Strands Offers Lifestreaming and Moral Dilemmas « Social Media Strategy – JenniferVanGrove.com

In with the new…

I read Louis Gray’s post on Strands this morning and was intrigued enough to create an account and start testing out what I find to be the completely unique features that differentiate it from FriendFeed, my current favorite lifestreaming social addiction. Gray does an amazing job at describing the site and the feature set, which includes pretty robost filtering options and the ability to easily add new friends to groups – 2 features that FriendFeed ostentatiously lacks, with it’s most active members usually resorting to complaining on FriendFeed or installing the Greasemonkey hacks that bring a few bugs with the quick fixes.

Already I’m finding myself really liking the user interface, the desktop tracker, the filters, the groups, the ability to save items, and some of the more obscure services that you can plug into your feed. Of course the community is nonexistent, and that’s really what makes these aggregation sites shine, but the community could come if they haven’t already burned themselves out with FriendFeed, SocialThing, or Profilactic.

Where’s the moral dilemma?

Strands provides me with a feature that so many, including myself, have asked for from FriendFeed – the ability to dislike items. Not only does Strands let me dislike something, but it also easily lets me filter just the items that my friends have disliked. The problem is that now that I have what I want, the implications of actually disliking something are making me too uncomfortable to actually use the feature. Dislike is a word with pretty significant and negative implications – it certainly means something entirely different than “Hide,” especially since it’s a very public activity.

Strands - Dashboard : Index

Of course my own discomfort drove me to actually “dislike” something (via the thumbs down button which turns bright red when clicked) and poke around to see if anyone else is “disliking.”

Strands - Profile : Show

I looked to an expert, and my suspicions were correct; Louis Gray has not disliked anything yet.

Are we ready to dislike each other?

This one feature begs so many questions and creates moral conundrums. If I actually take the action to dislike something, what will the consequences be? Will the poster of the disliked item have a reaction to my dislike? Will he/she choose to dislike something I posted as a way to even the scorecard? What are the implications of doing versus saying (we all can voice our dislike in comments, but the thumbs down icon adds a new variable to the situation)? Of course I’m probably over sensitive, and over thinking the entire feature, but I do think it’s a subject matter worth discussing and tracking over time. How many other social networks will offer us options to assign negative attributes to content?

As always, your thoughts on this post and/or the subject matter are encouraged.

If you’d like to join Strands, currently in beta, you can try using the invite code “louisgray2.” I can’t confirm that it still works, but it worked for me.

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  • When you thumbs up or thumbs down, you're simply helping us learn more about your tastes. It's saying that the content wasn't really relevant to you. It's definitely not a slight on someone!!!
  • Of course most people will use the dislike feature for that purpose, but I do think, in the case of social networks, that perception and interpretation are everything. So although the intentions could be harmless, the perception of the dislike itself could be something different entirely.
  • Check out our explanation here: http://community.strands.com/2008/08/21/yourstr... :)
  • Think you're totally overthinking. Anyone putting themselves out there such that their content is accessible to people is opening said content up for judgment in the form of public opinion. I read a headline in a newspaper, a paragraph of a story, watch a movie preview or listen to the first 30 seconds of a song on the radio - then I either like it and keep going, or dislike it and go elsewhere. And I'm free to share that opinion with others. In some cases I "like" or "dislike" and in others the meaning is different - maybe I'm too busy to read it; maybe I'm not in the mood to listen. The underlying reason doesn't change the action, and there's no difference here.

    If you don't want the thumbs up or thumbs down, keep your content to yourself.
  • Maybe I'm just full of positivity. :-)
  • 2 Comments:

    1) Louis Gray is always full of positivity.

    2) I love the new features of Strands but I have a hard time with the UI. I feel like it is a little "over-done"
  • Kyle give us a few weeks, we'll be rolling out some UI enhancements. Will definitely want to know what you think!
  • It's early in the process, but I'm sure I'll find things to dislike...
  • Great post Jennifer!
  • Great post. Dislike adds a whole new dimension to aggregation that I'm not sure is warranted. People get bitter if you say or do something negatively towards them.
  • Good discussion to have. I wonder if getting the most Dislikes may become some sort of badge of honour among a subset of trolls out there. Depends on query ability and how usage/culture of the community evolves.
  • Thumbs up/Thumbs down merely affects what types of content are recommended to you...so if you are using it in another way, you're not going to get the best out of Strands!
  • Ooops, I just noticed that Drew beat me to it....
  • That is a great post. I think you'll see positive results the more you interact :) Check out our first episode of YourStrands for an explanation (at the end) http://community.strands.com/2008/08/21/yourstr...
  • Having thoughts about Dislike for weeks now... i think that by not liking someone's content for very long or forever is pretty much the same as disliking. The Like option seems to reflect someone's taste just fine, i love the positive approach, it's actually refreshing. More filtering options would be great here but Hide + Unsbscribe are quite efficient too :-) I don't consider this issue as over thinking, quite the opposite. Signed up to try out Strands for the features, filtering and dev in general. So far i feel great with this FF white page simplicity.
  • Majento, I'm pretty much in the same place as well. I don't like writing negative reviews, so when I cover something, you can know I like it or see serious potential. Why waste people's time complaining about something I don't want them to use? So you can assume if I don't mention it, that's a thumbs down or I don't know about it. :-)
  • I would like to try Strands sometime myself. Interesting perspective on dislike. I will try it out and offer my opinion.
  • Phillip, you have been invited to your Gmail.
  • Our intention is that "dislike" is assigned to the *content* and not the context (or poster). So, if I post a song and say "I love this song" and you don't like it, feel free to "thumbs down". By doing so you aren't telling me that you don't like *me*, just that you don't like the song. Also, this will help inform our recommendation engine that you aren't a fan of that content and allow us to provide you better recommendations moving foward.

    You bring up great points (and it will be interesting to see how other's perceive this). Thanks for the write-up and we look forward to more great feedback. Thanks!
  • Because of the rec aspect of the site the thumbs up/down is necessary, but I think it needs to be tweaked. The thumbs concept can be perceived in many ways and it isn't quite clear how the user is to approach it. Even just using words instead of an icon, as in "show me more stuff like this" & "I don't want to see things like this. Strands needs to help us use their rev technology to Its full potential. ALSO, maybe just eliminate the public display so you can like or dislike anonymously.
  • I completely agree with "it isn't quite clear how the user is to approach it." That's the whole issue I was having. A thumbs down icon is just that - iconic. I know what it means and what to do with it, but adding the word "dislike" to describe the action does add a new layer of context that some users, like myself, will consider before disliking any content. Plus, as you point it, it's all public!
  • Majento, Louis, for some reason hitting the "dislike" button just felt really wrong to me, and that's where the idea for the post came from - a new social decision that I had never confronted before. I do think it will be interesting to see if more sites start offering ways to filter content with attributes that have negative connotations.
  • Jenn, that's pretty much the same as Digg's "Bury", there are already lots of Bookmarking/News sites that are based on -/+. I wouldn't say dislike/bury equals doing wrong, or being negative in any way. It's just a different atmosphere, far more competitive, and sometimes creates room for intrigue & vengeance as you mentioned.
  • The Ballhype and Showhype sites have long had a thumbs up and thumbs down features as well. And I believe NoiseRiver (a FriendFeed UI app) has a "Hate" feature vs. "Like". A bit strong for me.
  • @maringuy the "if you don’t' want it, don't use it" mantra has rarely had any real impact on changing behavior, perceptions, or opinions. Especially with those of non-social media nerd types. We've all been to a party with an odd group of people that made us feel uncomfortable and out of place. Maybe we should have expected such discomfort, but maybe we just honestly didn't know any better if we weren't part of that party's in-crowd. It's far too easy to chalk any potential problem up to the "you should know better" mindset, but how does anything really change beyond the core group if that's the approach?

    Jenn, the issue you're raising is an interesting one. In the early(ish) days of Twitter, I remember a friend of mine getting genuinely irritated (I won't go so far as to say "mad") that I hadn't followed him. After all, he was following me. I'm sure we've all had similar stories at some point.

    As more and more activites dissolve their online vs. offline differentiation, and as more and more tools allow me to voice my opinions, how does this affect our friendships? As it becomes easier for me to share my disdain for the Republican party via Twitter, for instance, do I risk losing clients or friends? When a friend asks me to digg something and it's clear that I don't, am I sending a "message" to them about our friendship status?

    Let's not forget that while the social tools are new, social norms have existed and have been evolving for eons. People can have their feelings hurt in a wide range of situations... so who's to say that getting content "disliked" isn't one of those situations?

    Of course, there are two discussions here really: What's happening now with the older crowd, and what's happening with youth who are being raised on these techs and social norms. At 34 (next week!), I might get upset about something that doesn't even register for someone 16 who has been raised on these technologies and social "concerns".

    Any way you slice it, it's an interesting discussion!
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