a collection of blog posts

social computing | 300961

[6amessays-blog]

Blog 3 - A More Synchronous Solution?

Edit: Realised that this initially posted privately. Original post under the cut.

One thing that really stands out about blogs is how non-threatening it is.

Each blog, a different take on the same content. Each commenter, another view yet.

And somehow the same information has been repeated a thousand times, yet still sounds new each time.

This is something that’s true for both readers and content producers (whether they are the author of the overall blog or a single comment). The constant back-and-forth communication between the author and audience provides for near-instantaneous feedback — gone are the days when you had to wait for the next issue or volume of a publication to voice your opinion!

But as with all good things, there’s a negative side too. For most content producers, this might simply take the form that negative (and perhaps confrontational) feedback comes that much more quickly. People tend to be much braver when appearing anonymously online 

That can be a little intimidating though — both because negative feedback comes that much more quickly and also due to the always-on nature of blogs.

[6amessays-blog]

Hi Amy, thank you for the post. While this seems bad for businesses, how is this market for the end consumers (like getting access to much more music through Spotify than they'd be buying normally)?

Hi Anonymous!

There’s a couple of different levels for users. In the context of Spotify in particular:

Firstly, in terms of benefits, users do get access to a wide range that they otherwise wouldn’t have access to. They are also able to take advantage of the content that is created by other users (i.e. playlists) and listen to all those songs without needing to go out and buy all of them. That gives users a lot of versatility and more options. Users can also create playlists and share them with other people, which can lead to some forms of recognition or simply feel rewarding in and of itself.

However, at the end of the day, users will have generally paid a subscription fee* solely for the right to access the music for a limited time (generally a month). Once that time limit is up, or if Spotify were to shut down, users lose access. The user comes away without any form of ownership over the content; it’s like the difference between buying a house and renting. Which one is better may ultimately depend on your own personal preferences. With the increase of streaming platforms and content that is exclusively limited to one platform though, users may ultimately lose out as they are required to pay for multiple subscriptions in order to simply access their usual selection (this is more prevalent for movie-streaming platforms, though Apple Music & Amazon Music are also contenders in the music-streaming space).

*alternatively, users might “pay” through watching ads to generate revenue, but they do confer some benefit upon the platform in return for the ability to access content.

[6amessays-blog]

Great blog Amy, I can see your point about social apps being sustainable only for the well established companies requiring heavy investment but i guess that is due to the level and type of service they are aiming to provide to their users. I still believe there is opportunity for smaller companies and entrepreneurs to be successful by using social computing if their ideas are original and they provide a service that satisfies one of our many needs in a different more convenient way. Dimitri.

Hey Dimitri,

There’s certainly the possibility to create sustainable apps on a smaller scale/for start-up companies to ‘break in’ to the market. For now, it seems that disrupting existing markets is a tough ask though.

However, this might provide more incentive for people to create new innovative products/services – so perhaps there’s a win-win to be found.

[6amessays-blog]

Nice and Smooth Blog great to read Amy

Thanks Shrey

[6amessays-blog]

Social Computing - Blog #2 —  Is Social Computing Failing Businesses?

aka more doomsday stories about Uber that no-one asked for.

More text under the cut. Please comment by asking questions.

The shift towards social computing has also, invariably, meant a shift away from ownership and towards access (though more recent developments may now be taking that the other way again)[1].

After all, being able to own a product and then disengage from the network is inherently unsocial.

These days, whether it’s renting a space for a few days (AirBnb), grabbing a ride (Uber) or even listening to music (Spotify) - the platform is all about collaboration towards a mutual goal (usually a service for one party and financial compensation for the other, with some user interaction on the side). Though perhaps unintentional, this shift has also meant that the profit model has also changed flowing from the producer of content to a co-creative space where both the platform provider and the user co-creators share in revenue. One good example of this is Uber where both Uber and the driver take a cut of the ride fee.

But that, unfortunately, may herald the demise of this era.

Not because it’s inherently unprofitable, or because of a lack of interest (Spotify alone has $108 million paying users [2] but only recorded its first ever profit earlier this year) [3]. But because the financial aspect of social computing appears to need exactly the same characteristics of other social computing applications, most notably a massive user base — and one that is actively engaged as well, whether that’s actively consuming the service (making it more feasible to get ad revenue), actively paying for the service or actively encouraging others to be active (e.g. through creating playlists, referrals, etc.).

And if it fails to meet that requirement? Well, the sanctions imposed by the free market in the form of operating losses are pretty tough.

Disruption is expensive. Spotify reported a $145+ million operating loss last year and is expected to record an overall loss of $400 million this year (despite its initial profit).

Is this really the best that we can do for start-ups? Not all services are going to be able to raise $15bn in funding like Uber[5] – and nor should they have to.

References

[1] See, eg, CryptoKitties CryptoKitties: Collectible and Breedable Cats Empowered by Blockchain Technology (White Paper) <https://drive.google.com/file/d/1soo-eAaJHzhw_XhFGMJp3VNcQoM43byS/view?usp=drive_open> [2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/244995/number-of-paying-spotify-subscribers/ [3] https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/6/18214331/spotify-earnings-financial-announcement-profits-music-streaming-podcast [4] https://www.vox.com/2018/2/28/17063892/spotify-ipo-margins-music-labels-streaming [5] https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/06/why-is-uber-raising-so-much-money

[6amessays-blog]

I think as you've mentioned, the low barrier and entry level to creating a blog is very easy compared to starting a website. Unlike traditional websites it also creates an opportunity for the writer to have a sense of purpose to their "site" and maintaining it's "activeness" by creating a dynamic website through or around the blog itself. (Comments section of tumbler always confuses me haha...)

Haha, yes I messed by not checking whether tumblr allowed for anonymous comments before making the blogs.

The low entry barrier certainly does help (I don’t know that there are any free website hosts, but there are certainly a lot of free blogs) - again, I think that accentuates the diversity of blogs and hone in on a specific (and often niche) audience.

[6amessays-blog]

A well written blog in a casual tone but also being well referenced. I enjoyed the background history of blogs.

Why thank you, kind stranger!

[6amessays-blog]

Social Computing - Blog 1

Blogs are, in the grand scheme of things, a relatively new invention.

By which I mean they’ve now been around for 25 years (since 1994)[1], which makes them older than the average student – though still younger than University itself (which is celebrating its 30th birthday).

Since 1994, blogs have grown exponentially and are now used widely; from governments to businesses, to non-profits and individuals themselves – Statistica reports that tumblr alone hosts 471.6 million individual blogs (or about 18 times the population of Australia)[2].

Arguably, the growth of blogs goes even further than “traditional” blogging platforms. If a blog is defined briefly as an “online journal… with posts in reverse-chronological order (latest first) and options for readers to comment"[3] — then this could encompass a lot of more traditional styled websites, which have since added commenting functionality — think news websites such as the Guardian or Sydney Morning Herald.

A large part of this growth is due to the features and interactivity that blogs offer; such as chronologically sorted content (making it easy to identify recent posts, making blog appear much more lively compared to your standard website), ability to comment and react to comments (boosting the author’s interactions with readers), while still allowing the author to maintain some level of control over the conversation (e.g. by turning off comments, restricting who can comment or deleting undesirable comments).[4]

At the same time, readers also benefit from being able to express a public opinion on an official platform which applies pressure on the author to respond/change their behaviour (or else face public community backlash, which can damage business objectives as well as applying a form of peer pressure on individual authors)

Of course, the low threshold to starting a blog helps too (it’s typically free!)[5] — ensuring that there’s a lot of diversity in the blogging sphere, and that topics are always vibrant: anything from traditional news[6] to promotion of products[7], quotes[8] or tracking a pet’s daily life[9].

[1] https://blogging.com/history [2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/256235/total-cumulative-number-of-tumblr-blogs [3] https://teaching.unsw.edu.au/assessment-blog-wiki-or-forum-which-should-you-use [4] https://teaching.unsw.edu.au/assessment-blog-wiki-or-forum-which-should-you-use [5] See, eg, tumblr.com [6] https://www.smh.com.au/  [7]https://www.davidjones.com/blog [8] https://thedailyquotes4u.tumblr.com/ [9] https://www.instagram.com/bonjourbrie/ --- P.S. If you want to comment – use the “ask me anything” link on the top of this page and mention “blog 1”.

Sorry if that’s a pain. Here’s a photo of Brie from the last reference to motivate you.

A post shared by Brie (@bonjourbrie) on May 7, 2018 at 8:22am PDT