People have tried to build all-in-one devices: Stereo player, radio, mp3 player, telefone, fax center, etc. all in one. But yet consumers go and buy a separate iPod, cellular phone, analog phone, shower radio… and industrial farmers go and buy separate harvesters, plows, … instead of an all-in-one combi. Why?
Because things are convenient. Like all the various devices, people like information in small amounts that they can digest easily and pre-sorted according to what they use them for. The same applies to social media. Though there is a difference: just like a DIY system has provided farmers with a set of building blocks that can be hooked up to easily achieve any mechanical device needed on a farm, a well-designed system could give consumers the flexibility to – even within one platform – filter out information into bite-sized chunks. I haven't seen this system yet, and thus it is a sad day when corporations try to force social activity into a single, central place where it can go to die (or make people's lives painful). But I still have hope that one day that golden tool will come out to shine!
/via +Martin Koser
Reshared post from +Kevin Marks
Very good discussion of why Reader suits certain kinds of social very well, and Plus doesn't. A must-read for +Bradley Horowitz
Wherein I try to explain why Google Reader is the best social network created so far
Google announced yesterday that they’re removing the social features from Google Reader. They’re pitching this as an attempt to “clean things up a bit.” They also claim that, “the end result is bet……
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