12 Responses to “Beyond Technorati to Tweet-Link-Love, and More”

1. Michael Doyle writes:
   No. 1 — March 13th, 2009 at 7:13 pm

   First, I call bull poop on the opening line of the quoted source:

   “With the right tools, everything is measurable.”

   This is a western European conceit (and quite possibly other cultures as well, but I’ve enough on my hands dwelling on our own madness), and it’s going to kill us, and maybe take Earth out as well.

   Life is finite, our economic practices destroy other peoples not within our vision because, well, they’re less than the well-dressed refined elite we call “us”, and now we glow in our sophisticated electronic version of navel gazing.

   Yep. I’m guilty, too. Might be time for me to do something about it. Thanks for the wake up call.

   Michael Doyles last blog post..Separating the wheat from the chaff

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   Clay Burell Reply:
   March 14th, 2009 at 1:51 am

   @Michael,

   Yep, it was a silly line to write. Let’s hope he was aiming at hyperbole (and I think he was).

   Did you ever wonder if, in the grand scheme of things, the computer addiction might not reduce our waste and destructiveness, since we’re not out driving around, buying more, yada yada, but are instead now sitting more quietly at home?

   Maybe wrong. Gaia will shake off her fleas soon enough, anyway, don’t you think?

   Reply

2. Kate Tabor writes:
   No. 2 — March 15th, 2009 at 3:08 am

   Hi Clay -
   I am sure that I could quantify the number of people who visit my blog, who retweet my postings, who respond on plurk. I’m sure I could see who is #1, #100, most popular – But I’m in the process of rethinking who I am as a teacher, and this will feed into what I am trying to step away from. I’ve taught now in the upper school for three years. I’m not one of the “cool” teachers although I am the haven for my “D&D” boys and the social misfits on the fourth floor. I can beat myself up to be popular, worry about the same things that these tools would have me think about with my blog/twitter spaces. That’s not good for me now. Indeed, I need to listen to the I Ching, and get my ego out of the way.

   Kate Tabors last blog post..Bone tired

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   Clay Burell Reply:
   March 15th, 2009 at 3:31 am

   @Michael, Kate,

   Thought experiment: You write something on a subject you care about. A million people read it. Universe A: You never knew, and thought nobody cared, so you never wrote more on the same subject; Universe B: You did know, so you wrote more on the same subject, and more people cared.

   Some of the tools above give you Universe B.

   If you write and publish, I think there’s value in knowing which things you write resonate, get forwarded, cause a buzz.

   To reduce it to egotism misses the “market research” function any publisher wants – especially self-publishers like us all.

   It also misses the networking potential. What if a NY Publisher showed up in one of those re-tweet subscriptions? You’re suddenly connected to someone who might offer a book deal.

   Is that egotistical? No, that’s smart – for a writer who wants to make it in the writing world.

   Any writer should be honest enough to admit that s/he cares about the fate of what s/he writes, its reception in the world.

   And that some of the tools above make a simple RSS subscription serve that care seems low-maintenance enough.

   Both reactions strike me as weird, frankly. It’s a share that took 30 seconds to perform, and suddenly two of my warmer web-relations are getting all psychoanalytical about it. If it’s not your thing, why not just move on, instead of onto a soapbox?

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   Kate Tabor Reply:
   March 15th, 2009 at 3:51 am

   @Clay – please, please don’t feel like I’m on a soapbox. I’m just at a place right now at school where I feel under siege by the cult of personality. I have done my best to be “real” as a teacher, to teach what I think kids need to know in a way that resonates with them. All this in an atmosphere where we are told by a colleague in a faculty meeting that if we don’t want kids to cut class, well – we just need to be more fascinating. I worry that if I start looking at blog stats and tweet stats that this will become something I worry about. I don’t believe that I have much of a readership. I’m delighted when I get an unexpected comment, but I just assume that my sister – and maybe you and Michael- read my blog. I’m not sure Universe B cares about me, and I’m afraid to care about them.

   I don’t want to spoil one of my favorite web-relationships with the deadly funk that has crept in (maybe it’s the never ending cold, or the fact that we are laying off staff but increasing administration, or because we are hiring someone to fill my upper school position (I return to my old post as reading evangelist and seventh grade teacher next year) and it seems like we are more jizzed about someone who is a “journalist” but has never taught a class than someone with a love of the classroom. So sorry – I am in on my day off (again) making sure the yearbook gets to the printer in time for Class Day in June. I’m cranky and sad.

   Kate Tabors last blog post..Bone tired

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   Michael Doyle Reply:
   March 15th, 2009 at 5:39 am

   Dear Clay,

   Didn’t mean to sound weird–it’s who I am, and I have a very edgy relationship with this internet thing anyway. I can’t speak for Kate, but I get (too?) psychoanalytical about most things human, and folks don’t notice until I get all squirrelly on their “thing”–and FWIW, it was the quote, not you that got me going.

   “Did you ever wonder if, in the grand scheme of things, the computer addiction might not reduce our waste and destructiveness, since we’re not out driving around, buying more, yada yada, but are instead now sitting more quietly at home?”

   Yep, and that’s why I’m edgy about it.

   1) We’re mortal, our time here finite. Time in front of the monitor is less time chatting with Leslie, reading a book, dirtying hands in the garden, poking around for clams. If we’re at work, wasting time makes sense. At home, though, not sure a computer is a plus. I love mine, I use it a lot, but not sure time here (which is essentially time away from family) is harmless.

   2) Computers require lots of electricity, both from the outlet in my home and in far away places holding data.

   3) The internet is loaded with advertising. Most folks think it doesn’t affect them. It affects me.

   4) Computers are relatively expensive, though much less so now than ten years ago.

   5) Computers have toxins–lead, cadmium, mercury, barium, beryllium, brominated flame retardants. Not my problem, true, but is somebody else’s.

   6) Data mining–my access here is tracked. Not going to go into the particulars why this bothers me here in a short post, but it’s easy enough for me to fix if I just stay off.

   7) Health: I’m sitting. Doing almost nothing.
   Selected population: the internet is populated by people who can afford both computers and the time to dally on the net. A few of them (such as yourself) are fascinating and brilliant. Would you have been quite as fascinating if you grew up using the internet? No way to know, I guess, but you would not be who you are.

   Now, that’s not to say I’ll stop using the internet, though you did make me pause and think about it, a good thing.

   I ride motorcycles. I love motorcycles. They are not harmless, and I do it anyway.

   And yes, Gaia will shake off her fleas sooner or later. I think most of us in western culture forget that we are the lead fleas.

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3. diane writes:
   No. 3 — March 15th, 2009 at 10:18 am

   I look at Google Analytics fairly often but don’t let the stats there dictate my self-esteem. I blog and Tweet and Plurk for the sheer joy of it. I have connections I could never have dreamed of, opportunities that are exciting and unexpected. I use what I feel is beneficial, disregard the rest. Sometimes I question the value of my online activities, but not often and not seriously. I’ll take what I can get and be glad.

   dianes last blog post..A Pair of Twitter Tools

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4. Charlie A. Roy writes:
   No. 4 — March 16th, 2009 at 10:26 am

   @ Clay
   Thanks for sharing these are some very interesting links.

   Charlie A. Roys last blog post..Watching Web 2.0 Deepen Learning

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5. Michael Doyle writes:
   No. 5 — March 19th, 2009 at 9:44 am

   Uh-oh.

   Michael Doyles last blog post..Planting season

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   Clay Burell Reply:
   March 19th, 2009 at 3:44 pm

   No “uh-oh” on this side, Michael. I still love you deeply, madly, etc.

   Just too blasted busy.

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6. Jaison "The Master Dater" writes:
   No. 6 — July 1st, 2009 at 7:44 am

   Hmmm.. BackTweets is definitely one of my best Twitter-chums at the moment. It could be even more better if they offered an RSS feed for a particular search, like search.twitter.com.
   .-= Jaison “The Master Dater”´s last blog ..Does Twitter Help Your Relationship Or Harm It? =-.

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   Christopher Golda Reply:
   July 1st, 2009 at 2:47 pm

   Thanks! And we do offer RSS feeds for searches — click on the feed icon on the page or in your browser.

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