Online creatures and their mean ecosystems

Adriana — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:09:35 +0000

As I read the article – Gmail users tweet twice as much – I remember that a couple of months ago someone said during a nice girlie lunch: If a guy gives me a Hotmail email address I’ll probably lose interest, – which was followed by supportive nods of agreement. I learned that Gmail is to be expected. Yahoo might be tolerated.
Wow, talk about strict standards. I agree that Hotmail as a brand doesn’t add points to anyone’s cool factor, but then I wouldn’t go as far as shipping them to social Siberia.

But wait, I forgot to mention that my friends and I are a generation apart – and it shows. Whilst most of my social ecosystem grew under zero influence of the internet and is therefore agnostic to online social codes, to my friends there is no such clear line. Their online and offline personas are bundled together, and increasingly their cultural codes, references, brand preferences (and prejudices) are generated online.

Fair enough, my girlie lunch friends and I all work in the internet industry and thus are fickle early adopters. But from the research we do I get the impression that this is getting more widespread. What do you think?

For the love of travel

Adriana — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:43:46 +0000

As many of us who like our travels to be a personal and original experience, Maria Martinez discovered that recommendations by word-of-mouth from friends and fellow travellers often hit the spot much better than those from traditional paper travel guides. So she, along with Blat and Manuel Muñoz, decided to create iwannagothere.com, a new site which brings people together to exchange travel tips, experiences and gather information to plan their next trip.

I do a lot of travel research on the web and on iwannagothere.com I find it particularly helpful that you can cross-reference the recommendations and the profile of the people writing them – you can see other places they have been to and liked. This way you can check if they are genuine and find the best match for your interests and tastes.

They also have a growing team of local contributors willing to share their gems and help you to stay away from tourist traps.

I’ll be posting on Sao Paulo soon.

Lady on the Bus » social networks

Online creatures and their mean ecosystems

For the love of travel