WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.460 Hey everybody, it's Dave Winer 00:00:03.460 --> 00:00:05.940 here and I was just reading an 00:00:05.940 --> 00:00:07.000 article on GigaOm by Matthew 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:09.840 Ingram and he said there's a 00:00:09.840 --> 00:00:12.950 little bit of confusion about 00:00:12.950 --> 00:00:15.760 what this @Anywhere thing is 00:00:15.760 --> 00:00:18.070 that Twitter announced 00:00:18.070 --> 00:00:21.410 yesterday. I'm not sure that In 00:00:21.410 --> 00:00:24.200 gram is really confused. It was 00:00:24.880 --> 00:00:27.720 a pretty botched announcement. 00:00:27.720 --> 00:00:29.930 But I can explain what it is 00:00:29.930 --> 00:00:31.880 and maybe even provide a little 00:00:31.880 --> 00:00:33.670 context on it. It's in the 00:00:33.670 --> 00:00:35.590 answer to something that 00:00:35.590 --> 00:00:38.400 Facebook has been doing and it 00:00:38.400 --> 00:00:38.880 's also 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:42.500 another one of these sort of 00:00:42.500 --> 00:00:46.270 salvos in what you might call 00:00:46.270 --> 00:00:49.240 the identity wars. It's 00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:49.240 basically 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:53.920 you've got a lot of different 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:56.400 competing identity systems on 00:00:56.400 --> 00:00:58.840 the net these days. Always have 00:00:58.840 --> 00:01:01.260 had a bunch of them. Gmail is 00:01:01.260 --> 00:01:04.080 an identity system. Or Google's 00:01:04.080 --> 00:01:05.840 login is an identity system. 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:08.400 They played a bit of identity 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:11.050 system warfare with the whole 00:01:11.050 --> 00:01:12.870 Google Buzz thing and 00:01:12.870 --> 00:01:13.880 connecting 00:01:13.880 --> 00:01:15.800 it up with Gmail saying well we 00:01:15.800 --> 00:01:17.870 've got a lot of users here. Why 00:01:17.870 --> 00:01:19.240 don't we turn them all 00:01:19.240 --> 00:01:21.430 into users of a new social 00:01:21.430 --> 00:01:24.440 network, community discussion 00:01:24.440 --> 00:01:26.240 thing. It didn't go over very 00:01:26.240 --> 00:01:26.240 well. 00:01:26.240 --> 00:01:29.510 So think of that, all of these 00:01:29.510 --> 00:01:32.300 things as sort of repurposing 00:01:32.300 --> 00:01:35.320 identity, trying to get people 00:01:35.320 --> 00:01:37.780 to think of their identity with 00:01:37.780 --> 00:01:40.150 one company as being more than 00:01:40.150 --> 00:01:42.320 just an identity with that 00:01:42.320 --> 00:01:49.320 company. So on Facebook it has 00:01:49.320 --> 00:01:49.320 Facebook, I think it's called 00:01:49.320 --> 00:01:49.320 Facebook Connect where 00:01:49.320 --> 00:01:51.930 you can use your Facebook login 00:01:51.930 --> 00:01:54.400 to blog and stuff like that so 00:01:54.400 --> 00:01:56.320 you can comment there without 00:01:56.320 --> 00:01:58.770 having to create another 00:01:58.770 --> 00:02:02.600 username and password. Kind of 00:02:02.600 --> 00:02:05.420 pointless actually because well 00:02:05.420 --> 00:02:06.000 maybe 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:07.600 not pointless because all the 00:02:07.600 --> 00:02:09.080 comments that you leave are 00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:10.530 then part of the comments 00:02:10.530 --> 00:02:10.920 stream 00:02:10.920 --> 00:02:13.350 that your updates, your status 00:02:13.350 --> 00:02:15.780 stream, or whatever you call it 00:02:15.780 --> 00:02:17.920 over Facebook. So there's a 00:02:17.920 --> 00:02:17.920 little 00:02:17.920 --> 00:02:20.210 bit of integration there that 00:02:20.210 --> 00:02:22.010 maybe people like. I've got a 00:02:22.010 --> 00:02:23.920 big Facebook user so to me 00:02:23.920 --> 00:02:26.200 it doesn't mean a whole lot. So 00:02:26.200 --> 00:02:28.410 what Twitter noticed presumably 00:02:28.410 --> 00:02:30.000 is that they've got a lot 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:32.700 of reporters that use Twitter 00:02:32.700 --> 00:02:35.500 and it's true, they do. And so 00:02:35.500 --> 00:02:37.000 if you notice that when you 00:02:37.640 --> 00:02:39.280 go to read an article on The 00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:40.930 New York Times or The Huff 00:02:40.930 --> 00:02:42.550 ington Post or any number of 00:02:42.550 --> 00:02:43.280 different 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:46.300 places that they provide a way 00:02:46.300 --> 00:02:49.040 to contact the author of the 00:02:49.040 --> 00:02:50.280 article. So what they're 00:02:50.280 --> 00:02:52.420 saying here is well, and they 00:02:52.420 --> 00:02:54.220 want to give you the email 00:02:54.220 --> 00:02:56.400 address would be sort of like 00:02:56.400 --> 00:02:59.380 the default way to contact the 00:02:59.380 --> 00:03:01.330 author. And they're saying 00:03:01.330 --> 00:03:02.620 basically well your Twitter 00:03:02.620 --> 00:03:05.070 ID is pretty important too and 00:03:05.070 --> 00:03:07.180 so why don't we just make it 00:03:07.180 --> 00:03:09.620 easy for these publications 00:03:09.620 --> 00:03:12.810 to link from the author of the 00:03:12.810 --> 00:03:15.860 article to their Twitter 00:03:15.860 --> 00:03:17.640 identity. And so that when you 00:03:17.640 --> 00:03:19.980 hover over their name you get 00:03:19.980 --> 00:03:22.590 the same pop-up that you get 00:03:22.590 --> 00:03:24.920 over on Twitter which honestly 00:03:24.920 --> 00:03:26.110 I didn't think was all that 00:03:26.110 --> 00:03:27.670 innovative. Frankly I think it 00:03:27.670 --> 00:03:29.650 took features out of Twitter. 00:03:29.650 --> 00:03:29.680 In 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:31.420 fact in a piece I wrote 00:03:31.420 --> 00:03:33.840 yesterday I even think in some 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:36.100 ways that it broke Twitter 00:03:36.100 --> 00:03:36.680 because 00:03:36.680 --> 00:03:39.410 clicking on a user's name in 00:03:39.410 --> 00:03:42.210 Twitter actually got you some 00:03:42.210 --> 00:03:44.790 important stuff. You might 00:03:44.790 --> 00:03:45.180 argue 00:03:45.180 --> 00:03:47.010 well the number of followers 00:03:47.010 --> 00:03:49.220 that is so important and the 00:03:49.220 --> 00:03:50.540 number of people that they 00:03:50.540 --> 00:03:51.180 follow. 00:03:51.180 --> 00:03:52.480 Okay, well it is kind of 00:03:52.480 --> 00:03:54.270 important actually. But I can 00:03:54.270 --> 00:03:56.050 understand them wanting to de- 00:03:56.050 --> 00:03:56.700 emphasize 00:03:56.700 --> 00:04:00.570 that and certainly the pop-up 00:04:00.570 --> 00:04:03.270 does do that. But it also makes 00:04:03.270 --> 00:04:03.700 it very difficult I've found 00:04:03.700 --> 00:04:07.830 at least using Firefox to find 00:04:07.830 --> 00:04:10.960 the tweet stream from that 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:12.400 author. And with 140 character 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:12.400 messages 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:16.170 people tend to connect their 00:04:16.170 --> 00:04:20.390 messages. The last message is 00:04:20.390 --> 00:04:23.800 an extension or an end. It 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:27.060 assumes that you've read the 00:04:27.060 --> 00:04:28.500 previous one and there is so 00:04:28.500 --> 00:04:29.780 much confusion when you do 00:04:29.780 --> 00:04:31.800 that. It's bad enough that 00:04:31.800 --> 00:04:33.810 people don't click on it. Now 00:04:33.810 --> 00:04:36.380 they'll never get there. So you 00:04:36.380 --> 00:04:38.190 end up having to repeat 00:04:38.190 --> 00:04:41.240 yourself, that's one choice, or 00:04:41.240 --> 00:04:43.220 just never stringing things 00:04:43.220 --> 00:04:45.880 together. So forget about ever 00:04:45.880 --> 00:04:48.160 explaining anything that might 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:50.100 require a little bit more than 00:04:50.100 --> 00:04:53.480 140 characters. That becomes 00:04:53.480 --> 00:04:55.840 more and more unlikely over 00:04:55.840 --> 00:04:57.100 time. So I guess the question 00:04:57.100 --> 00:04:59.730 is, is the Twitter identity 00:04:59.730 --> 00:05:02.050 really the important 00:05:02.050 --> 00:05:04.290 information about an author? I 00:05:04.290 --> 00:05:05.400 don't think 00:05:05.400 --> 00:05:08.000 it really is. And I think that 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:10.530 the owners of these sites will 00:05:10.530 --> 00:05:12.400 not simply link to the 00:05:12.400 --> 00:05:15.230 Twitter identity. They'll 00:05:15.230 --> 00:05:17.130 probably include that amongst 00:05:17.130 --> 00:05:19.210 the many different ways of 00:05:19.210 --> 00:05:20.080 accessing 00:05:20.100 --> 00:05:22.390 an author of an article. So is 00:05:22.390 --> 00:05:24.880 it a big deal? Sure. If you're 00:05:24.880 --> 00:05:27.100 following the vendor sports 00:05:27.100 --> 00:05:29.770 and you're interested in who's 00:05:29.770 --> 00:05:32.430 kicking who's ass over there in 00:05:32.430 --> 00:05:35.000 Silicon Valley, yeah. In 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:38.030 that context it's important. It 00:05:38.030 --> 00:05:40.110 's also more an example of 00:05:40.110 --> 00:05:42.470 really how convoluted this 00:05:42.470 --> 00:05:43.100 whole 00:05:43.100 --> 00:05:45.110 mess is. You've got these 00:05:45.110 --> 00:05:47.730 companies, technology companies 00:05:47.730 --> 00:05:50.060 out there getting more and more 00:05:50.060 --> 00:05:52.500 inside, insidious, you know, 00:05:52.500 --> 00:05:54.560 means like getting inside of 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:57.060 something, getting into places 00:05:57.060 --> 00:05:57.060 where 00:05:57.060 --> 00:05:59.210 they really don't belong. I 00:05:59.210 --> 00:06:01.470 mean, why does Twitter belong 00:06:01.470 --> 00:06:03.080 on Huffington Post? I don't 00:06:03.080 --> 00:06:05.090 get it. I mean, do they really 00:06:05.090 --> 00:06:06.960 think that goes anywhere? I 00:06:06.960 --> 00:06:08.720 mean, you know, in their 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:10.130 boardrooms over Twitter, in the 00:06:10.130 --> 00:06:11.440 boardroom of Twitter when they 00:06:11.440 --> 00:06:12.600 have the discussion about 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:15.090 this, they're thinking long- 00:06:15.090 --> 00:06:17.410 term multi-step strategy they 00:06:17.410 --> 00:06:19.600 want to sort of extend their 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:23.340 reach out further and further 00:06:23.340 --> 00:06:25.880 and further. But, you know, 00:06:25.880 --> 00:06:26.600 there's another school of 00:06:26.600 --> 00:06:26.600 thought 00:06:26.600 --> 00:06:29.050 that says, we'll look back on 00:06:29.050 --> 00:06:31.470 this as being ridiculous five 00:06:31.470 --> 00:06:33.620 years from now. It will be 00:06:33.620 --> 00:06:36.090 long forgotten, only mentioned 00:06:36.090 --> 00:06:38.300 in the context of some other me 00:06:38.300 --> 00:06:40.620 galomaniac, you know, some 00:06:40.620 --> 00:06:42.870 technology company. I don't 00:06:42.870 --> 00:06:44.790 think this is one we need to 00:06:44.790 --> 00:06:47.260 worry about, in other words. 00:06:47.260 --> 00:06:48.860 But if you're a worrying sort 00:06:48.860 --> 00:06:50.330 of person and you're in the 00:06:50.330 --> 00:06:52.560 media, this is another reason 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:54.830 to think about maybe you want 00:06:54.830 --> 00:06:56.970 to get your own real-time news 00:06:56.970 --> 00:06:58.800 system out there or work 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:00.940 with some of your competitors 00:07:00.940 --> 00:07:02.940 to get one out there because 00:07:02.940 --> 00:07:05.000 the tech industry is really 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:06.440 so many days you're going to 00:07:06.440 --> 00:07:08.210 figure this out. There are ways 00:07:08.210 --> 00:07:09.880 to do this, but they're trying 00:07:09.880 --> 00:07:12.680 to do that. We'll work. And 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:14.980 this, I don't think is one of 00:07:14.980 --> 00:07:16.880 them. But anyway, those are 00:07:17.460 --> 00:07:19.360 my thoughts about at anywhere. 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:21.550 Hope you're all having what is 00:07:21.550 --> 00:07:24.060 today. Great Tuesday. It's 00:07:24.060 --> 00:07:25.610 beautiful here in New York 00:07:25.610 --> 00:07:27.490 today. The rainy weather seems 00:07:27.490 --> 00:07:28.960 to finally be over. It's a 00:07:28.960 --> 00:07:30.920 sunny day. It's a little bit br 00:07:30.920 --> 00:07:32.970 isk outside. It's probably the 00:07:32.970 --> 00:07:35.160 high 40s, maybe low 50s 00:07:35.160 --> 00:07:36.890 right now. It's going to head 00:07:36.890 --> 00:07:38.980 up toward 60 later today. So, I 00:07:38.980 --> 00:07:40.400 think you can fairly say 00:07:40.400 --> 00:07:42.480 spring is here on the east 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:44.520 coast. And hope you're having a 00:07:44.520 --> 00:07:46.260 great Tuesday. See you all 00:07:46.260 --> 00:07:46.860 Thank you.