Matt Sokoloff

With the announcment that the Library of congress is going to index tweets all the back to 2006 and google allowing anyone to search on old tweet, I got to thinking when I actually got on Twitter.

A quick search on my Gmail account put me back into late 2006...although they didn't seam to ever send me a registration confirmation. Maybe because I signed up on my phone. Either way I found an interesting chat I had with my Joey about Twitter. Here is how I described Twitter back then:

"its like facebook status thing but not fb"

"ive been trying it but i think its only fun if you know other people on it"

Yes at that point I probably had two friends (Twitter did actually call them friends back then) and it wasn't to exciting. I was probably paying to send out a text message to 40404 to let two people know what I was doing and I'm sure they didn't care and probably weren't even in the same city as I was.

In so many ways it's changed and in many others it hasn't. I think these two statements still hold true. Although maybe it's because Facebook is becoming more like Twitter.

It's with great pain that I write this but...I truly don't think Google should pick Orlando as the city to instal their uber-high-speed internet. We're just not taking advantage of what's already out there.

The city thinks that using Google Apps means that we are making full use of Google technologies and other technologies. Yes the city pays for Google Apps as their e-mail provider but how about all the free ways the city could use google to make the city and city services more accessible to everyone. This includes making use of Google Maps, YouTube, Google Topics, etc. to provide resources to the citizens of Orlando.

One area with a lot of potential that almost 500 cities are taking advantage of is Google Transit. Orlando/Lynx is yet to sync the bus routes and schedules to google maps. The process is laid out here and it's free. I'm sure we are paying a lot of money for the proprietary scheduler but this is free promotion. Every time someone maps directions on google maps or their iPhone they can hit "By Public Transportation" and get the next bus route. You can't expect people to make use of city services if they can't even find out about them.

And then just take a look at the city website. The city does very little to actually provide a usable online website. The city redesigned the site 2.5 years ago but didn't change much in the way they help users find what they are looking for. Browse to more then the top level pages and you'll find ample disconnected pages, outdated pages and broken links. Compare that to some other city websites that are easy to navigate and provide actual useful information and services that are kept up to date.

It's also worth pointing out that one of the main reasons that Google is going to provide this super-high-speed internet access is because they feel that current offerings are not fast enough and not robust enough. Well that's one area where Orlando might win out. Ask anyone who's not affiliated with Bright House and knows a thing or two about technology and they'll tell you that the speeds Bright House provides tend to be well below average...and let's not even talk about pricing. But has the city every talked about alternatives or pushed for competition?

None of these improvements require Google to launch high-speed internet in Orlando it just requires a forward thinking city government. We'll have to see if ours can at least catch up to so many other cities (many smaller than ours). 

Oh and btw if we get the Google high-speed internet I'll be the first to sign up!

UPDATE: I've since been reminded that Mayor "Google" Buddy Dyer was the same guy who pushed against the WiFi cloud in Orlando.

I got excited on Monday when I saw Scott Brown's Voter Bomb. A simple site where Mass residents could go to pledge that they are going to vote for Brown and indicate how many other voters they would get to vote too. After you pledge you are given a page to share with your friends and explain why they should vote for Brown. While this is a fantastic idea and got over 32,000 pledges, it didn't go far enough.

Future campaigns should take the voter bomb idea a step further by setting it up like a rewards program. After signing up and pledging their own vote, users should be able to share with their friends. The message should encourage their friends to join their "network" and pledge a vote. If they do the original user receives credit for that new voter and anyone the new voter refers. You a literally tracking the viral distribution of the voter bomb. You could have an overall leader board showing who's network has pledged the most votes or depending on how long you run the site for, a weekly leader board. Everyone who signs up is registered for the GOTV e-mails reminding them they pledged on election day.

What you've done is given potential voters another reason to spread the word by playing off of their competitiveness. Competitiveness motivates people online...just look at the Foursquare type applications success.

Could even take the idea a a step further with an iPhone app that you can get people you see in person to pledge by bumping iPhones.

Obviously the Brown campaign did a fantastic job getting out the vote...It will be interesting to see how these ideas evolve,

From the OrlandoSentinel.com:

First came congressmanwithguts.com, a fundraising website started by U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson,D-Orlando. Now comes its Republican counterpart -- www.mycongressmanisnuts.com -- a parody page that mirrors Grayson’s site down to the black background and stark headline font.

The only problem...www.mycongressmanisnuts.com links to the Twitter account mycmisnuts. So I clicked to see what they are twittering...turns out the account wasn't registered. So I registered it.

They may want to hire a better digital media manager...I'm just sayin'.

I'm taking ideas on what to post...that is until they pick a different name to link to.

Post your ideas in the comments.