Overflow

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WOW, we live in an amazing time in the development of internet tools .. and communication in general. I can’t wait to implement these game changing, community systems that are right now in the early stages of development.

I’ve detailed the enormous potential of using Twitter in brand building, and was very disappointed when the Track functionality was shelved (for business or technical reasons we don’t know) earlier this summer. However, while we were all lamenting the discontinuance of service, the Gillmor Gang podcast of July 21 included guests Evan Prodromou of Identica and Loic Le Meur of Seesmic/Thwirl. I listened to the discussion led by Steve Gillmor about federated communication via microblogging services such as Identica, and it immediately peaked my interest! I set up my account that day.

They discussed many exciting aspects of Identica including the fact that tracking would be available with the platform, plus many more features that would be built by the open source community itself … however, the most powerful element they discussed was the distribution of the Laconica platform (Identica is built on it) to a wide variety of entities.  Evan can envision the ability to add micro-blogging to a community as simply as installing a Wordpress blog is today.

I can envision so many businesses and organizations that would be able to take advantage of this kind of power. Evan’s objective is to get micro-blogging to the level of ubiquity as email is today. Keep in mind that email used to be a silo’d communication tool where you could only send messages to others within your same provider. Did you have a Compuserve or a Prodigy account?  We need to get away from the silo’d limitations of our current micro-blogging platforms.







But back at the end of July there wasn’t a whole lot happening at Identica. I set up my Twhirl client and subscribed to a few people .. but the conversation wasn’t that engaging since there were so many more people on Twitter.

This week things got interesting! Leo Laporte and Randal Schwartz had Evan as a guest on the FLOSS Weekly podcast and instantly determined that Leo would be setting up his own micro-blogging community at http://army.twit.tv. He has a built in community from his podcasts, live streaming and radio shows, and his Twit Army of followers has responded enthusiastically.  So I now have an account set up in that community as well.

Now here’s the REALLY cool part .. Laconica is working towards the ability to allow users to cross post & cross subscribe among other Laconica communities, so you can avoid managing multiple identities and reading multiple streams!  In essence, as an individual builds out their own social graph connecting various networks and communities, there will be a single location or application where the user can read and post among all of the communities they are interested in.  The problem with silo’d communities today is that you have to register, set up a profile, log in, check back etc etc… to use them effectively.  I’ve heard so many people say they haven’t checked their (fill in the blank), Facebook, Linkedin … account in X weeks.  With the new form of open, federated communities you won’t have to, you will always be plugged in to your network and communicating with fellow users through a single stream.

What’s a real world example?

Right now I am in the process of working with a client who is opening a motorcycle service shop.  The owners are interested in developing a strong base of local riders who trust them to perform superior service on their equipment.  The owners are also very involved in advancing a local riding chapter that organizes events, hosts charity rides and in essence builds a community with the repair shop as the center …

I see micro-blogging as a way for the entire group to communicate about upcoming rides, as a way to follow riders who might be taking a long cross country trip, or simply to connect when the weather turns against getting together for a day on the open road.

Now add in a federated system that spans across other riding communities on the web.  The riders that are traveling cross country can post and subscribe to other chapters in cities where they are visiting, allowing them to find the best bike shops, hangouts etc.

Locally the owners can post to other chapters within the state to coordinate fund raising events …. all while maintaining the same sense of a community that shares common interests.  You can’t really get that with a “fire hose” micro-blogging system like Twitter.

The service shop business will benefit as riders coming through town are able to communicate with the owners by tracking “Motorcycle repairs Atlanta” on Identica and will find a burgeoning community to tell them that they can pull off I-85 in Tyrone to take care of that repair issue.

I’ll say it again .. WOW .. we are at the cusp of an amazing new dimension of communications and community building on the web.