My god! It's an article about Twitter that manages to be insightful, intelligent, provocative and betray and understanding of what Twitter the model is in contrast to Twitter the company. Essential reading.

An observation that socialising doesn't scale. I've been thinking this a lot regarding newspaper comments and the like. It all goes back to "small pieces loosely joined".

"Despite what years of local monopoly may have taught many veteran journalists, readers don't automatically show up for whatever you publish."

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

Anil Dash is on Twitter's Suggested User List. His findings are interesting.

The other day my friend Pete Ashton posted an article in which he declared he was no longer a Social Media Consultant. Sort of.

Or rather, it’s not that he’s no longer doing what he’s been doing for a living for the last couple of years to go and do something else, rather, that – cutting a long story short – he’s not going to be describing himself as such any more.

99 (and growing) policies from a variety of organisations. I haven't dug into this yet but if you're looking to develop a social media policy for your org you might find a good template here. I'd caution that while some are doing this well it's doubtful anyone's getting it completely right.

I have a small problem with these articles which say "social media is nothing new - we've been doing this since the Internet was created." Yes, it's true that Twitter is directly descended from IRC but it's the mass adoption of Twitter and Facebook that makes it interesting. It's like me saying fanzine culture was the precursor to blogging. Sure it was, but blogging was much more revolutionary because the barriers to entry tumbled. But, that said, it's good to know your history if you want to understand these tools and this is a nice short introduction to that history

Social Journalism or Social Reporting is a term that's been bandied around recently. I was struggling to figure out how it was different to old fashioned blogging and the like. This definition makes a bit of sense - it's the curating of the stuff that bubbles up from social networks.

"What’s Social Journalism? It’s what you do when you gather information in social media channels and then report it to your readers. Watching a Twitter #hashtag for posts related to a critical local issue or big event, then publishing them in a roundup or sidebar on your news site? That’s Social Journalism. Scanning YouTube for the latest video from a protest, county fair, or city council meeting? That’s Social Journalism."

10 minute mp3 in which @gandy looks at how we're playing with conventions of audience, power, conversation and more. I aspire to be this coherent and to strike such a great balance between optimism and caution. Highly recommended.

Written by some people I respect, but I haven't found time to delve in yet. You may have time. Have a delve and tell us what you think

Nice little video drawing comparisons between the punk movement in the 70 and the blogging, etc stuff happening now. While I think the video simplifies thing a bit I do agree with this. The DIY nature of online participation is what makes it so important. Anyone can play three chords. Anyone can do a zine. Anyone can start a blog.

Bit of a no-brainer but a useful response to the attitude that EVERYONE has to be online socially. Some people simply shouldn't blog or Twitter or whathaveyou. That's not an excuse for those who should but are just scared but it should be taken into account.

A nice overview of the role of a "social media expert" in a large organisation. It's all about changing the culture. Two quotes:

my goal was not to create one smaller team of geeks who blog and Tweet all day, but to get all 500+ people on the team to know, understand, and use social media just as they know, understand, and use press releases, email pitches, and town hall meetings.

and

Sure, there will always be a need to call in the “experts” – the people who live and breathe this stuff – but for the most part, every communications professional needs to understand social media and its place in the overall mix of communications strategies and tools. If I hear one more person tell me that they’re “too old for this stuff,” or that “I’m just not ready for that,” all you’re really telling me is that you’re not interested in being a really good communications professional. These types of people won’t last for much longer anyway.

I enjoyed the live video stream of this panel discussion at the Amb:IT:ion Roadshow last week so while we wait for the recording to make it online here's the liveblog transcript.

Mark Ball, previously of Fierce Earth and the RSC and now Artistic Director of LIFT, the London International Festival of Theatre, sumarises how the revolution in digital communication / social media might affect the arts sector.

Most inspiring and thought-provoking thing I read this week. Tom Ewing uses the British pop charts as a means to explore serendipity. Lots of intelligent criticism of social media and lots of intelligent praise of social media too. I posted some selected quotes <a href="http://ash10.tumblr.com/post/139045958/poptimist-23-chartopia">here</a> and hope to return to this again for a more detailed response soon.

A manifesto that starts with "Dear Old People Who Run the World, My generation would like to break up with you." Like all good manifestos it's passionate, overblown and full of sweeping generalisations but that's not a problem as it serves to spark thought and discussion. Reads a lot like the Cluetrain Manifesto 10 years later which is no bad thing.

In the comments someone says this is nothing new - every generation felt like this. True but I wonder if the networked nature of this generation makes a difference?

Another bullshit calling article from a few weeks back that says "Social Media is people talking to each other", which is true, but then spends paragraphs and paragraphs explaining why, which kinda indicates "Social Media is people talking to each other" isn't actually that simple when you start digging. Still, I agree with the spirit of the piece.

I loved reading this as he hits a number of things I've been thinking about, muttering about on Twitter or feeling unable to articulate in case they get misinterpreted (one of the perils of working in an industry you're commenting on...) I don't necessarily agree with his conclusions or opinions but it's a great codification of worries I've been having since SXSWi this year. (There's a counter argument <a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/07/in-defense-of-social-media.html">here</a>.)

Short interview with the Community Manager at Six Apart (Movable Type, Typepad, Vox). Not massively illuminating but a do like peeks into the minds of people who work with this stuff on a social level. See also Heather Champ of Flickr whose experience is invaluable.

A bit blunt and I wouldn't necessarily agree with some of the assertions but hits some key points on why people share stuff. Suspect it's more complex than this though.

Check out the Facebook activity...

Might be relevant to your organisation?

Tom Ewing's response to the Foucault / Panopticon essay.

"The genius of the current model is that we are self-surveillant, of course. We willingly offer our identity, friends, thoughts and so-forth, to the all-seeing eyes of anyone who can be bothered to set up an appropriate search alert. We’re consequently a bit less likely to say or do things that fall outside the accepted models of political and corporate behaviour."

Meg: "Retweeting (that is, repeating someone else’s tweet, with attribution) has emerged from daily twittering habits and has become part of Twitter’s cultural vocabulary. The idea of rebroadcasting something interesting/funny you’ve spotted isn’t new, and the custom of acknowledging your sources isn’t particularly revolutionary either, but what is interesting is that not all retweets (RTs) are alike. Birds on a wire In fact, long-term observation of RTing on Twitter reveals that there are a number of different objectives which could inspire a retweet, though of course the actual motivating force can only ever be known by the author of the retweet themselves. To that end, I’ve identified what I consider to be the seventeen things that people are actually saying when they retweet others on Twitter."

Social media glossary, aimed at PR industry

Wiki for social media terms

A fair amount of what I know I leaned from Meg.

"Social media is sometimes waved around like a magic stick, or an enchanted bean, which only some people - hallowed (mostly) self-identified consultants - can manipulate or unlock the secrets of.

But it’s not. Among other definitions, and at its most basic, social media is tools, situations and applications which enable people to talk to & with other people, about stuff they’re passionate or curious about.

Consultants can tell you interesting things about social media, and how it’s being used, and how it might develop or change over time, and how people might use it, but anyone - including me - who tells you that you absolutely MUST do X or Y to definitely make your magic social media beans flourish and grow, is making it up."

Whole book and resources wiki-style

Jon writes a four part account of the fantastic work he and others did over Christmas translating a council consultation document into Plain English and turning it into a blog so the issues could be discussed and not simply commented on. This project is now being used nationally as an example both of how cheap / free social media tools can be used to connect with citizens and how the public can use them organise quickly and effectively. Essential reading.

We are mainstream...

Arguments from an academic who I respect are always worth looking at. Yes, she's fundamentally wrong. Yes, she's speaking about things she doesn't understand. But these are the sort of questions and issues folk like me need to have answers for.

A handy bit of clarity on things like "it's too hard", "If we let people say anything, then they’ll say the worst thing" and "It’s a replacement for traditional consultation and engagement" <i>via <a href="http://twitter.com/pigsonthewing/statuses/1238083511">Andy Mabbett</a></i>

Another formal and well thought out guide for members of a large organisation on how to deal with the social internet.

Nice overview of what we're up to in Birmingham at the moment featuring an interview with Nick Booth.

Bobbie Johnson has a righteous rant concluding with "Social media is people. People talk about stuff. The end." I agree wholeheartedly. But I also think there's plenty of work to be done in this area. The issue, I think, is that most studies of "social media" miss the point and do so annoyingly loudly. This is also why I'm currently looking for a term to describe what I do that isn't "social media"...

Michael Grimes touches on an issue I've been thinking about for a while now. There's much more to think about here but it's a good starting point.

Very useful breakdown of what "communities" are.

Jon Bounds ties up Twitpanto, his audacious and spectacular attempt to stage a pantomime on a conversational microblogging platform. Well worth a read.

"A family friendly festival where 'normal people' can integrate and learn from social media geek types keen to blog, film, tweet and share in a festival environment."

I've been working with Mark Ball of the RSC on a research project about how culture organisations can engage with online communities. This is the first of a few posts. Comments and ideas very welcome!

The notion of "fake following" of people on social networks, where you have a connection with them but don't read their updates, has generated a fair bit of buzz. I think this is a very good idea. After all, we all have people we love but don't want to hear about their stupid hobby all the bloody time. The sort of filtering should be mandatory on all networks with a following system.

Culture, Media and Sport select committee display a shocking ignorance of how online social spaces operate. You wouldn't vet how someone uses a park - you deal with problems as they occur.

Chris Brogan runs through the obvious and not-so-obvious in this very useful list.

Lightweight and lighthearted but useful etiquette guide to using everyone's favourite microblogging status update ambient cloud community tool.

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."

A summary of the launch of Channel 4's new public service investment fund. Very interesting.

Launched yesterday in Brum, this looks to move Channel 4's public service remit from broadcast to "networks" with a £10m pot of funding for projects. Very interesting.

"will transform a vanilla installation of WordPress MU into a social network platform" using a bunch of currently being developed plugins. Hmmmmmm. This could be really good for internal group blogs.

social media blogger whose words I find interesting and in place inspiring. Will be subscribing.

Hugh Macleod's definition of a geek: "Somebody who socializes via objects.”

Following Adam Tinworth's "Why Media Gets Community Wrong" rant.

One of those fine line between good and evil things here but when you strain the marketing stuff out there are some interesting thoughts on the whole authentic voice thing.

Great rant from Adam Tinworth which can be summarised as "Community is not a place. Community is an approach to publishing." Plenty in there to learn from.

Email in some images and text and it creates a nice looking web page. Do it again from the same email and you've got a blog. Very impressive and I need to write more about why but for now here's the link. Go check it out.

Obviously not something I'll be following long term but it'll be interesting to see what they do with this. Looks promising.

Stef's new social network for fathers. Looks rather good if I do say so as a mate.

Francine Hardaway on teaching "normal" people about the social internet. Twitter etc are too advanced - it's all about Yahoo. Interesting.

A narrow and stupid opinion from the CC prompts Nick Podnosh to ask for comments, and he gets some really interesting ones.

"a festival of social games and playful experiences" encompassing "everything from fine artists making location-based work to huge flashmob games within the public spaces of the Southbank Centre." Looks pretty mental and fascinating.

Suw Charman-Anderson on relative measures of failure now startup costs are so low for social media.

Great talk by Clay Shirky answering "where do people find the time?". Says TV masked surplus time for 50 years. Also, nice anecdote about 4yr old looking for mouse behind TV.

"bloggers-feeding-MSM-feeding-bloggers"

He talks about how to introduce social media into a (larger) business.. and recommends going along to a social media club :)

"providing social media skills to the community and teaching them how to harness these abilities for the good of the community."

Has a handy list of all the known Barcamps going on in the world.

Inspirational and useful stuff from London.