[COLLECTIONS to HASHTAGS?]
I've been trying to find an equivalent of G+ Collections. None of the other platforms have anything like it exactly (though I've suggested an equivalent on the Diaspora development forums as a "Digest" feature). It maybe that my answer is not the same functionality, but careful use of hashtags.
For example, if everything I post has a #LauraEss tag, regardless of where it's posted, I should be able to find all my posts by searching for that tag. Likewise if I'm posting to a particular topic, perhaps I can use a "personal prefix" (or suffix to the tag. For example, if my prefix is #LAS (the "A" in the middle of LAS stands for my middle name) then perhaps the topics of Technology, Opensimulator and Random would then be #LASTechnology, #LASOpensimulator and #LASRandom, or maybe #TechnologyLAS, #OpensimulatorLAS and #RandomLAS. I'm not sure whether a prefix or suffix is better or easier to use.
There might be various ways of making this work. I mostly use Firefox and one add-on called Clippings allows me to organise and insert text into any plain-text field in a browser. This means that I could set-up a category of the hashtags I'm most likely to use, and inserting them in three clicks of the mouse. This is where a prefix or suffix might make a difference. If I use a preffix then I need #LAS and a list of topics without # in front (otherwise I'd get #LAS#Technology). But if I use a suffix I'd have a regular list of hashtags (e.g #Technology) plus perhaps two versions of my shorthand tag - #LAS for my own posts, and LAS for a suffix - or I could just type the bloody thing in since it's the same number of key strokes! That would also suggest changing my tag from #LauraEss to #LAS anyway, or maybe using #LauraEss for posts about personal stuff only.
Anyway, the point of this is that so far, every other platform I've looked at uses hashtags - they're universal. Some are a bit different in that they allow underscores and dashes, but a hashtag with alpha or numeric characters and no spaces is universal. And that means that if you move to a platform that also allows you to repost to other platforms, you've already encoded an easy way of finding them later.
I've been thinking in terms of using a browser add-on because I use social media only via desktops, but I'm guessing the same thing could be done on phones by repetitive use and predictive text with enough use. Or maybe you have have a clipboard / template app on your desktop or phone that does the same. The point is consistent tagging for future retrieval.
What do you think, is this a good idea? Can you think of any drawbacks?
http://aecreations.sourceforge.net/clippings/index.php
I've been trying to find an equivalent of G+ Collections. None of the other platforms have anything like it exactly (though I've suggested an equivalent on the Diaspora development forums as a "Digest" feature). It maybe that my answer is not the same functionality, but careful use of hashtags.
For example, if everything I post has a #LauraEss tag, regardless of where it's posted, I should be able to find all my posts by searching for that tag. Likewise if I'm posting to a particular topic, perhaps I can use a "personal prefix" (or suffix to the tag. For example, if my prefix is #LAS (the "A" in the middle of LAS stands for my middle name) then perhaps the topics of Technology, Opensimulator and Random would then be #LASTechnology, #LASOpensimulator and #LASRandom, or maybe #TechnologyLAS, #OpensimulatorLAS and #RandomLAS. I'm not sure whether a prefix or suffix is better or easier to use.
There might be various ways of making this work. I mostly use Firefox and one add-on called Clippings allows me to organise and insert text into any plain-text field in a browser. This means that I could set-up a category of the hashtags I'm most likely to use, and inserting them in three clicks of the mouse. This is where a prefix or suffix might make a difference. If I use a preffix then I need #LAS and a list of topics without # in front (otherwise I'd get #LAS#Technology). But if I use a suffix I'd have a regular list of hashtags (e.g #Technology) plus perhaps two versions of my shorthand tag - #LAS for my own posts, and LAS for a suffix - or I could just type the bloody thing in since it's the same number of key strokes! That would also suggest changing my tag from #LauraEss to #LAS anyway, or maybe using #LauraEss for posts about personal stuff only.
Anyway, the point of this is that so far, every other platform I've looked at uses hashtags - they're universal. Some are a bit different in that they allow underscores and dashes, but a hashtag with alpha or numeric characters and no spaces is universal. And that means that if you move to a platform that also allows you to repost to other platforms, you've already encoded an easy way of finding them later.
I've been thinking in terms of using a browser add-on because I use social media only via desktops, but I'm guessing the same thing could be done on phones by repetitive use and predictive text with enough use. Or maybe you have have a clipboard / template app on your desktop or phone that does the same. The point is consistent tagging for future retrieval.
What do you think, is this a good idea? Can you think of any drawbacks?
http://aecreations.sourceforge.net/clippings/index.php
If hashtags can be combined (all posts with both hashtags A and B)
ReplyDeletethen it would make sense to use the universal tag, and then the tag encoded with your identifier (unless the platform also lets you restrict hashtag search to a particular user, which just about 100% gives you collections) so that you can find it either way.
Brilliant! I've been thinking about many of the same hashtag machinations. Make a virtual hashtag database in your head to create collections...a collections code. LOL. A hashtag can be the same as a key in a database. Make a virtual 'Collections' database with hashtags as search keys in your head to create your own collections.
ReplyDeleteI posted your post on my Minds channel: https://www.minds.com/CultureKat
Most dont have adjustable circles either.
ReplyDeleteSatyr Icon check groups in Friendica
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteKathie Gifford Thanks.
ReplyDeleteCindy Brown unfortunately for some platforms the ability to combine hashtags (preferably using AND(&& or +), OR(||) and NOT(! or -)) is still a feature request (Mastodon for instance), so, a prefixed or suffixed version would still be a better global solution.
ReplyDeleteTo take in consideration for prefixes:
On platforms that support tag-completion, it would make it easier to find all the tags used by a specific user, as typing #LAS would start showing all the tags starting with it. Downside is also that you might run into situations where the prefix is also used by something else. #LASTravel could be about your travel posts, but it could also be travel related posts for McCarran International Airport which uses LAS as airport code, it could also be for lastravel.net (land, air, sea, travel). Your prefix might be unique at first, it's no guarantee it will stay unique
Using a suffix might help discovery of your posts as well if the platform supports partial matching of search tags. It could also reduce keystrokes with tag-completion. Again though, it could lead to situations where the suffix would change the meaning of the tag. #LegoLAS could be about your LEGO posts, but it could also be about the Middle-Earth elf Legolas.
The best solution for this would be if all platforms would support searching for a combination of tags AND username. For instance "#travel from:FiXato@mastodon.social" (preferably with another @ in front of FiXato, but that messes up formatting in GPlus) or maybe even a cross-platform search by name: "#travel from:FiXato"
Bonus points if you can combine it all:
"(#SocialMedia || #SocialNetwork) + #News - #Facebook from:(FiXato@mastodon.social OR @someotheruser@platform.instance.example)"
Would look for posts tagged as socialmedia or socialnetwork, either of them combined with news, but none of them including Facebook tag, from me, or someotheruser at platform.
ffs, stupid auto-mentioning in GPlus is messing up my examples...
ReplyDeleteEdit: edited the previous post, but it does highlight an issue with auto-formatting
Filip H.F. Slagter Sure, my IF is a pretty big one. It would simplify a lot of things but it certainly isn't universal.
ReplyDeleteI was way too spoiled by usenet readers, wasn't I?