I had a great brunch with Hannah and Laurent from SubMate on Saturday and it really got me thinking about how people connect online and offline.
At first, when I thought of connecting with people based on my commute, I have to admit, I didn't think it was such a hot idea.
Then, after talking about it with them, I realized that commutes were just an excuse... a way to do local. My commute not only defines where I live, within a reasonable arm's length, but it also goes a long way to defining my lifestyle... an actor from Bay Ridge would have a very different commute than I would.
On top of that, I started thinking about connections to the group of people who commute with me. Maybe I wouldn't want to date any of them, but I definitely want to talk local politics with them, because I hate to admit, but I don't know any of the hyperlocal candidates.
But, I'm not really a very political guy. So, I'm not likely to join a politically based social network. I'm like that with a lot of things. I blog about baseball sometimes, but I don't have a baseball blog... or a kayaking blog... I have a variety of interests, none of which I feel the need to fully commit to joining a community about.
That's why I like Last.fm... I listen to music, and stick the widget on my blog, and now I'm listening to music based on what others with similar tastes like. I don't feel the need to blog about music or go to shows with these random people. MyBlogLog is great, too... people show up to read and now we have a connection.
MyBlogLog is like today's version of a webring. Webrings were great... you read something you liked, you clicked and got another similar blog to read.... very simple.
I don't think I have a fully formed thought here... but to me, there's just something missing in all this. I post about things I sort of care about... and that should connect me in a loose way to others who sort of care about those things or really care about those things.... a web where everyone is a dynamic and loose hub and spoke.
Here's where I have questions and where things haven't quite settled yet... here I'm just thinking free form....
Will the web move more towards del.icio.us or MyBlogLog? People based or subject based. Am I going to consume based on microniche topics screened socially, or am I could to consume based on people whose microniche topics are of interest to me? I don't actually think its the same thing. It makes me think that MyBlogLog should beef up the consume and publish data... who writes like me... not just who reads me... Actually there's four categories of web connection I'm interested in:
Who reads me: MyBlogLog, coComment
Who writes me (reposts, tags, etc): Technorati, del.icio.us, Icerocket, Google Blog search
Who reads like me: Rojo tried this... I wish RSS readers would do more of this...
Who writes like me: Sphere?
And how much does this world have to offer the things I really don't write a lot about, like the Mets, kayaking, and politics... Is that what social networks are for?
Facebook lets me put my RSS feed on my profile, but not much else. I guess Gather was more of a publishing social network, but I don't want to publish on there. I publish right here and consume close by... so connect me.
Ok... that's it.. .I think I'm done. I had an idea for this post this morning in the gym and I let it get away from me w/o really coming to much conclusion on anything.