Collected thoughts

Earlier this week Google+ added a feature called Collections. This looks a lot like a feature I thought of some time ago that I called 'aspects'. I was thinking that there are some people I follow on social media who post on a variety of topics. In some cases these may be tagged, but it has not been easy to include or exclude specific topics. For example I follow some fellow Linux fans who are also into soccer, which is of no interest to me. I'd like to be able to exclude those posts from my feed as I have limited time to look through it all.

The Google+ feature allows you to select a Collection instead of circles for a post. When you create a Collection you can select whether your existing followers get it by default and they can opt out if they wish. You can also set whether it is public or for a circle (or just you). You cannot change that afterwards, so choose carefully. I created my Social networks Collection for my thoughts about G+, Tsu and other systems. I had a comment recently saying they thought I was 'spamming' their feed with money making schemes. That person could now opt out if they still want to see my other posts. The money making aspect of Tsu, 3tags and Bitlanders does interest me, but I don't expect to make much in the short term. I've given most of what I have made to charities that use those sites.

It would be good to see some automation of this feature by suggesting an appropriate Collection from keywords. Collections are already in the Android app.

I've seen a few opinion pieces saying that G+ is dead, but it seems pretty alive to me and this shows that they are still adding features. There are many millions of users and plenty of interest to me. It hasn't taken off like Facebook and Twitter, but I think it has the best set of features and a good user interface. They still don't have advertising, but I'm not sure they need the money as they will get it when people go to Gmail or Youtube anyway.

My current (dead tree) reading is Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams. I've been interested in on-line collaboration for some years. It covers more than just traditional wikis. I've been an advocate of using a wiki at work for years, but some people just don't get it.

This book is a few years old and so it's interesting to see what has changed. Back in 2008 MySpace was the big player in social, having taken over from Friendster. Facebook was still in its early days and even Youtube was still fairly new.