At Geehall One

Do you learn more from social media?

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The past two weeks have seen my blogs attached to proper domain names, but after a fortnight of near-daily posts, I decided to take a small break (two days) and see how I'd done.

Last night I added a new domain, but decided to attach it to a service where I can add a small amount of monetization and even have some sharing capability.  As a result, www.geehall1.org came into being.

I did try to use that service to have the name of this blog, but half an hour of experimenting showed it wasn't going to be exactly the way I wanted.  Hence, off to purchase the .org name and then tie the service I wanted to it.

I like the idea that the .org site allows me to provide my readers with sharing links, adding a few more options than just the cross-posting that's automatic here.

For the moment, however, it's a good idea to rearrange some post scheduling so I can still adequately do two lots of near-daily posts.  So www.geehall1.org has been promoted to a daily.  Of course, that made this particular blog you're reading a bit less frequent.  This blog will now switch to twice-weekly.

That's not so bad an idea, because later in the year I want to convert this one to a fully-hosted site.  My target is to have one fully-hosted site/domain by the end of the year or earlier.  In the meantime, if it's going to be called www.geehall1.com, I'll need have have this particular page eventually redirecting to it.  So a minimal number of posts that are easy to export to the new site is a good idea.

It's also about refreshing, original content.  It serves no real good having three domains all saying the same thing.  I prefer this year to have every site I post to having something different from the other two.  Last year I saw the problems of overdoing the cross-posting and duplicating content, which devalued the content I posted.  This year, original content on every blog I use.

It's even something that's applicable to social media.  If you have one site aggregating all your different services, just take a look at what happens when all your Twitter updates are repeated and duplicated by identi.ca and/or Facebook and even Plurk.  It gets kind of annoying and boring looking at six identical versions of the one tweet.

They're quickly discovering that over at Google Buzz this week.

Buzz is making a lot of people rethink how they do their online content and whether or not they aggregate it or duplicate it.

Anyway, it never hurts to re-evaluate from time to time.  Once in a blue moon, sit back, smell the roses/coffee, then come back to your online stuff that much fresher.

Do you take a break and re-evaluate from time to time?

Let's hear some thoughts on that.

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Android 1.5 and 1.6 users now have a bonus.

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Have you tried out Google Buzz yet?

I can know Darren Rowse has, after seeing his Buzzes this afternoon.

I also know Ange Recchia has, since she popped into Buzz today too.

I even had a look at the 'Nearby' tab in the mobile version this afternoon and was surprised to see there's a few in the inner suburbs of Melbourne already getting some practice at it.

Interestingly, though, I didn't recognize these people as Twitter regulars.  Then again, you don't always know people's names from quick glances of Twitter nicks.

I'm intrigued to know what people are using Buzz in its first few days and who's not.

Apart from a handful of people among my regular Twitter friends, there doesn't seem to be too big a buzz in local Twitter for it as yet.  Perhaps that's because Buzz is technically a competitor to Twitter.  Contrasted to that are the people I know from Friendfeed who are enjoying the similarities to their old service.

So let's here some feedback on what the average Twitter user thinks of Buzz.

And yes, I'll be quite happy to hear any "buzz" joke you can think of.

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The first day using Google Buzz shows it's everything we would like Wave to be.

It's fast, for one thing.

As yet, I'm still waiting for my Gmail account to be connected to Buzz and about the only practice I'm getting on it is through the mobile version. Even so, I'm liking what I see.

When the Gmail connection is live, I'll be able to take a better look at what it's like for sharing pictures and/or video.  In the meantime, I'm already noting how Mashable is already using Buzz to give updates on their articles.  They're already doing something constructive with it there.

So far it's been good to join some conversations with Google Reader contacts and in this regard, it's much like Friendfeed, a service I'm still active on.  So if I've picked up Friendfeed pretty well, the learning curve for Buzz will be quite minimal.

Google profile is where I'm seeing my updates the best, with Buzz threads showing up currently as messages containing one thread, as opposed to one small message.  As I'm still waiting for the full connection on any other computer, there's a limit to how much I can describe, although the mobile Buzz web app is a good start.

The mobile interface is very effective, but it took a few minutes to work out I had to click on the thread-starter's profile to be able to add a coment or a like.

As you first login to the mobile version of Buzz, a small popup tells you how to turn it into a mobile bookmark on your iPhone's homescreen.  From there you can read through your contacts' buzzes or you can check who's updated nearby.

It's only the first day of Buzz yet, but it's off to a good start as far as I'm concerned.

As a "Wave Lite," Buzz works.

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Last week there was some talk of a young blogger being fired from Techcrunch for crossing an ethical line.

The blogger in question is said to have solicited expensive gifts from the companies he was assigned to report on.

Techcrunch head honcho Michael Arrington addressed the issue in this article after firing the young man in question and deleting all Techcrunch posts written by him.

In general terms the young writer writer was paid to report on tech startups in America.  Nowhere in his job description was any allowance for enticing a company to pay for a new computer if he gave them a favorable write-up

There's an added element to this that we in Australia might not be quite so tuned into...the fact that the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. brought in mandatory disclosure rules back on December 1 2009.

Techcrunch, anyway, were required under the new rules to address the young blogger's antics.

With the shift to greater amounts of online media, some consumer-protection laws once applying just to print and media now also apply online.

It also puts some online businesses on notice to lift their game.

One article on the net shows its impact on the affiliate marketing industry in the States.

Perhaps this has been long overdue.  While parts of affiliate marketing are run ethically, there are other sections little better than Ponzi schemes or pyramid scams.

However, it affects blogging, too.  This next article shows the effect on bloggers and even celebrity endorsements.

These rules are for America, but perhaps it's good if we're aware of them here in Australia too.  We'll probably come across our own version of them sooner or later.

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At a housing workshop in Kinglake West last July, I talked with some of the locals about how the telecommunications infrastructure in that region had been rendered inoperable as the Black Saturday bushfires destroyed the local towers.

Yesterday, the anniversary of Black Saturday, I talked to another local at the same Kinglake West hall and heard about how even landline phones stopped that horrible day in February 2009.

The sad part about current telecoms technology is that it is vulnerable to natural disaster.  It can be knocked out by bushfire, by earthquake (rare in Victoria Australia, but frequent in other countries) or by anything that can wipe out terrestrial communications systems.

I won't criticize telcos for such cases.  But I might recommend they eventually look to systems less prone to being wiped by natural disasters at some stage.

In an age where the mobile phone is supplanting the ever-reliable cabled landline, it's important to look at the need for good mobile/cellular communications even in country areas...especially when they're the only thing possible for someone to be warned of an impending bushfire.  It's BEFORE a bushfire you need your mobile phone to be able to get a signal in such areas.

At the Kinglake West hall last July, Virgin/Optus worked enough for me to use a GPRS signal for my wireless internet.  On the same day, a shift of a few metres rendered one bar of Telstra NextG signal useless.  Yesterday,  my new mobile carrier, Vodafone, registered "No Signal" in Flowerdale and only five minutes of one-bar signal in the centre of Kinglake.

In my home town of Bairnsdale Vodafone gets a strong Edge presence, while Optus and GPRS make internet usage via wireless dongle almost as much fun as watching a snail race. The town is at least on one of the major highways.

Up on the mountain, north of Melbourne and not very close to a major highway, mobile service is so patchy it makes you miss the days of analogue mobiles and CDMA.

Sadly, newer technologies miss out on range and not every country-dweller lives on a highway.

Should our country cousins miss out on decent mobile signal?  If one thing was shown us by a year ago, no they should not.

It's one thing if a natural disaster affects telecoms.  It's another if you don't have great mobile systems in some areas because you don't think such areas "profitable."

Yet, if a corporation trades in our country, it's not that bad an idea to put something back into the local community.  If you show your social credentials, we're more likely to buy from you.

So...Telstra, Vodafone and Optus...have a think about it.  Could you be doing a better job providing GOOD telecommunications in such country towns especially after Black Saturday, giving us the tools to be warned about impending disaster?  And could we have saner roaming costs that aren't so prohibitive that we switch roaming off?

Really, guys, give it a think.  Before we ever see any natural disaster as bad as Black Saturday ever again.  You may save lives and customers by doing so.

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Flowerdale.  Sunday February 7, 2010.  Anniversary of Black Saturday.

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Kinglake.  February 7, 2010.  Anniversary of Black Saturday.

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This morning I listened to Melbourne FoxFM's breakfast show with Matt Tilley and Jo Stanley which was broadcasting from Kinglake.

Throughout the show they talked to people who'd faced the horror of February 7th last year.

Matt and Jo are both parents.  So it must have been hard for them to hear from people who'd lost partners and children during the horrific bushfires that day.  You could hear it in their tone, how much it touched them on a deep level.

It was hard to hear a father and husband describe surviving the ordeal and losing his wife and children that day, just metres from the safety of a dam.

Last year, I got involved with Twitter working to help a niece in Gippsland who came within a hundred metres of danger that first day of the fires.  I came out of that period with a family spread over four areas safe...but today I listened to men who'd similarly tried to do their best to save their loved ones, only to tragically lose them.  They too had worked so hard, especially right there in the danger zone.  They gave their guts worth.  They made supreme efforts to try to beat the odds.

Up in the worst-affected areas, there are some miraculous tales of survival against those odds.  But the thing with fate is...the same amount of effort to save lives doesn't always end up with the same result.

I'm a father myself.  And I shed tears this morning listening to the gentleman in the example a few paragraphs above.

I got an idea of what survivors' guilt must feel like.

One item on the Matt and Jo show did raise an eyebrow when one person mentioned that there was an expectation of "moving on" from the events of last year.

Excuse me for saying this, but it's ignorance to expect someone to move on in so quick a time from such horrific experiences.

Healing from such experiences by the first anniversary is an impossibility.  The first anniversary is a milestone in the recovery...and the first year after such losses is always the worst.  Give these people at least five years to fully heal.  Don't rush the natural healing process.  Let them at least get through this first year before having expectations of them even beginning to start moving forward.

Interestingly, these same people will not only eventually recover, they will probably go on to have a greater empathy for others in different disasters.  They'll turn their worst experience eventually into a positive that helps people in later situations.

If you've never lost anything major in your life, if you weren't affected even directly by February 7 last year...try and remember these people lost everything.  They especially lost the most important thing, their loved ones.  Try and realistically imagine how you'd be if you lost everything you held so dear, even in spite of your best efforts.

Helping these people recover is better assisted by understanding the process of grieving and recovery.

Getting past the first anniversary is the start.

Related Articles:

Anniversary of Black Saturday

When Accidents Cause Fire

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