Thoughts on Blogging (on WordPress)

Photo by Eric Stroller

Please allow me to share with you my thoughts on blogging on WordPress.

Last April, I was asked required to start and maintain blog, in English, to pass a Melbourne University subject called Net Communications.

I have always been a big fan of technology. I love technology (and sharing my love with other people) so much that I now have nine ‘how to’ books published in Indonesia. And since I’m now working as a tech columnist anyway, I decided to work on a blog that talks about the adoption of ICT in Indonesia.

Tomorrow I’ll submit this blog for assessment. Looking back at some of the posts I’ve published, I’m hopeful that I’ll pass this subject, and pass it with with a good mark.

However, having good quality posts doesn’t mean that I’ve had good quality time writing them. Put it simply, I have not “enjoyed” my blogging experience. I have created and maintained this blog because I have to, not because I want to.

How come?

Tonight, as I reflect back on my the things I have (and haven’t) done, I am reminded by what I’ve written on the first of May. In the very first post for this blog, I said that

I have always been a huge believer in Twitter. I joined the microblogging platform when it was still in its infancy, back in November 2007. Yes, 2007, like way before anyone, like anyone, have heard of #JustinBieber. Forming the foundation of my belief in Twitter is another belief – that blogging (in the traditional sense) is dying. This is the age of micro-attention. The time has come for Twitter to reign.

Bye WordPress. Time to Shift Gears, and Change Scene.

To fully understand my “skepticism”, I invite you to look back at the very “nature” of blogging.

In Blogging, the Nihilist Impulse, Geert Lovink said that

“To blog merely means to quickly point to news facts through a link and a few sentences that explain why the blogger found this or that factoid interesting or remarkable or is in disagreement with it.” (Geert Lovink)

Yes, although this is still true (as reflected by some of my posts like this one), I think Lovink’s statement is now “true-er” for tweeting.

I, like many other Twitter users, RT tweets that I found interesting, add some of my own comments to it (of course, when there is space for it), and actively use the service to share links that I found to be worth sharing. In short, compared to WordPress, Twitter is just so much more compelling to use.

First, there’s the software factor. Yes, as a software, WordPress is already easy to use. However, Twitter is just more accessible, and so much more simpler to use.

Second, Twitter has what I call “the audience factor”. With a clear “follower” count, I can almost be sure that someone, somewhere, sees and reads my tweets. People just love having their stuff read – and commented by other people.

Third, in addition to Twitter, there’s Facebook.

When was the last time you shared a link on Facebook? When was the last time you’ve written a post using Facebook’s Notes application?

As an avid Facebook user, I noticed that more and more people I know who used to have a blog hosted on WordPress, Blogger, Posterous, MovableType or other “traditional” blogging platforms are now publishing their content exclusively on Facebook.

This shouldn’t be too surprising. People make the time to read and comment on the things their friends posted on Facebook. And since so many of us are already spending so much of our time on the platform, it makes perfect sense to post our content there.

Change is inevitable in ICT. As Net Communications has moved on from Dreamweaver to WordPress, perhaps the time has come for another change in focus.

“At some point it is time to shift gears and change scene. It is hard to accept that the course of human kind is bound for irrelevance. The technology caravan moves on and as do Internet users” (Geert Lovink)

P.S. Like Lovink, I also think that there’s a clear difference between ”Internet users” and “Internet professionals”. Professional bloggers fall under Internet professionals, and I suspect that their number will continue to grow. People just love reading professional blogs like Rantang (disclaimer: this is where I blog professionally), Gizmodo, Daring Fireball and Lolcats.

P.P.S. The Geert Lovink quotes used in this post are from his book Zero Comments: Blogging and Critical Internet Culture (2007).

P.P.P.S. Having said the things I’ve said above, it is unlikely that I’ll continue to maintain this blog. To continue reading my insight on tech, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, and “like” me on Facebook.

KOMPAS is now “iPad Ready”

Although no one really knows when the device will be (officially) available in Indonesia, that doesn’t mean people can’t start giving it away, run workshops on how to be more productive with it, or making the nation’s leading newspaper “iPad ready”.

Yep, as of today, the most widely read newspaper in Indonesia is iPad ready. iPad owners can access the custom-built interface by accessing http://epaper.kompas.com (registration required) or directly via http://kompas.realviewusa.com/ipad/.

P.S. Once it loads, add the page to the home screen of your iPad for one click access to one of the best source of Indonesian news. No, of course I’m not biased.

Facebook and the Future of Online Discussion

The picture above was posted by Engadget editor Joshua Topolsky when he announced that the site has temporarily turned off its commenting system. Sure it looks scary, but for many, this image reflects their perception of online participation.

Yes, for a lot of people, “online participation” is synonymous to mayhem. The chance to be anyone else (anonymity), the absence of human expression (disconnection), combined with a liberal understanding of “free speech” is surely a recipe for disaster.

As nicely written by a fellow Net Communications blogger,

Blogs – and especially blog comment sections – are some of the most combative, partisan and horrible forms of communication man has yet devised. (Matt)

Is the “democratic potential” of the web unworkable in practice?

Introducing: The Best Commenting System (To Date)

Most bloggers would admit that it is not their aim to foster public debate. If you disagree with a fellow blogger, it is even unwise to write a comment. Instead, it is much safer to post the remark on your own blog. “I blogged you”. (Geert Lovink)

Although the model above might be (somewhat) true for academic papers, this “ideal” is definitely not common practice in the blogosphere. In fact, it is so rare for a blogger to reblog another blogger that Lovink himself has said that the chance of this happening is almost zero.

The majority of internet users, however critical some of them might be, just don’t have the time to write a blog post. If someone disagrees with what they read online, and is compelled to do something about it, they will leave a comment – that is, if a commenting system is in place.

If the commenting system is unavailable (or disabled on purpose – the easy choice when publishing a controversial post like this one), people will just “move on”. As remarked by the Engadget editor in his interview with VentureBeat earlier this year,

“Honestly it’s a bit of an experiment. I’m hoping they’ll get bored and decide to stop commenting.” (interview by Paul Boutin)

However, I don’t think shutting down a post’s (or a blog’s) commenting system (i.e. avoiding the problem) is the best solution to tone down flame wars, swearing and trolling. I think we can “attack” the problem by implementing a relatively straightforward technological solution. By removing anonymity.

Today, we already have the mechanism to make sure that there is a real person behind every name and avatar. The mechanism is called Facebook. Although it is not 100% perfect, Facebook has implemented a range of coded abilities to minimise fake profiles. For example, all Facebook accounts must now be linked to a valid mobile number.

Although no extensive study has reconfirmed my unscientific finding, running a commenting system that obliges users to use their Facebook credentials to post a comment significantly increases accountability and politeness in the blogosphere – and the web in general.

For that reason, I’m under the impression that a Facebook powered commenting system is the best commenting system to date.

As of this writing, there are two ways to install a “Facebook powered” commenting system.

If the content management system (CMS) you use has already has a commenting system installed (e.g. WordPress, Posterous and other publishing platforms), Facebook Connect might be the most appropriate choice for you. You can install Facebook Connect on your website by installing the right Facebook Connect plugin for your CMS (such as the Simple Facebook Connect plugin for WordPress).

Alternatively, if you want to install a commenting system on a web page that doesn’t have an existing commenting system, use can use Facebook’s new Comments Social Plugin.

http://www.suara-rakyat.com

So many websites have now implemented a Facebook powered commenting system. Some websites, like Newsweek.com and Answers.com, have implemented it in conjunction with other platforms that offers shared login credentials (such as Twitter and OpenID).

Others, like Indonesia’s Suara Rakyat (Voice of the People) website, has decided to exclusively use a Facebook powered commenting system. With people leaving polite and constructive comments on what could be a collection of rants and blame (keep in mind that the site is not moderated), I think this proves my hypothesis that a Facebook powered commenting system do deliver accountability and politeness to the blogosphere

On that note, I wish Automattic would soon enable Facebook Connect for use on this WordPress.com hosted blog. Posterous has done it ages ago. I see no reason why WordPress.com not do so too.

P.S. Some people have said to me, “what if people don’t use Facebook anymore?” Although this is technically possible, I think Facebook has crossed a line of no return. Like Yahoo and Hotmail, it will remain in the heart and minds of many-many people for the years (and maybe decades) to come.

P.P.S. One more thing: In addition to blogging platforms, a number of online bulletin board platforms (e.g. Vbulletin, phpBB) have also been known to support Facebook Connect. Is this a sign of what the future of online discussion might look like?

What the **** is going on in Indonesia?

Having matured from its early 2000s Internet obsession with Friendster, it seems Indonesia has become something of a Web force, embracing everything from Facebook to Foursquare catching people off guard with some uncommon swarms.

So writes Sarah Lacy of Techcrunch. This article is a nice roundup of a week of on and off focus on Indonesia by technology nerds from around the world. Do give yourself some time to read the full article over at Techcrunch.

P.S. If you feel like following the latest in “Indonesian tech” and meeting some of these amazing people, you might want to keep a close eye on (and take part in) BarCamp Indonesia (Twitter account: @BarCampID).

On Social Media and Good Governance

I snapped this picture at Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat on December 9, 2009

Indonesian citizens’ active involvement in social media demonstrates how civil society can promote good governance and protect freedom of expression.

Says Maria Otero, United States Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs during her visit in Jakarta last week. If you’re wondering what she meant by “active involvement”, the following figures might give you some idea…

1. With more than 22 million Facebook users, Indonesia is currently the third largest country on Facebook after the US and the UK (source: demographic data from http://ads.facebook.com).
2. With more than 6 million Twitter users, Indonesia is currently the fourth largest country on Twitter after the US, Japan and Brazil. In fact, just recently, Indonesia’s capital city Jakarta has been ‘crowned’ as the Twitter capital of Asia.
3. Bahasa Indonesia is fourth most used language on WordPress.com (source: WordPress Stats)

If you’re interested to read more on how the Indonesian “socialsphere” keeps the Indonesian government in check, check out the following articles from the Jakarta Globe and the Jakarta Post:

A picture of the minister’s car was posted on news portal detik.com and on social networking site Twitter, where it went viral. (from Social Affairs Minister Steers Into Trouble for Using Bus Lane, May 05, 2010)

Tens of thousands of Indonesians are expressing their disapproval of apparent corruption in the tax office on social networking site Facebook. (from 90,000 Facebook Users Rail Against Graft in the Tax Office, April 02, 2010)

The power of Facebook in Indonesia was emphasized when a cause group on the site was started to raise money for jailed mother Prita Mulyasari. (from The power of social networking, February 02, 2010)

A Facebook group has surpassed its goal of one million members in support of Indonesia’s embattled antigraft deputies, Chandra Hamzah and Bibit Samad Riyanto. (from Indonesia’s Antigraft Facebook ‘Movement’ Reaches One Million, November 07, 2009)

There’s also a nice (lengthy) article by Emmy Fitry that you must not miss, Facebook Became the New Town Hall and Twitter the Fastest Media.

By the way, please let me know if I miss anything significant. I have a feeling that in four or five years, someone will write their PhD thesis on how social media proves to be the most effective tool in reducing corruption and government and/or political misconduct. Or something else on this topic. Hehehe.