Over the past couple of weeks I have joined a variety of new services including App.net, State, Branch, Medium, Kippt, Buffer.

App.net
I recently backed my first kickstarter-ish project ever and decided to join App.net (AppDotNet or ADN). People keep asking me if I think it can ever compete with Twitter or will it ever reach critical mass or if it will stay a ghost town like Google+? For me the question is not whether ADN will be able to “replace” Twitter but rather I see it as a reflection of the current zeitgeist. ADN is not simply an ad-free alternative to Twitter. Instead, alternatives to major platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are increasingly gaining momentum. ADN is definitely not the first, think for example of Diaspora (launched as a Facebook alternative) and Identi.ca (formerly Status.Net) which calls itself “a stream oriented social network service” (FAQ). Both services never really went mainstream, maybe because they were both ahead of their time.

ADN, at a first glance, seems similar to Identi.ca but there is one important distinction which also differentiates it from Twitter because with Identi.ca “You can install the StatusNet software that runs Identi.ca on your own servers, since it’s Free and Open Source software. You can make groups, and share privately with those groups.” This allows you to run Identi.ca on your own server, a decentralized model, while both Twitter and ADN rely on a centralized model. ADN follows a centralized model which is very common for the current era of social media platforms. As a platform, ADN is operating as software as service, “a software delivery model in which software and associated data are centrally hosted on the cloud,” and offers an API for developers. The API is the main core of ADN and alpha.app.net is only one possible way of how an ADN application or service can look or function. Two great write-ups deal with these issues: First, Dan Wineman describes the relation between the social graph, publishing and aggregation and how social platforms like Twitter and ADN deal with these differently, and second, Orian Marx describes what ADN is, could possibly be and how it is different from its alternatives. Yes, ADN costs 50 dollars (or 100 if you are a developer) and it is still a centralized service but I can’t even begin to describe what has been developed with the ADN API in less than three weeks.

ADN isn’t the only thing that is currently brewing as an alternative to Twitter which is increasingly shutting out other services and third-party developers. Dave Winer hypothetically proposes a “A microblogging server that’s a simple install on EC2 or Rackspace or any other easy cloud-based server“ in other words, a decentralized easy self-install Twitter alternative in the cloud.  Another initiative that is currently buzzing in the blogosphere is Tent.io “a protocol for open, decentralized social networking” which looks interesting but Winer reminds us that “What matters is what software is supporting the protocol, what content is available through it and how compelling is the content.” There is also critique on Tent.io developing Yet Another Protocol while it could use existing protocols, which reminded me of the following XKCD comic on standards:

My username is @silvertje if you would like to contact me on ADN. I have created a Google Doc which lists about 80 other Dutch ADN users, @adrianus has built Appnetizens streams, a “Tweedeck” like interface for ADN (for which I did some CSS-color-advice) with multiple column-view and tons of other features such as a “Netherlands” view with all known Dutch users, @frankmeeuwsen has started a blog titled Appdotnet Culture which documents ADN’s early developer and user culture and @richardk writes about ADN developments. I’ve also created an IFTTT recipe that allows you to cross-post selectively from Twitter to ADN whenever the tweet contains the hashtag #adn.

Buffer

I started using Buffer to cross-post some messages from Twitter to ADN using an IFTTT recipe I created: Send Tweets with Hashtag #ADN to App.net via Buffer However, IFTTT just added ADN as a channel to their service so I don’t have to pipe everything through Buffer anymore, so until I find another use for this service I am putting it on pause.

State
At the first glance State looks like a Netvibes made for the platform & cloud era. It’s not simply a service to aggregate your streams because State also allows you to interact with your streams. In other words, you can reply to your Tweets and ADN posts and when you click on a user it brings you to the user profile displayed within State. However, not all actions that can be performed on objects within these platforms are available yet. You can also add RSS feeds but it is not immediately clear how this works. You can “search” for a feed, where it seems to search the web for your query and then grabs the feed from these results. When I ego-search for myself I get feeds for my Flickr photos, Quora profile etc but I cannot seem to find the main feed for my own blog. Adding a custom feed by URL would be a great option. I’ve only used it for a few hours but I love it so far and ReadWriteWeb calls it “A Streams App Of The Future“. It looks clean, minimal and good and they respond very quickly to feature suggestions (they implemented a reply to Instagram photos function after I suggested it on Twitter!), always a bonus :)

Update: Joshua from State kindly answered my question concerning the RSS feature. State is currently using “Google’s Feed API (https://developers.google.com/feed/) to search for feeds using the text you type into the box” which interestingly enough brings up the feeds for my presence elsewhere but not my own blog.

State

Branch, Medium, Kippt

Branch, Medium, Kippt are three more new platforms I joined recently for publishing, discussing and link sharing but so far I have merely glanced at them, as one can only spend so much time online.

On a final note, I’m happy to contribute as a female to the all these new services which are dominated by “alpha geeks” aka white males according to BuzzFeed’s latest article on the early adopters of these platforms.

These are the slides from my presentation on Web Archives and Digital Methods: Reconstructing the Dutch Blogosphere with the Internet Archive. During the NWO CATCHmeeting “Supporting Media Studies Research: Exploration and Contextualization” at the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision in Hilversum I presented some web archive use scenarios with a specific focus on doing digital methods research with the Internet Archive.

Abstract:
Historically, the practice of web archiving has involved various institutions and the development of various practices, approaches and tools. Among them, three main approaches to web archiving have been developed: web archive research using the Internet Archive and Wayback Machine, the practice of archiving special collections of websites, and the national approach of archiving webs of specific countries. These approaches and practices do not only reflect the time in which they were conceived in the history of web archiving, but also put forward distinct ways in which they may be used and consequently what type of historiographical research can be done with them. However, there are also limits to what these tools and practices offer. The purpose of this talk is to introduce the limits of doing research with the Internet Archive with existing tools such as the Wayback Machine and in addition, to show how digital methods are used to repurpose the Wayback Machine in order to go beyond the single-site historical research that is enabled by the Internet Archive. This will be illustrated in a case study on the Dutch blogosphere where by means of custom tools built on top of the Wayback Machine yearly snapshots of the historical Dutch blogosphere were created between 1999-2009. By reconstructing the interlinked set of blogs, the blogosphere, one can trace and map transitions in linking technologies and practices in the Dutch blogosphere over time. This approach allows for studying the emergence and decline of blog platforms and social media platforms within the blogosphere and for investigating local blog cultures.

My first co-authored article, with colleague Esther Weltevrede, has been published in First Monday, Volume 17, Number 2 – 6 February 2012.

Where do bloggers blog? Platform transitions within the historical Dutch blogosphere

Abstract

The blogosphere has played an instrumental role in the transition and the evolution of linking technologies and practices. This research traces and maps historical changes in the Dutch blogosphere and the interconnections between blogs, which — traditionally considered — turn a set of blogs into a blogosphere. This paper will discuss the definition of the blogosphere by asking who the actors are which make up the blogosphere through its interconnections. This research aims to repurpose the Wayback Machine so as to trace and map transitions in linking technologies and practices in the blogosphere over time by means of digital methods and custom software. We are then able to create yearly network visualizations of the historical Dutch blogosphere (1999–2009). This approach allows us to study the emergence and decline of blog platforms and social media platforms within the blogosphere and it also allows us to investigate local blog cultures.

The Dutch blogosphere in transition

For the full text, see First Monday or explore the data on our project page.

Abstract interpretation of the Dutch blogosphere 2001 #1

I am currently working on analyzing the Dutch blogosphere with my colleague Esther Weltevrede with help of colleague Erik Borra from the Digital Methods Initiative. In an early exploratory phase Esther and I started to learn how to use Gephi to visualize our data and networks. In one of my early attempts I created this beautifully abstract interpretation of the Dutch blogosphere. Gephi creates design by research!

Abstract interpretation of the Dutch blogosphere 2001 #2

Actual findings and paper will follow in a few weeks!

This map provides an insight into the linking practices of a part of the Dutch blogosphere. Download full map as PDF.

Starting points provided by Bert Brussen’s blogpost (including comments) calling for “weblogs that matter anno 2010.”

This is not the “whole” Dutch blogosphere, it maps the interlinking practices of the blogs of the startinglist. The tool keeps blogs on the map that receive at least two inlinks from other blogs in the network. On top of that, if we consider the blogosphere as the interlinking of all blogs, the Dutch blogosphere contains a wide array of foreign websites and social media platforms such as The Huffington Post, Wikileaks, Flickr, Boston, Facebook etc. Twitter is the biggest node in the Dutch blogosphere.

More info on Mapping the Dutch blogosphere project by Esther Weltevrede and me on this blog.

On July 9th, Esther Weltevrede and I presented our ongoing research on the Dutch Blogosphere at the Mediamatic Mapping Ignite event. Here are the slides and notes from our 5 minute superfast and condensed informational Ignite talk on researching and mapping the Dutch Blogosphere.

Slide 1:
Hi, I’m Anne and this is Esther and we are PhD’s at the University of Amsterdam with the Digital Methods Initiative. We will be showing the first results of a mapping project on the Dutch Blogosphere. It is a work in progress.

Slide 2:
Author on the Dutch blogosphere, Frank Schaap, distinguishes between two types of blogs: linklogs and lifelogs. Linklogs primarily post links to other websites (right), whereas Lifelogs primarily post details about their personal life and everyday experiences (left).

Slide 3:
The current Dutch blogosphere, however, seems to be characterized by the many references to social media platforms. Did the Dutch blogosphere transform from link- and lifelogs into platform-oriented blogs?

Slide 4:
Our aim is to map the changing linking practices of blogs in order to empirically analyze this shift. Following the definition of the blogosphere as the collection of all blogs and their interconnections we aim to map and characterize the Dutch blogosphere. So… which blogs?

Slide 5:
Well, good question! Starting points are very important! This collection of blogs is compiled from several expert sources, namely: lists from Frank Schaap, Merel Roze, Flabber, Frank Meeuwsen and Arie Altena.

Slide 6:
We used the Issue Crawler; a software tool that locates and visualizes networks on the web. It crawls the startingpoints, which means that it follows the hyperlinks from one page to the next, then analyzes and visualizes these connections.

Slide 7:
So what is the Dutch blogosphere? It is what the Dutch blogs link to. This means it also includes non-blogs. Moreover, these apparent strangers in our midst characterize the current Dutch blogosphere.

Slide 8:
First of all, there is a densely linked Dutch blogosphere. This snapshot from June 2010 shows the top 100 prominent blogs and related websites including news sites and social media platforms.

Slide 9:
When we zoom in we can see the links between the nodes and clusters made visible. What you see here is a literary cluster that includes professional writers like Ivo Victoria, Merel Roze, and Walter van den Berg.

Slide 10:
This second cluster is a marketing and technology cluster. It includes Bright, Frankwatching, and Dutch Cowboys. The latter is on the fringe of the networkcluster because, as you can see, it does not link back.

Slide 11:
In this detailed view of map we see the prominence of social media platforms in the Dutch blogosphere, including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. These platforms are most prominent within the marketing & technology and news & opinion cluster.

Slide 12:
One of the most central nodes, the micro-blogging platform Twitter is also the largest node in the Dutch blogosphere. When we look at the statistics we see that Twitter almost receives 35 thousand links from the rest of the network.

Slide 13:
Analyzing the links from the current Dutch blogosphere, platforms take a central and prominent position within it. How would one do an analysis on the historical Dutch blogosphere? Was the early 2003 blogosphere indeed organized around lifelogs and linklogs?

Slide 14:
Well, the historical Dutch blogosphere is a work in progress. The first question is: Which starting points to use? We took all the blogs on the Loglijst, a blog indexing site that was started in 2001. The Loglijst scraped and indexed Dutch blogs.

Slide 15:
However, when we checked all the blogs listed in the Loglijst for their response code, or put differently, check to see if they are still online and alive, we notice that many popular blogs from 2003 are no longer online.

Slide 16:
Fortunately, many of the “dead” blogs live on in the Internet Archive which has archived millions of pages from 1996 onward. One can revisit blogs from the past through their WayBackMachine which is the interface to the archive.

Slide 17:
The Internet Archive allows one to search for the history of one specific website or blog and as such privileges single site histories. When entering a URL the output is a list of archived snapshots ordered by date. (asterixes indicate changes to the website)

Slide 18:
This is one of the earliest archived Dutch blogs from 1999. We are automatically going to look up all the blogs from the starting list with one of our tools. Then rip all the links within the blogs and create network visualizations like we have seen before.

Slide 19:
The Dutch blogosphere is an under studied object and we wish to contribute by mapping its history. This proposed study enables us to create collections from the Dutch blogosphere for every year between 1999 and 2009, and compare and analyze these pasts states of the Dutch blogosphere.

Slide 20:
Thank you for your attention, kthnxbai, see you on digitalmethods.net