It just occurred to me that if I look at the on-line services I used most, there's not really a clear winner when it comes to who gets the bulk of my online attention. Here's the current list along with the current owner of each (since 3 of the 4 were acquisitions):
- del.icio.us (Yahoo!)
- Gmail (Google)
- Bloglines (IAC)
- Flickr (Yahoo!)
Even more interesting is the fact that they're all basically separate brands from their parent companies. Sure, we all know that the "G" in Gmail is for "Google" but it's not called Google Mail, is it?
Of course, there are other on-line services that see little of my attention but provide value in other ways too:
- Google AdSense
- MyBlogLog (Yahoo!)
And there are smaller or government owned sites I visit several times a day too:
- Weather Underground
- Dr. Jack's BLIPMAP (weather for soaring geeks)
- National Weather Service Area Forecast Discussion (Monterey office and Reno in the summertime)
- AOPA Member's Page
- Dan Johnson's Light Sport Aircraft News
And then there are those I've mostly stopped reading as they've decayed or gone mainstream and become mostly uninteresting:
I don't know if this is interesting to anyone else, but I was pretty happy about figuring this out a little while ago.
Does anyone seem to garner the majority of your on-line attention?
Posted by jzawodn at April 16, 2007 10:41 AM
Google Reader 50%
straight to
my del.icio.us account 50% (with no browsing)
in other words, I don't leave these two sites
I'm impressed that you're able to spend half your attention on del.icio.us but never follow any of the links offsite. I wish I had that kind of restraint!
I use Gmail a lot (it's actually called GoogleMail in the UK, and Germany I think), I occasionally use wikipedia, but I think the site I use most is bbc.co.uk, it has pages for pretty much everything.
I love the weather forecast discussion... the one place forecasters admit when the computer models are each coughing up a different result. It's nice to know not just the single most likely possibility that's in the forecast, but the most likely alternatives.
Definitely 60-70% Google Reader, 10% Digg, and the rest mail, banking, searches, etc.
My lists are pretty similar, but probably a little more Google-centric: GMail, Google Reader, Google Calendar, Blogger, del.icio.us, flickr, Weather Underground. I wind up using Wikipedia and Krugle quite a bit as a result of doing searches on those sites. Finally, I use ESPN and Yahoo for sports content.
Gmail is called Google Mail in the UK and many European countries because there were trademark issues with Gmail. ;)
For me, I've found that Twitter gets less and less of my time now (too much noise). I spend far too much time at Techmeme still, at least several times per day. My gmail stays open all the time in a tab as does Google Reader.
I'm basically using the same services you are with Google Reader being the major difference. For my content consumption, Google Reader and Flickr far out weigh any other sites.
For your weather, have you tried making a Pipe to get it all in your rss reader? I see some feeds here:
http://www.weather.gov/data/current_obs/seek.php?state=ca&Find=Find
-ed
I've just started to subscribe to Techmeme's feeds about a month ago. Just like you, I'm starting to think if it's worth it. I used to be a loyal reader of Tailrank, but recently they seem to have a problem categorising their topics.
Reddit is where our differences lie. I used to stalk Digg like mad... but now I haven't been there for two weeks straight. I blame the interface and the tremendous increase in the number of diggers.
Good stories never see the light of day, and navigating the revamped Digg web site is getting way to slow for my liking. This is what attracted me to reddit; fast, simple and easy on the eyes.
I knew my earlier comment wouldn't sound right...
I stay in Reader, and only leave to go to sites I'm subscribed to when the occasion warrants it. Of course, if interested, I checkout links from those stories in that base group. Sometimes, they even get added to my base group of subscriptions (currently numbering 168).
So, 50/50 isn't really correct, but it seemed applicable in my case. I knew I should've wrote it out in the first place...
I use GMail, and Google reader, which gives me quite a large % of google hits. I'm not such a big flickr user, but I do use del.icio.us a LOT. Mainly to save things for further refference, I save a lot more than I look up.
In order of time spent on them, best as I can estimate:
1. Flickr
2. Google Reader
3. Wikipedia
4. Netvibes
5. Google (search engine)
6. Gmail/Calendar/Docs&Spreadsheets
I disagree about Reddit and Techmeme - they (along with Google News) still serve the valuable purpose of keeping my RSS reader from being flooded.
Del.icio.us I use but hardly ever go there - I save interesting stuff but rarely need to look it up again.
Oh, come on! We all know that you all spend a reportable fraction of your time at www.handdrawngames.com/DesktopTD/ .
Personally, in no particular order, I use:
Flickr
mobile.wunderground.com (for a streamlined interface)
cnn.com (making sure my FireFox has Adblock and Flashblock on)
Google (as a search engine vector to the real content of interest)
my.yahoo.com (only as a vector to finance.yahoo.com - ie. no real content)
spaceweather.com (for work specific stuff)
Oh, good point. I should have qualified the list by saying "aside from Desktop Tower Defense..." :-)
I couldn't resist, now it's even easier with
Google Reader Preview:
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/6412
back to my cave...
AOL: AIM, AIM Phoneline, Engadget, Mail (work), X-drive
Google: Gmail (personal), Gmail IM, Maps, Reader, mobile maps and mail
Yahoo!: flickr, Go
unaffiliated: Blue Dot, LinkedIn, MediaWiki and WordPress
