I think today’s “irony of the day” is a post by Jeremiah Owyang which points out that “Some conversations move to Twitter” — and by some conversations, he means some conversations which used to occur elsewhere, meaning “The Blog.”
Well, this particular conversation has already netted 200+ comments on his blog post and will surpass his most-active post to date, which was the White Label Social Networking Platforms list.
So let me be clear: the irony is that a meme about coversations moving off blogs and to Twitter created the most activity on his blog to date. He also chose his blog to articulate this thought.
Anyway, the irony isn’t really that thick — it’s just such a good example of a point that I’ve been trying to articulate for awhile. I’ve been playing with a term called “Ambience Scatter” and I have a three month old blog post draft I can’t seem to finish on the subject.
The basic idea is that with emerging forms of communication there’s an increasing attraction to the “right” medium for the message. Blogs aren’t a one size fits all. But with the right medium also demands a critical mass (so you can be heard). That creates a scatter of mediums weighted by the groups which come together in densely populated place. Call it the galaxy of communication. Call it gravity.
Nonetheless, let’s not let today’s lesson pass us. The Blog is still as strong as ever at pulling tons of people around an idea — a meme, if you will — and perhaps still the most effective.
Good going, @jowyang.
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3 responses so far ↓
1 Jeremiah Owyang // Dec 11, 2007 at 4:58 pm
That’s pretty funny stuff, ironic yes. You called it. In my last line on my post (in an update) I noted the same.
The secret is, I was really trying to get my blog audience to realize what’s a happening on twitter…I think it worked, as I got a lot of new ads with from new users.
2 Nate Westheimer // Dec 11, 2007 at 5:07 pm
Yeah — this convergence of mediums is so interesting.
3 Colin McDonald // Dec 14, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Hi Nate, I’m new to your site and have been engrossed in your recent posts, especially this one and your thoughts on Fred Wilson’s ’social blogging.’
It’s easy to forget to think about the suitability of a medium to the message being communicated or consumed, especially when there are so many options (and everyone is eager to play with the latest and greatest). The recent flap over Twitter signal to noise comes to mind.
It’s also funny how terminology plays such a strong role when web communication services are somewhat inherently malleable. I like social knitting, and I’d be interested to hear more about ‘ambient scatter.’ My company’s setttled on ‘open messaging’ as seen through ‘ambient intimacy,’ so I think there are some parallels — if you’d like to you can check out the paper linked at our blog, where we continue to explore this stuff too.
Sorry to ramble a little, but it’s interesting to see you tackling some similar issues. I’ll be sure to stay tuned. Thanks, and best of luck with Bricabox!
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