How I post things to the Internet
Published 17 April 2011
Hi! You've stumbled upon a blog post by a guy named Ryan. I'm not that guy anymore, but I've left his posts around because cool URIs don't change and to remind me how much I've learned and grown over time.
Ryan was a well-meaning but naïve and priviledged person. His views don't necessarily represent the views of anyone.
I submit the following diagram somewhat ironically, perhaps as an explanation as to why these pages are so bare. I've found myself a member of so many status, friendship, check-in and sharing-focused services that it's hard to keep them sorted. WordPress, through no fault of its own, has fallen out of my workflow.
The Internet is changing, and I find it fascinating how all of these services interrelate. Some observations:
- The iPhone's push notifications have replaced e-mail for pretty much all of these apps and I love it. Increasingly the only e-mail I get is spam and bills that need paying.
- I use Yelp a lot to find places, but they don't let you actually post reviews to your iPhone, just drafts that you have to visit their website to finalize. I can't be bothered.
- I've done checkins on Yelp, Gowalla and Facebook too, but foursquare is the one that stuck.
- LinkedIn and MySpace are intentionally absent, if you're looking for me on there you're looking in the wrong place.
- Posting Flickr -> Tumblr -> Facebook looks nicer the direct Flickr -> Facebook.
- API apps could really improve by letting you resolve dupes, e.g. "Post all of my tweet to Facebook unless they come from the Tumblr app."
Despite capturing pretty much everything I post to the Internet, I don't actually use Facebook all that much. I sign on to see what my friends have posted, but that's about it. I have over fifty acquaintances, friends that have grown apart and random strangers in my friend request queue. None of the other services have that problem. Perhaps Facebook is just too big. Perhaps it's too cluttered or I'm just getting old. It feels like this generation's AOL: replacing the Internet for the unwashed masses. I prefer to limit my exposure.
RIP RyanCannon.com?
It's a bit sad that this website has sunk into disuse. The reality is that these other services serve my need to share stuff I find interesting with others better. I think there's still room for the personal home page, but I'm not sure what it is. Think I could put it to a better use? Let me know in the comments (or, more likely, via one of the myriad services to which this blog will be syndicated).