Tag Archives: Experiment

The Great Community Experiment, While Successful, Draws to a Close

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If you follow me on Twitter, or have received email from my personal account, you’ve seen my tagline: “Social Media Mad Scientist”. I do think of myself that way. I really enjoy experimenting with it, trying new things to find out what works.

Now, social media is new enough that — technically — we’re all really experimenting just by participating in it, but I like to play with the edges of things, figure out the controls, find the minimum amount of force one can use to make things fall over, etc. My usual answer to the question “What would happen if…?” is “Let’s try it and see!”

So I’m always open to opportunities to be involved in new programs, to be the first to get my hands on something, or just generally see what trouble can be stirred up. Sometimes it’s ended up in helping found new communities, sometimes it’s ended with TBaaS…

That said, for the past 16 months I’ve been fortunate to have been involved in another experiment of sorts, one that’s now drawn to a close. Continue reading →

Recruiting Collaborators for Social Media Experiment #2

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I have lots of opinions about Social Media (OK — to be fair, I have lots of opinions about almost everything…), but among them are:

  1. It’s still new — so new that no one gets to call themselves an expert at it.
  2. If we forget the “social” aspect of Social Media, we’re doing it wrong.
  3. The fastest (and best) way to find out what works with Social Media is to keep trying new stuff.

That said, back in February I organized something that I called Social Media Experiment #1: TBaaS.  It was fun for all who participated and the most harm it caused was confusing a few folks.

As a self-proclaimed Social Media Mad Scientist, I can’t simply stop at only one experiment.

Here’s where you come in.  The particular thing I have in mind will require multiple participants to succeed.  Social Media Experiment #1 would have been successful with 20 collaborators, but I was fortunate enough to have over 70.

If you’d like to play and collaborate on Social Media Experiment #2, here’s what you need to know:

  • You’ll need a Twitter account.
  • The experiment itself will occur sometime anywhere from 7 to 30 days from now.
  • Specific instructions will be emailed to collaborators anywhere from 12 to 24 hours before “go time”.
  • Email will be sent using Bcc: and I won’t use your address for any other purpose.
  • This will be some harmless fun.

Interested?  Click here to get added to my list of Collaborators.  Come have some fun with us!

Social Media Experiment #1: TBaaS

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I would have to say that two distinctly different things in me came together to bring about this particular experiment.

First, I continue to maintain that social media is still brand-new.  That means that nobody gets to call themselves an “expert” at it.  That means that nobody can actually offer “best practices”, merely “here’s some stuff that’s working”.  That also means that no one’s really figured out the limits of social media…

Second, I tend to look at things — systems mostly — from a point-of-view that’s a little different than many other folks’.  I can’t see a system without thinking, “Hmm, where could I push this — with the least amount of force possible — to make this fall over?”  Sometimes, I think I got this viewpoint from the work I used to do as a security consultant, but, quite frankly, I think it’s more likely that I was good as a security consultant because I have this viewpoint…

Add these two elements together, and it’s only natural that I enjoy playing with the boundaries of social media.  That brings us to Social Media Experiment #1: TBaaS…

Continue reading →