How CiB uses Facebook to create conversations about the things it writes about.

#vvoj2010 Another #Facebook #search tool is Booshaka: http://bit.ly/aKPlPs
– Paul Bradshaw (paulbradshaw) http://twitter.com/paulbradshaw/status/5582071804207104

To back up Flickr photos:

To backup Twitter, Facebook, Google+:

The instruction here are for iChat but the big news is Facebook IM is accessibie via the Jabber protocol, which means it's accessible via any IM client you like. I'm logged in via Adium. This is great news.

Clears all the crap off and makes it slightly more usable. If you use it. I hardly ever do though I keep meaning to.

Cory Doctorow states the bleeding obvious, but sometimes it needs to be stated.

Best read with a "hmm, yeah, maybe" attitude but this hits on something our current social networks are missing out on - finding the middle ground between your "friends" and everybody. Twitter kinda had this with their option to see replies people you follow made to people you don't follow until it was scrapped for performance reasons but that was only a hint, while Facebook sort of does it for discovering new people but, afaik, doesn't play in the search arena. I want to see friend-of-a-friend search. Just as my local community is made up of people I don't know but who are probably connected to me via someone I do know, so my online community works the same way. Being able to query the data in that network would be invaluable.

Robert Scoble has a look at why FriendFeed isn't taking off as well as it should be. Since Scoble uses FF a hell of a lot and acknowledges his use is exceptional this is a useful analysis of how restrictions and possibilities on different platforms chance the nature of engagement on them. My thought, in short, is that FF does all the things people <i>think</i> Twitter should do (groups for one) and prove why Twitter shouldn't do them.

Interesting TechCrunch analysis (I didn't know TechCrunch did analysis, I thought they just did news) on what makes Twitter work. I'd agree with a lot of this.

" Twitter works and enjoys such strong attachment because it provides real-time access to a well-defined audience. The backlog of all previous tweets is a guarantee of permanence (you can even search it) and you can catch up on it anytime. As a result, people use Twitter because they have an idea of who will see their lightweight messages and this sense of audience is reinforced by @replies, re-tweets and references in future conversations (online and offline).

"Designing for the sense of Audience is a powerful tool to create cohesion and a sense of utility among users of a service. This lesson from Twitter can apply to many other services too. But before leaving the current discussion, it’s helpful to look at a service that has missed the full power of Audience so far."

Monday March 31, 7pm, Rootys at the Custard Factory. All are welcome.

Fierce have a new Facebook group. If you're using Facebook for notifications of stuff you should join.

Kinda like a MySpace profile only, y'know, saner.

"Activities include: Organising local, national and eventually international photography excursions, Social evenings around the West Midlands, Meeting people with similar interests, Exchanging tips, ideas and information, Collaboration on artistic project

"a group to bring together bands, artists, fans, promoters, venues, photographers, magazines, recording studios and other people involved in the music scene in Birmingham, England and the surrounding areas."

Just three things are required to join this club: a bicycle, a love/need for art and culture and a refusal to let the Olympic fiasco and the funding cuts get you down.