New Words
Ephemeriphile
I used to try and read way too many blogs and RSS feeds. I have recovered. However, some of you still need help. For you, a name.
Ephemeriphile n. – A person who collects many, many, many blog feeds in their RSS reader. From the Greek ephemeris (a journal , diary) and philos (lover).
The Invisible Twitter
So almost 3 months ago, Twitter tried to quietly implement a “small settings update“. There was outrage, a #fixreplies revolt, and a #ductape solution.
The Invisible Twitter n. – The content users miss since Twitter stopped showing all @ replies
I doubt most people still realize how the @ replies really work. Twitter said they had a temporary and a long term solution. Until that long term solution surfaces, you only see the @ replies your followers send when you follow both people, or when the reply is not a reply.
My Conversations Are Now Silos
I went to read a blog post today from a good friend. I found this post on their Twitter stream. I thought the post was an important one and could not believe it had not generated any @ replies. I did not see much discussion. I decided to check out their Twitter.com profile to see if The Invisible Twitter was responsible. It certainly was. I was missing a lot. I am noticing more and more how siloed some of my Twitter conversations have become.
I am still missing content from smart people and I do not like it.
The Simplest Point
Just because I am talking or replying to a single person, does not mean others may not benefit from the content? Or more importantly that others may have something of value to improve a discussion.
There was almost universal use of a first character solution at first: putting any character in front of the @ symbol. But most of us, including me, are not using this solution as much if at all. It is so easy to forget. And you lose the ability to track back to the original message, forcing me to decide between two features.
Cliches Not Networks
Discovery and virtual people watching is one of the things I love about Twitter. Much of this discovery comes from seeing who the people you follow talk to. If I have a trusting relationship with one person, and I notice they are talking to other specific people quite often, it behooves me to check those people out. Yes this still happens, but I feel like it happens less and less.
The Quiet Blue Yonder
Some people on Twitter send upward of 50% to 75% of their tweets as @ replies. That can equal out to a lot of missed content if we do not follow all the same people.
Twitter is still of value to me, and I can’t really be sure how much the experience has changed. But it seems so against the original nature the social platform that is Twitter. I hope The Invisible Twitter erodes, somehow, and the simplest bits of discovery don’t dissapear completely.
Metricphilia
Another new media-word based on my personal experience.
Metricphilia n. – Obsession with and love of metrics, ROI, and online stats in general.
I played with a few root words here and ultimately had to decide between the suffixes of philia (love of, obsession), holism (addiction to), and mania (unreasonable enthusiasm). All could work, but I feel philia really spoke to the intimate nature some of the relationship many have with their metrics.
This can be commonly characterized by constantly checking your blog traffic, twitter followers/rank, and even PageRank or Alexa score. It can be quite constructive information, but we often follow the numbers a little too closely, wondering how many people searching our key words actually visited our blog landing page in the last 30 seconds.
Ever refreshed a stats pages after viewing the results only a few minutes before? You are likely afflicted and giving a little too much love to your metrics.
Got any examples of your own?
MeTweet
I have definitely done this, no ill will intended here. Just a little fun with words.
MeTweet n. or v. – To republish a tweet by someone else, about you.
It can be a good self promotion tool a slight step down from seeming completely self absorbed. Plus it can serve as a sort of thank you.
Examples
- ChrisBrogan: “Read @chrisbrogan or get smacked down like Hogan”?? @mclinklove has gone over the edge – ck it out http://bit.ly/DYXKl (via @ShellyKramer) View Post
- WayneSutton: “RT @ldbaldwin Guess who is speaking at Wordcamp RDU? @gatewood5000,@jakrose,@waynesutton & many more http://wordcamprdu.com/2009” View Post
- JasonFalls: “RT @edeckers: Attention #Indianapolis social media ppl: You can see @JasonFalls speak next Wednesday for $20. http://bit.ly/Fdza0” View Post
Is MeTweet the best word for this phenomenon? No clue. If you have a better suggestion, by all means, chime in.
Tip: To check someone else’s MeTweets, use this twitter search “@username from:username”. This only works if the person does not talk about themselves alot. It won’t work, for instance, on Gary Vaynerchuk, who ends a lot of tweets with “@GaryVee me“.
Modern Fears
Some new phobias I have been working on personal solutions for:
- Tabdevotophobia – n. Fear of closing internet browser tabs
- Photogonophobia – n. Fear of deleting photo memory card files
