Breakfast today consisted of a very interesting chat with Hugh Macleod (pictured above). Hugh is a guru amongst the blogoshphere and is also infamous for his Microsoft blue monster series of cartoons.
One of the key topics discussed was about monetising blogging and the metrics behind it but soon we were talking about social objects and how they are used by audiences to define others (and themselves). This is why Facebook is so successful as it enables people to talk about the relationships they have with each other through objects. Conversation has moved on from ‘when are you going on holiday next?’ to ‘your holiday in Croatia looked great – how was it’. Whilst many people debate the ‘artificial-ness’ of relationships formed on Facebook and other social networking sites, the fact is that they are formed through a very natural process of having a connection or similarity to another person and discussing it. It also helps you cover ground on the relationship early as the social object you discuss (playstation, iphone, whatever) also says a lot about the brands you buy or your social position. Suddenly, the ‘we met through Facebook’ button does not look so weird, right?