Learn for January 26, 2005
By Steve Lawson, Humanities Librarian

Disclaimer: People use social software applications to express themselves on the web. Some people like to express their feelings regarding sex, drugs, rock and roll, and other things that some find offensive or distasteful. Some use strong language. While I don't intend to show anything gratuitously sexual or offensive today, I can't control what others post on the internet. Caveat surfer.

What is Social Software?

Social Networking

MySpace

• Main page: http://www.myspace.com/
• Steve's (lame) page: http://www.myspace.com/hatchibomobtar

The Facebook

• CC on The Facebook: http://coloradocollege.thefacebook.com/
• Steve on The Facebook

MySpace and the Facebook in the Media

• Read / Write Wed: Latest SNS Numbers - MySpace Streaks Ahead
• TechCrunch: 85% of College Students use FaceBook
• Fred Stutzman: Student life on the Facebook
• Washington Post: Teens' Bold Blogs Alarm Area Schools (about MySpace, The Facebook, LiveJournal, etc.)
• Fast & Loud: View blocked sites from school or work (good luck "banning" MySpace et al.)
• BoingBoing: Facebook prank on police
• Tame the Web: The Unintended Consequences of Social Software (or Putting Yourself Out There)
• The Action in Distraction: What would Orwell do? (is Big Brother mining MySpace for all that personal information?)

Sharing (photos, WWW bookmarks, music, books)

Flickr: share photos

• main page: http://flickr.com/
• user photos: http://flickr.com/photos/hatchibombotar
• user profile: http://flickr.com/people/tuttlibrary
• tags: http://flickr.com/photos/tags
• a specific tag: http://flickr.com/photos/tags/librarian
• add comments and notes to a picture: http://flickr.com/photos/ha112/901660/
• User-created tools
• Flickr related tag browser: http://www.airtightinteractive.com/projects/related_tag_browser/app/
• Tagnautica: http://www.quasimondo.com/tagnautica.php
• Flickr toys: http://flagrantdisregard.com/flickr/
• Fastr, a Flickr game: http://randomchaos.com/games/fastr/

del.icio.us: share WWW bookmarks

• main page: http://del.icio.us
• create an account: http://del.icio.us/login
• view other users' bookmarks
  • My real bookmarks: http://del.icio.us/bevedog (me)
  • A new "demo" account for today: http://del.icio.us/hatchibombotar
  • http://del.icio.us/hrheingold (author Howard Rheingold)
• view by tag: http://del.icio.us/tag/education
• view popular items: http://del.icio.us/popular
• view popular items for a single tag: http://del.icio.us/popular/flickr
• user-created tools:
  • LiveMarks: http://sandbox.sourcelabs.com/livemarks/ watch del.icio.us update in real time.
  • http://expialidocio.us/ Your history of using del.icio.us
  • http://kevan.org/extispicious Randomized tag cloud
• Similar bookmarking sites (my (unfair?) snap judgements brackets):
  • Furl: http://www.furl.net/ [less public, less social]
  • Blinklist: http://www.blinklist.com/ [del.icio.us with a pretty interface]
  • CiteULike: http://www.citeulike.org/ [del.ici.ous for academics]
  • PennTags: http://tags.library.upenn.edu/ [very interesting project to employ tagging in a university environment]

Last.fm: share music

• Last.fm home: http://last.fm/
• Steve on Last.fm

Library Thing: share book catalogs

• Library Thing home: http://librarything.com/
• Steve on Library Thing

Collaborating

Wikis: collaborate on groups of linked web pages

• Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, is the best-known example of a Wiki. See Wikipedia's entries on:
  • Colorado College
  • The Facebook
  • Flickr
• Get your own wiki at PBWiki
  • Steve's sample wiki (at the moment, the password is "lunch"

Writeboard

• Writeboard "Write, Share, Revise, Compare": http://writeboard.com/