My remarks were supposed to be cautionary rather than negative. Especially Facebook, which I use a lot as my extended family lives all over the world.
Also I follow interesting people on Twitter. My son's partner (not a techie) discovered a bug whereby pictures of our grandchildren, supposedly viewable by "Friends Only" could be viewed by at least "Friends of Friends" - we think they've fixed the loophole but it's time-consuming to test and she is a busy mother of young kids. Also Friends & Friends of Friends are needed for testing & it all gets complicated operationally. Just because one can do some interesting & technically savvy work with an API, if it's not open-source then how do we validate it? Regards, Nico Morrison 2009/7/12 Brian Butterworth <[email protected]> > I read people's comments with interest. > I am rather surprised by the negativity aimed at Facebook. I would point > out that I do have at least one BBC person as a Facebook friend, that being > BBC Radio 5 Live's Victoria Derbyshire: > > http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=611852937 > > <http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=611852937>Whilst I understand > about Facebook being a "closed" platform, it does provide some good > developer tools. In particular I have seem applications like *Mafia Wars*, > which is a very simple game in iteself (you can model the gameplay on an A4 > page), but it makes exceptional use of the Facebook APIs. > > Not only does it use the "user login" to provide an environment for the > game objects to run, but access to the "buddies list" is used to great > effect, and the programme also uses the "message" and "feed" components of > the platform to great effect. > > As for Twitter (I'm @Briantist, obviously), the APIs are so simple, the > message format easily understood and the number of clients (I use Twidroid > on my G1 phone) that integration is very simple. > > Aside from "tweeting" you status from time to time, you follow the updates > of people that interest you. That bit is easy, but the hashtag makes > everything "fun", because you can search the whole network for live updates > on a topic you are interested. > > I find the latter reason useful for following meatworld events such as > (#radfest09, the recent radio festival) and also just "Twitter fun" such > as #1stdraftmovielines > > I was just a *little *disappointed that the BBC Radio "Visualization" > didn't use Twitter, but a closed little feed. I would have preferred to add > #materialworld to some Tweets, as I can do this from my phone. > > > 2009/7/11 Nico Morrison <[email protected]> > > Good point. Very good point. Both points are good. Took me a long time to >> get on Facebook and even longer to go on Twitter. With FB the (alleged) >> privacy and control is one of the best features, PROVIDED you put your faith >> in them. Twitter is like a flock of gnats you can swat it as it goes past >> but there's always more. >> >> Nico M >> >> >> 2009/7/11 Matthew Wild <[email protected]> >> >> On Sat, Jul 11, 2009 at 3:02 PM, Nico Morrison<[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> > On an allied subject, is there a Facebook page or group representing >>> BBC >>> > Backstage? It's a good way to disseminate information, regardless of >>> what >>> > you think of FB. >>> > >>> >>> I don't like how much the BBC in general advertises and pushes Twitter >>> (a single commercial entity after all), but I really would have to >>> draw the line at Facebook, sorry :) >>> >>> Unlike Twitter (who provide an RSS feed), Facebook is completely >>> closed... if you don't have an account you don't have a peek. I would >>> be very disappointed in seeing any BBC data locked away inside >>> Facebook and only accessible to Facebook users. If the account is kept >>> in total sync with another more open means of communication then I >>> really have no issue with it at all. >>> >>> The Twitter issue is a matter for another day :) >>> >>> Matthew >>> - >>> Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, >>> please visit >>> http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. >>> Unofficial list archive: >>> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >>> >> >> > > > -- > > Brian Butterworth > > follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/briantist > web: http://www.ukfree.tv - independent digital television and switchover > advice, since 2002 >
