There are so many different sites out there cashing in on the Web 2.0 boom. Having a variety, however, means that at least there are plenty of alternatives to the main players monopolising the market. Some are so similar to others that, to me, they become an information sharing conglomerate offering basically the same services and applications.
I had a look at the top five stories on Reddit and I certainly wouldn't rate them as being particularly newsworthy. Dig a List seemed like quite a novel diversion for about maybe ten minutes.
Social news certainly presents an alternative to mainstream media and provides a platform for the distribution of breaking news that may not have yet been picked up through the conventional news channels. A recent example being safety alerts posted on Twitter giving up to the minute reports on the location and severity of the 'Black Saturday' Victorian bushfires. Much social news, however, seems to be either unsubstantiated sensationalism or mind numbingly dull descriptions of the minutiae of life. I don't really understand how people can be bothered posting such mundane trivialities such as drinking a cup of coffee. Drink the coffee, enjoy the coffee and be done with it. I don't want to know about it!
Twitter could have its place in a library setting. It could be used by patrons and staff to informally create bite-sized reviews, annotatations and abstracts of items. It could also be used to canvass patron opinion on service delivery.
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3 comments:
have any of the library bloggers (from week 1) found professional / info management uses for these tools? Just a thought ...
Brrrrargh! I agree, as I wrote in my blog these particular applications seem to confirm my worst fears about society in general. The stories on the front page of reddit were appalling! I forget that most people just want cheap thrills not serious issues!
Also as potential library professionals I think we have a responsibility to present quality information to people not trash, so we should be particularly wary of this kind of thing. What are your thoughts?
I think a bit of a cult has grown around "competitive digging". Check out youtube. I admire the nerdiness of this, however, I think it would have a detrimental effect on content if people are submitting articles as a kind of popularity contest.
I'm not down with Digg.
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