Mobile Dad

Dare we say teens are not trendsetters for Twitter? Not too hard to believe according to a reprint from NY Times.  It seems that only 11 percent of the Twitter userbase are from those between the ages of 12-17 based on data provided by comScore.  This is the same group of people that rely heavily on text messaging services from cellular providers.  It would seem Twitter would be a natural outlet for teenagers, yet the service is lost on younger minds.  The service is perceived by teens as professional, aka meant for old folks.  Teens enjoy 1:1 conversation, Twitter is 1:many by design:

Many people use it for professional purposes — keeping connected with industry contacts and following news,” said Evan Williams, Twitter’s co-founder and chief executive. “Because it’s a one-to-many network and most of the content is public, it works for this better than a social network that’s optimized for friend communication.

It is nice to see other demographics setting the direction for social media and not feel out of place in a world dominated by teen marketing.

Andrew Keen: Web 2.0 Is F*cked (The Next Web 2009) from Robin Wauters on Vimeo.

The Next Web 2009 in Amsterdam started with a bang.  Tech Crunch of Europe had a chance to talk to Andrew Keen and his anti-web 2.0 faith.  It can be summed up in one quote:

Twitter the ‘nail in the coffin of Web 2.0.’  The future of individual media in the age of the individual… a future when individuals become brands. People with skills are able to sell their skills on the network. I call this real time social media. – Andrew Keen

Mr. Keen focuses on the new age of individualism where we are the commercial product.  A mixture of what he calls,

Darwin and Marx at the same time.

I can understand his point and witness individualism in action with the whole Ashton Kutcher and CNN’s race to a million followers on Twitter, or the feudal aspect of Twitter with Hugh Jackman’s $100,000 charity challenge.  Though to dismiss the power of the masses to the strength of a singular identity may be a bit premature.  Facebook constantly bends at user requests, look at the latest fiasco and innovation is driven by the needs of the many.  Plus can you replicate this power of the masses in terms of Twitter followers?  That we do not know…yet.

Steiner Ranch social networking site

Looks like I am not the only one messing around with web social.  A fellow resident in my neighborhood has created a social framework for all residences of Steiner Ranch.  It is called Steiner Social.  One thing about living in Steiner Ranch is that we are extremely social!  From our biannual block parties to workshops, there is always something going on around our home.  This has created an immense pride in our community.  I am not the only one talking about our community, take a look at the dedicated blog for my neighborhood.  It is nice to be part of something that everyone can be proud of.

Today at lunch, I decided to walk around the campus where I work. Southwestern campus is so quiet that you have nothing to focus on but your thoughts. Here is what was on my mind today:
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Well it looks like Google wants a piece of the virtual world pie with the launch of their Lively service today. Currently Second Life and soon to be launched “Home” from Sony for the ps3 are the main players in this field. What makes Lively any different than what Home or Second Life can do? Like all other services Google provides, Lively is accessible from the web. No need for dedicated hardware to fire this world up!

It would be even MORE cool if I could install this on my linux box. Right now the software only supports Windows with IE or Firefox. So it is not yet Google-global like their other services. I do hope they change that soon.