S.D.
05-31-09, 12:56 PM
Some of you may have heard about this others not perhaps ?
"They're" calling it the new Twitter
It's gotta be worth at least $50 billion by now ;)
Here is an article from MSN on the subject.
It seems social networking sites are ten-a-penny these days, but how many can the net really sustain? With the likes of Twitter dominating the headlines, it’s easy for us to forget about more established sites such as MySpace.
Maybe forgetting about MySpace is a good idea. Sure, it’s served us well, but browse through the content found on this formative social networking website and you’ll find much of it makes for grisly viewing. Allowing people with no artistic flair to customise their own web pages has always been a bad idea.
Mind you, as far as social networking goes I still don’t get the appeal of Twitter, either. I see the point if someone is feeding back real-time information on a major event or disaster; even Stephen Fry getting stuck in a lift, at a pinch. But beyond that it loses its sparkle.
Tweeting
My life is far too mundane to be worthy of posting real-time updates to tell people about it. Having seen plenty of drab tweets of late, a lot of other people should feel the same way about their own pedestrian existences. Either that or use their imagination to come up with some rather more pithy one-liners.
A distinct downside to the social networking concept is that each new site is hijacked by all the wrong sorts of people. I don’t just mean the general public wittering on about what they’re having for dinner. Facebook, for one, is now awash with all sorts of unwanted contributors, even local councils and – heaven forbid – politicians.
Still, Twitter has a popularity that continues unabated. User numbers are estimated to be approaching the five million mark, while its owners are rumoured to be planning a TV show based around the micro-blogging fad. Twitter boss Biz Stone has even said the show “might have the power to transform television”. Big emphasis on the ‘might’ there, perhaps?
Next big thing
Now Twitter’s made it, any bandwagon-jumpers looking for the ‘next big thing’ should check out AudioBoo. It’s like Twitter, but instead of one-line text updates we get bite-sized audio snippets. Stephen Fry (naturally) has already championed the service but, scarily, it also seems to be resurrecting the career of radio DJ Tony Blackburn.
Yes indeed. Alongside audio snippets of bored folk recording their bathroom ablutions and shouting abuse at each other in the street, you can also listen to mini podcasts of Blackburn. His unmistakable tones conjure up distant memories of 70s Radio 1 road-shows that I’d hoped were long forgotten.
Notoriety
Cheesy DJs aside, the AudioBoo service shows potential. It’s a British innovation too, having been developed in collaboration with Channel 4. The service has only been running for about three months, but has already gained notoriety after being used by protestors to record argy-bargy at the recent G20 protests.
Being able to capture and archive audio moments in time has potential benefits for all sorts of organisations too. The British Library has reasoned that it is the perfect tool for capturing the audio landscape of our country, including accents and dialects that might otherwise disappear.
The service is available as an iPhone app, though it seems plans are afoot to roll it out to a wider selection of handsets. Once you have it installed, you can record an audio file of up to three minutes in duration, add an image and location and then make the content instantly available.
New-found popularity
It all ends up at the AudioBoo website, where you can also leave comments on the various clips. So Tony Blackburn aficionados can heap praise on the man to their hearts’ content. The site is functional and a work in progress but gradually improving.
The concept slots in quite nicely alongside the likes of Facebook or Twitter and, thanks to a decent level of celebrity endorsement, it surely won’t be long before everyone is vying for a piece of the AudioBoo action. Let’s just hope its new-found popularity doesn’t end up tarnishing what makes it good; just the thing that has taken the edge off the likes of MySpace.
"They're" calling it the new Twitter
It's gotta be worth at least $50 billion by now ;)
Here is an article from MSN on the subject.
It seems social networking sites are ten-a-penny these days, but how many can the net really sustain? With the likes of Twitter dominating the headlines, it’s easy for us to forget about more established sites such as MySpace.
Maybe forgetting about MySpace is a good idea. Sure, it’s served us well, but browse through the content found on this formative social networking website and you’ll find much of it makes for grisly viewing. Allowing people with no artistic flair to customise their own web pages has always been a bad idea.
Mind you, as far as social networking goes I still don’t get the appeal of Twitter, either. I see the point if someone is feeding back real-time information on a major event or disaster; even Stephen Fry getting stuck in a lift, at a pinch. But beyond that it loses its sparkle.
Tweeting
My life is far too mundane to be worthy of posting real-time updates to tell people about it. Having seen plenty of drab tweets of late, a lot of other people should feel the same way about their own pedestrian existences. Either that or use their imagination to come up with some rather more pithy one-liners.
A distinct downside to the social networking concept is that each new site is hijacked by all the wrong sorts of people. I don’t just mean the general public wittering on about what they’re having for dinner. Facebook, for one, is now awash with all sorts of unwanted contributors, even local councils and – heaven forbid – politicians.
Still, Twitter has a popularity that continues unabated. User numbers are estimated to be approaching the five million mark, while its owners are rumoured to be planning a TV show based around the micro-blogging fad. Twitter boss Biz Stone has even said the show “might have the power to transform television”. Big emphasis on the ‘might’ there, perhaps?
Next big thing
Now Twitter’s made it, any bandwagon-jumpers looking for the ‘next big thing’ should check out AudioBoo. It’s like Twitter, but instead of one-line text updates we get bite-sized audio snippets. Stephen Fry (naturally) has already championed the service but, scarily, it also seems to be resurrecting the career of radio DJ Tony Blackburn.
Yes indeed. Alongside audio snippets of bored folk recording their bathroom ablutions and shouting abuse at each other in the street, you can also listen to mini podcasts of Blackburn. His unmistakable tones conjure up distant memories of 70s Radio 1 road-shows that I’d hoped were long forgotten.
Notoriety
Cheesy DJs aside, the AudioBoo service shows potential. It’s a British innovation too, having been developed in collaboration with Channel 4. The service has only been running for about three months, but has already gained notoriety after being used by protestors to record argy-bargy at the recent G20 protests.
Being able to capture and archive audio moments in time has potential benefits for all sorts of organisations too. The British Library has reasoned that it is the perfect tool for capturing the audio landscape of our country, including accents and dialects that might otherwise disappear.
The service is available as an iPhone app, though it seems plans are afoot to roll it out to a wider selection of handsets. Once you have it installed, you can record an audio file of up to three minutes in duration, add an image and location and then make the content instantly available.
New-found popularity
It all ends up at the AudioBoo website, where you can also leave comments on the various clips. So Tony Blackburn aficionados can heap praise on the man to their hearts’ content. The site is functional and a work in progress but gradually improving.
The concept slots in quite nicely alongside the likes of Facebook or Twitter and, thanks to a decent level of celebrity endorsement, it surely won’t be long before everyone is vying for a piece of the AudioBoo action. Let’s just hope its new-found popularity doesn’t end up tarnishing what makes it good; just the thing that has taken the edge off the likes of MySpace.