The Four-eyed Journal » social-networking

Google+ the wrong way to compete with Facebook

jhay — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 02:19:42 +0000

I‘m a Google fanboy. Despite the company fumbling about privacy issues in the past year, I still enjoy using its products and services like Google Apps, Google Chrome and Android.

So when news broke out that it has recently launched its own social network, Google+, to go up against Facebook I decided to give it a try.

Social networking FAIL

Unfortunately, the app cannot be downloaded and installed on my LG Optimus One because I’m in the Philippines. Second reason is that since I’m using a Google Apps account instead of a regular Google/Gmail account, I won’t be able to sign up even if I do get an invite.

It’s not just a bummer. It’s totally the wrong way to start a new social networking site/service that’s supposed to go against Facebook.

Google+ = FAIL

ShareThis launches new Share Widget Beta

jhay — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 23:31:02 +0000

Good news for those who use the ShareThis widget to allow readers to share their content to various social media sites, the company has just launched the new Share Widget Beta with a lot of improvements and a refreshed look.

The highlights of this Share Widget Beta are the following:

Simultaneous sharing to different social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc.
An enhanced lightbox-like animation that allows users to share your content without leaving your website.
The file size is still less than 20k which is very lightweight.
Color and theme customization and support for HTTPS/SSL secured websites.

If you choose to use the Share Widget Beta now, you’d be able to provide feedback to the ShareThis team for better improvement of the widget, which would soon be rolled out to all ShareThis users.

You can get the new Share Widget Beta here as well as more information about it.

The new refreshed widget looks good and might actually convince me to use it here on The Four-eyed Journal even though I already hand-coded the share buttons on my current theme.

For those using the ShareThis widget, what’s your take on the new Beta?

My thoughts on RockMelt the social browser - Top reasons I would not use it

jhay — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 05:01:25 +0000

The newest web browser on the internet is making quite a headline today. RockMelt dubbed the ‘social browser’ is now out as beta but already it has drawn some lukewarm response from tech pundits the world over.

ComputerWorld says that it has a tough uphill climb if it were to make a space for itself in the browser market that is already crowded. But what exactly is RockMelt?

For starters, it’s based on Chromium, the same technology behind Google Chrome. It’s main selling point is the built-in social networking features: seamless integration mainly with your Facebook and Twitter account.

You can chat with friends on Facebook, share links, pages and images directly to your wall or network while browsing. The same set of functionalities work with your Twitter account.

But this is not something totally new, Flock, also a Chromium-based browser was the first browser to sport this capabilities. Flock may not be gaining much traction compared to the big boys – IE, Firefox, Chrome and Safari but it has a steady user-base of 9 million.

Though I consider my self as an early adopter, I just can’t see myself switching to RockMelt nor even downloading the Beta for the sake of hands-on testing.

Here are a few reasons:

I love Chrome and it’s my default browser now and in the years to come. One of the major reasons I switched from Firefox is to remove the bloatware and the annoyance/distraction that comes with all the plugins and add-ons I once used.

From what I’ve seen in the video above, I foresee myself being less able to write because of the distraction and information overload that is inevitable with RockMelt.

Besides, both Firefox and Chrome has enough plugins/add-ons to give the same built-in social networking features offered by RockMelt as demonstrated in Lifehacker.

But actually, I don’t use Chrome extensions for social networking that much. As Ubuntu already comes with a host of stand-alone social networking apps like Gwibber and Empathy.

I’m not saying stay ‘away from RockMelt’

Of course all these seemingly negative things about RockMelt are biased towards my browsing preferences and workflow as a geek/blogger.

For non-geeks who are really hooked to Facebook and Twitter RockMelt could provide the one-stop solution to staying connected to your network even if Facebook is not open in a tab or window.

With over 500 million Facebook users, RockMelt definitely has tons of opportunity. The question now is, would it go the same way of Flock and just be on the sidelines of the browser market? Would enough users and early-adopters jump on board and lay the foundations for a solid user-base before the leading browsers offer the same built-in social networking integration?

And how about you, would you switch to RockMelt or just take it for a spin?

Have you claimed your own Facebook username?

jhay — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:50:23 +0000

Well I have. You can now find me on Facebook using the url: http://www.facebook.com/JuliusRocas

I experienced no troubles or even lag time when grabbing my own username. It wasn’t even a surprise to see that no one else has claimed it because there may be a billion guys named “Julius” out there, there’s only a handful of those who carry “Rocas” as a last name.

My very own custom URL on Facebook

Though I have yet to chance upon someone who’s desired username has already been claimed by someone else, it would be pretty interesting since this is a one-shot deal. Once you’ve confirmed your chosen username, it’s there till kingdom come or when Facebook closes shop.

So, if you feel like it, add me up on Facebook or leave your Facebook URL in the comments below so I can add you up.

Cleaning up my digital world: saving myself from e-junk & clutter

jhay — Mon, 26 May 2008 09:20:33 +0000

Today, I’m starting on a long journey of cleaning up my digital world. What do I mean by this? Ever since I got mobile with my awesome Four-eyed Notebook, a realization dawned upon me: my presence in the digital world/cyberspace/blogosphere/web 2.0 dimension is getting bigger it’s getting too much for me to handle.

It all began when I sat down to setup my notebook: installing the OS, my suite of computer protection softwares, the core set of programs I need to get my work done, migrating my digital media collection and again installing all the media players and editors I need and have grown accustomed to using over the years.

At first I thought my notebook would end up almost the same as the way my desktop PC is, in terms of the kind of applications installed, the way the file system was organized etc. It turned out completely different. As of now, only half of the total number of programs and applications I had installed on my desktop PC have made it into my notebook’s hard drive.

Removing the e-junk & clutter

On the dekstop, I had OpenOffice and Microsoft Office XP running side by side. Now on my notebook, there’s only the MS Office 2007 edition handling my core productivity needs. OpenOffice was a good alternative but after giving it much thought and looking back on my work flow, I only installed it to export documents and spreadsheets into PDF files. But there are plenty of free online services that do just that so OpenOffice was left on my desktop which in effect now belongs to my younger sister.

Also on the desktop PC, I had eight (8) applications for doing the same thing: record/edit audio files from .AAC to .WMA formats. Now on my notebook, I only use two: Audacity and Nero’s WaveEditor. Saved me a lot of HD space and puts less strain on my notebook’s processor.

There are plenty of other stories, but the overall effect is that my notebook is lighter in terms of the amount of applications installed in it. It’s more responsive, runs much much faster and now my work flow has become much smoother because there’s only not more than two programs that could do a task that I want unlike in my desktop wherein I had to choose from a wide selection of apps which eats up time and creates serious compatibility issues with file formats, drives etc. In other words, my working environment on my notebook is less cluttered.

Extending it to my online world

Because of its positive effects on myself, it has greatly improved the output of my offline work: research, writing concept papers and project proposals, reports and other mostly non-blogging stuff, I’ve decided to do the same thing on my online world: my blogs and blogging, my social network accounts and the blogs and websites that I manage.

I plan to do the digital clean-up in four major areas:

Email, subscriptions and RSS

Email is at the core of my online world and everything revolves around in it. I use it to communicate, send and receive work information, keep vital information about all my online accounts and connections and the subscriptions I use as sources for my work. Unfortunately, my inbox is a mess. It currently has over 2000 messages that need to be tagged and archived to be organized so that it will no longer be a distraction to me.

Next would be doing an audit of the subscriptions and newsletters that arrive and nearly fill my inbox daily. I would unsubscribe from the ones that I really don’t read anymore or the ones that have lost value for me. The ones I’m going to keep would then be tagged and archived so that I could come back to them at a time I would set aside.

Lastly, would be my RSS reading list. An audit would be put in place, group them according to topic and look for new feeds that would be good for me.

Blogs and blogging

This would be the easiest part, me thinks. I’d just upgrade the blogs I maintain to the latest version of WordPress and check them for hacks and security vulnerabilities. Redesign a few maybe but I just want to be reacquainted with all of them. Plus, review and prune the long lists of draft posts in each and get things moving.

My social networking accounts

I actually plan to set aside a day in my work week to do nothing but immerse my self in all the social networking sites I have accounts in. Send messages to my contacts, clean up my public profiles, update the photos basically spread some social networking love around. First and biggest on my list is overhauling my Facebook account. Honestly, I’m not only getting bored of Facebook, I’m starting to be annoyed by it because of all the apps that I really don’t use and the email notices that drown me in an avalanche of information.

The blogs and websites I manage

Friends and colleagues are well aware of this and I would like to extend my apologies to all of you who have been waiting on me to upgrade your site, fix a few issues and update your designs. I figure once my digital world has been de-cluttered, cleaned up and organized, our collaboration would be a lot smoother.

So once again I’ve taken on another huge assignment. I would be prowling the web and your blogs for some tips and how-tos on how to accomplish these tasks. If you have them, do give me the heads up so that I could learn from you and perhaps build on what you’ve started, it would be awesome. Blogging and documenting this process would be a good and fun exercise as well. Wish me luck, I’m going to need it.