Social network engine I’d like to see

Most existing social networks are built upon the model of a timeline. But if we come to a network to find out what our friends are up to, what we probably would like to see is what Y has been doing or saying lately. While it is true that it is possible to pull up the profile and posts of Y, this is not very practical. Furthermore, perhaps they have been active on Pinterest but not on Facebook, and if I really want to follow them, I’m going to need to go into each of their networks, then check their profiles there. There are plug-in services for email like this, such as Rapportive. When we begin to write to someone, it will check their network activity. But this is not an average use case.

So what I would really like to see is the following arrangement. There would be a contacts list, on the left hand side, and on the right, a series of columns, one for each social network, as well as personal sites and blogs. The engine pulls in activity feeds for each place. If a person has been active somewhere, anywhere, a green light shows up by her name, with a matching light in the column corresponding to a certain network. If I am friends with them on a given network, or if the post is public, I can hover over the green light in the column, and the post itself pops up so that I can read it without having to go into that social network. The social networks can monitize this activity by sending ads along with the posts.

My ideal network engine would do more. It would suggest new networks where I can meet my friends. If a person is a member of a network of which I’m still not a member, or if I am not acquainted with them on that network, it will tell me. If a number of friends have joined a network of which I am still not a member, it will also suggest to me that I might consider joining that network too. Because people sometimes use different identities on different networks, there would be the possibility to add content manually, as well as personal sites, blogs etc.

The contacts list would also be a source for additional contact information such as phone numbers, email addresses, etc. and provide an indication of the preferred method of contact.

Further, the engine will present a number of different views. It will be viewable as an alphabetical contacts list, but it will also be able to sense, via my interactions, which persons I’m closest to, and then order the list according to this. There will also be a view which shows which posts are trending among my friends, or are most viral, across all networks. It will also be able to show me which recent posts by a given person are most popular, based on likes, re-tweets, comments, etc. Finally, it will show me, based on tags and topics, what my contacts have to say upon a given topic, and be able to prioritize this activity according to popularity.

This isn’t a very complicated idea. But it would certainly be something of value to many of us. It would build engagement in social networks, provide the opportunity for new ones to surface, and give us a much clearer view of what our friends are doing, how they are expressing themselves, and where.

A third approach to software

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has an article in ZDNet, They’re killing the PC, about the rise of the app stores, “Software as a Service” running under Google Chrome, IOS, etc., and the corresponding decline of interest in computers running traditional operating systems. He isn’t the only one to notice this trend, and I think he is right about it.

I’ve just been thinking though that there is a a third approach, which is for software developers to create applications that run in a browser, that are installable on one’s own computer as a local service, on one’s own server via the web, or hosted services. I think that this is a likely trend, which will only grow as browsers and code become more sophisticated and capable. Software created for the browser runs on any operating system. If there’s something worthy of support, it is open source browsers such a Firefox, rather than proprietary browsers like Google Chrome. We should support efforts like Firefox OS on mobile phones, and perhaps one day on PCs.

Linux distributions have many such applications available in their software repositories. Hosting services offer many one-click-install possibilities, usually under CPanel. Such software services can be set to upgrade themselves and backup automatically.

The advantage is continued independence from the likes of Apple, Google, Amazon and the rest, and the ability to retain control of one’s computer experience, without much of the hassle associated with installing and maintaining software on traditional operating systems.

Update: I see that Google is developing a Chromium framework for HTML / Javascript apps that work outside the browser and offline by default. Apps will be hosted on GitHub. So this provides additional support for the argument made here.

how the Snowden affair illuminates cultural identity and political conceptions

I continue to read all the main threads of the Snowden affair, as well as reflections by journalists and writers. British journalist Jonathan Friedland’s story for the New York Times (Why Do Brits Accept Surveillance?) about what he conceives of as the differences in the reactions to the revelations in Britain and America was interesting. Basically, he says that these reactions indicate differing conceptions regarding the relationship between government and citizen in the two countries:

And this might be the heart of the matter. Britain has a fundamentally different conception of power than, say, the United States. In America, it is ‘‘we the people’’ who are held to be sovereign. Viewed like that, the N.S.A., and other arms of the government, is a servant of the people: It is meant to do what it is told.

The British system, by contrast, still carries the imprint of its origins in monarchy: Officially, it remains “Her Majesty’s Government,” not the people’s. Power still emanates from the top and flows downward, with the public allowed a peek only when the state chooses. It means that Brits can be quite resigned toward the level of government power over, and intrusion into, their lives — because they don’t really see government as their servant in the first place. Britons remain subjects, not citizens.

Once again, I was reminded that despite having been born in the UK, my cultural frame is more American than British, because of the two systems he describes so well, my own way of thinking is closer to the American one. American influence on the world being so strong, it’s surprising that the Brits are not swayed to a greater degree by the U.S. However in my case, the influence is not surprising since I grew up in Virginia from the age of 13.

Another area in which I have noticed such cultural influence is in spelling and syntax. For years I staunchly attempted to use British modes, until one day I read a comprehensive article on the differences between American and British usage, and realized not only that American usage came easier, but that I didn’t really understand British usage in any case. And I remember being similarly surprised when spending an undergraduate year in a British university. I did not adjust well to the British system.

In their view of the Edward Snowden revelations, Israelis are closer to the British than the Americans. They are happy to accept surveillance, and assume that they are being watched. They also take for granted that the threat to the personal security does not come from their state, but from their “enemies”.

OK back to WordPress again for this not…

OK, back to WordPress again, for this not very real blog. Previous actions haven’t been working for me. But perhaps this time I’ll be happy.

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