2 comments

1. I think the group was missing the point with Aardvark. Too much focus was placed on in-network. Yes it comes through my IM on my hotmail account. I don’t get tons of requests, usually 2-3 a day. I joined Aardvark when it was fairly new, and found that at least at first, the Aardvark network was fairly heavy in California. So when I asked for a restaurant in E.Providence RI, it asked me if I meant restaurants in Boston MA, where I actually live. So my first question was a bust.
   However, I’ve had much more fun answering questions, and have gotten great feedback from strangers. Think of the gain to me as altruistic helping.
   One example: Late one Saturday night, I got an IM. The man was looking for a baby gift for a co-worker. Obviously felt he didn’t have a place to turn. I gave him a recco. He went to the site, ordered and came back to me with gratitude. (also asked if I worked for the company, which I don’t, I just loved the product when my children were babies.)
   Several such stories. Could he have gone anywhere and asked? Perhaps. But Aardvark’s claim is that they will find an answer quick. So rather than post something at 10pm and hope to get an answer sometime over the next few days, he got an immediate answer, purchased, and put the issue to bed all before 10:30 pm that night.
   Where it differs from twitter, is that Aardvark only asks the questions of people who are currently online, and (hopefully) who’s profile indicates that they might have the abiltiy to answer. If you for some reason are not able to respond (forgot to shut down the IM) it withdraws the question and moves it to the next person it can find online with the right profile. Not sure where else that happens.
   Just wanted to give a supporting point of view. And no, I do not work for Aardvark! 🙂

2. I was laughing a lot during this podcast. I can’t speak for the other listener 😉
   I agree with the POV that no matter what medium, jerks will be jerks. I learned this when I was a volunteer at Aids Project Los Angeles. They were training us to work with people who needed support dealing with their HIV/AIDS diagnosis. They were 100% honest in training us that we needed to learn to bounce back if we were working with someone who wasn’t the nicest person. It boiled down to them saying if you were a jerk before you were diagnosed, you’re probably going to be a jerk after.
   The same with social media. If you were a nice person before getting a bit of traction with a blog or other social media, you’re probably going to stay nice. If you’re an ass, well, you’re going to show up at BlogHer and try to blackmail someone for a pair of Crocs.
   That bit of wisdom they shared with us at APLA is basically true. It’s been a good 20 years since I volunteered there. Nice people are, pretty much, consistently nice. Jerks are, pretty much, consistently jerks.
   How does this impact social media? Well, people overvalue themselves and don’t realize that whatever they say is out there for the world to see in perpetuity. If I loose my temper, I know that’s going to be on the net forever. If I’m nice, that will be there too. I show my emotions and say what I think. I just have a rule that if I won’t say it to your face, I won’t say it online. Unfortunately, for people like the Crocs extortionist she chose to say something that was idiotic. But, how much do you want to bet that she is an idiot?

Comments are closed.