social media

Go Farther: The SocialBox

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SocialBox

So Google's Hangouts may be a killer app: http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/is-googles-hangouts-its-killer-app/.  The article – and indeed Hangouts itself – emphasize what people want in social tech: immediate, human connectivity.

This got me thinking, which is not unusual.  Hangouts, Skype, Facebook chat, all point me towards what I believe could be the future social "killer app;" indeed a service so needed I expect multiple companies to try and make it.  I'll call it The SocialBox.

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Many Platforms, Many Choices: Gaming and Socialization

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I've been talking a lot about the role of socialization in media in the last few weeks.  I came to the conclusion that the social connection we get is usually more important than traits like originality (or at times, familiarity).  I based my theories off my various readings (such as Starstruck's theories on socializing), watching the phenomena, and pure intuition, and I believe in an abstract way, I really did hit on something.

My experience became less abstract recently, in a way that I think further confirms my basic theory: the ability to experience social ties with a media is a major part of what we choose.

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Celebrity Presence And The Failed Die-Out

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Awhile ago a variety of celebrities declared themselves dead, not Tweeting and such until enough donations to fight AIDS came in.  Despite this being for a good cause, it was a failure at the time as noted.  The site now appears to have donations up to par, but it sort of looks like  . . . well judge for yourself (http://buylife.org/).

So why didn't this death-on-social-media have an immediate influx of donations?  I think part of it was the odd, kind of self-centered method of raising funds and the tastelessness of it.  The other part was that the celebrities stopped being celebrities.

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