There’s a habit people have of referring to the offline world as “real”… as in IRL, or “in real life”. The implication is that the online world isn’t real, and that the portion of our lives spent there somehow doesn’t count.

Alex challenged this idea in a blockbuster blog post on Harvard Business Review, 10 Reasons to Stop Apologizing for Your Online Life, where she argued that this artificial division causes real harm – offline and online:

It’s not the Internet itself that leads to pathologies like cyber-bullying, spam and identity theft. Rather it’s our decision – individually and collectively – to separate the Internet from the context, norms and experience that guide human behavior. It’s our decision to engage in online interaction as if it were fundamentally different from offline conversation. It’s our decision to label the Internet as something – anything! – other than real life.

Alex was featured yesterday morning on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer show, talking about this in more depth with some examples – including how she took her own advice while responding to a hostile comment on the original blog post.

The conversation continues to unfold on Twitter, on Alex’s blog, on her HBR blog and on a growing number of other blogs. Why not join in?

By now, you’ve probably heard about the prominent but troubled launch of an iPad app called Flipboard.

Beautifully and simply designed, Flipboard presents the photos, news, blog posts and updates your social media contacts on Twitter and Facebook are sharing – along with a curated selection of updates from a number of sources such as GOOD and GigaOM.

Immediately bathed in glowing reviews from the likes of Robert Scoble and many others, Flipboard was the must-have app last week. And as soon as it was available, Flipboard’s servers were flooded with requests to connect users’ Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Flipboard couldn’t keep up. Instead of the promised glossy-magazine-like experience, users received error messages. A chastened Flipboard CEO published an apology. An updated version of the app started taking names on a waiting list for Twitter and Facebook integration. And a number of people started muttering under their breath (or in their blogs) about Flipboard stumbling out of the gate.

Now, underestimating the demand on your servers and failing to have a contingency plan are both serious mistakes.

But I’m prepared to cut Flipboard a few kilometres of slack. Because I’m excited – really, genuinely excited – about the potential of what they’re up to.

And it’s not for the reasons you’ve probably heard, like the way Flipboard brings print-design beauty and elegance to online media (although may I just say “wow”)… or the way it cuts through the noise of activity streams to bring you nothing but signal (I’m not sure how much I buy that second one, come to think of it).

What I really like about Flipboard is how it may push back gently across the boundaries of our comfort zones.

Remember what Nicholas Negroponte famously referred to as the “Daily Me”? It was the idea that consumers can now filter our news to just those things that truly interest us. The fear, of course, is that we end up restricting our information diet to those stories, facts and ideas that reinforce our beliefs, and filter out anything that could challenge our worldviews. (Well, I call it a fear. Fox News calls it a business model.)

Filtering doesn’t have to happen because of an active aversion to certain topics, by the way. Often we just never think to look at the latest news on food security and urban chickens, or about how sleep patterns can affect mood, or what the military junta in Burma is up to. Either way, the filters that digital technology help us to erect can also keep us from the learning and growth that come from being challenged; they act as a barrier to serendipity.

One of the ways information can bypass those filters is when it’s carried through our social networks. I might try to avoid hearing word of, say, human rights abuses in the manufacture of my favourite gadgets, in which case I’d probably avoid subscribing to news sources that are likely to carry that kind of thing.

But that news might still slip through because someone I’ve followed on Twitter because we’ve swapped cartooning tips does follow those news sources, and shares an article.

Chances are good, though, that I’m still not going to see it, because of the sheer volume of links being tweeted, liked and otherwise shared on any given day. Especially if all I see is a short headline and a shortened URL.

But show me an intriguing excerpt and an accompanying photo, and I might be drawn in despite my initial reservations (the fact that the article comes with my fellow cartoonist’s recommendation doesn’t hurt, either). And depending on Flipboard’s algorithm for sharing links, that could be exactly what happens: the occasional something that broadens – or at least nudges – my horizons.

I won’t know, of course, until my name rises to the top of my waiting list. But I’m willing to wait patiently.

Another day, another bunch of people seeing their content vanish without warning.

According to the BBC, when blogging site Blogetery suddenly disappeared – taken offline after the FBI warned their hosting service about alleged Al Qaeda-linked material posted there – it took with it the posts written by more than 70,000 bloggers.

Make that 70,000 really unhappy bloggers.

They join the users of iPBFree.com, whose users found the forums the site used to host were gone as of last week.

In both cases, explanations were sparse, and didn’t (perhaps couldn’t) offer too much useful or comforting information – and there’s no idea when more information will be forthcoming.

This hardly the first time an online service has closed its doors with little or no warning. Business models come and go; venture capitalists run out of patience; entrepreneurs run out of steam and interest… and sites go offline.

How can you keep your content safe – or relatively safe – in case the service you’re relying on takes a dive? Here are several options. You may not want to do all of them… but the more you can do, the greater your peace of mind.

• Before you commit to a platform, look for export/backup features. How easy will it be to make regular backups? How quickly can you do it if a shutdown is imminent?
• Look for services that can export your data to an open format, such as XML or a comma-separated text file, so you have a choice of other platforms to turn to if the worst happens.
• Look for thoroughness. Metadata like tags, dates and descriptions may be even more important then the original files. And comments and friend lists can be just as key.
• Look for stability. It’s great to try out startups and edgy innovators. But if you’re going to commit a lot of time and energy to your content and community, you’ll want to see a solid track record… and enough backing to know these folks will still be around in a few years. (Not that big, established players are above shutting a service down; but when they do, they know their brand equity is on the line, and are motivated to minimize the disruption to users.)
• Back up regularly. You’re doing regular backups of your hard drives, right? (Right?) You’ll want to start doing the same thing to your online content as well, and save those backups somewhere safe.
• Subscribe to the site’s blog or “What’s new” feed, and check it regularly. This is part of your early-warning system. And when things go bad, there may be very little notice that you need to get your data off the site.
• Make a separate, full backup at the first sign of trouble. Online hiccups? Big layoffs? Takeover or sale rumours? Get a copy of your data somewhere safe.
• Build your new home before you need it. At the very least, you should have an idea of where you’ll take your content if the service you rely on goes dark. But if you want people to be able to find you, create a bare-bones presence on that site now – if only to reserve your name (so your flaky-dead-service.com/yourname audience can find you at shiny-new-service.com/yourname). Test it so you’ll know how to restore your content quickly and reliably.
• Calculate the tradeoff. This isn’t a trivial amount of work; you need to weigh the effort against the cost of losing all of that content. If we’re just talking about a few fun, ephemeral posts, you may not be worried at all. But if you’re sinking a lot of effort into an online presence – and asking your friends, supporters, customers or users to do the same – then the time you put into backing up may be the best investment you’ve ever made.

Originally posted on BlogWorld Expo.

Flaky wireless connections are a fact of life for bloggers on the move. If it isn’t tortoise-slow downloads, it’s a password that never seems to “take”. If it isn’t a connection that keeps dropping, it’s a router that refuses to give you an IP address.

Okay. So the connection’s too unreliable to let you post to your blog, and your mobile contract doesn’t include tethering. Don’t let that keep you from blogging. Here are five ways you can work on your blog, even when you aren’t connected to hive mind:

1. Outline your next blog post. Maybe you can’t do the research you want, find the URLs of the posts you’d like to link to, or hunt down the perfect Creative Commons image to illustrate your post. But you can sketch out the bare bones, and add the muscles, organs and stylish accessories once you’re back online.
2. Clean up your hard drive. If you’re like me, you have little snippets of blog ideas and drafts all over the place. Bring them together in one folder, or one text file (your workflow will vary), and you’ll be miles ahead of the game next time you’re stumped for a post idea.
3. Raid your subconscious. Break out the mind-mapping software, open up your Moleskine or just scribble on a napkin – but brainstorm ideas for your next five, ten or fifty posts. Don’t try to assess them at first; just get as many down as possible. Then, once the storm peters out, pick out the best and add them to your idea file.
4. Make a to-do list. Chances are there are things you’ve been meaning to do for your blog: add a Delicious feed, check out an e-commerce plug-in, create a promo card to hand out at conferences. Set priorities according to the effort each task will require and the impact you expect each one to have, and you’ve just built yourself a development queue.
5. Doodle. Draw something funny, or funny-ish. Then snap your doodle with your camera phone or digital camera. Once you’re online, upload it as a blog post. Hey – it works for me.

It’s official – I’m the cartoon blogger for BlogWorld Expo, coming this October in Las Vegas. And as part of my duties, I’m running a weekly cartoon on their blog. This post originally accompanied one of them.

It can be hard to admit, but blogs have a life cycle – and, in some cases, a best-before date that may be well in the past. Your passion for the subject matter wanes; other interests beckon; your readers and commenters, maybe sensing your faltering commitment, move on to other venues.

And that’s okay. There’s no shame in saying that a blog has run its course. But as Allison Boyer wrote in a post on BlogWorld a while ago, even the most moribund of blogs may not be beyond resuscitation (and she offered a few suggestions for virtual CPR).

If you’re starting to notice the unpleasant smell of decay whenever you visit your blog, here are a few more ideas for bringing it back to life:

• Redefine the subject. If your interests have changed, then let your readers know you’ll be introducing a new topic, and shifting the emphasis there.
• Redefine the scope. If your blog died because you couldn’t keep up with the expectations you set around frequency, depth or comprehensiveness, then dial that back. Focus your energies more narrowly. Maybe instead of daily wall-to-wall coverage of a subject, you want to post twice a week on one aspect of it – and one of those posts is a collection of links, instead of your usual 20-paragraph essays.
• Call in reinforcements. If you don’t think you can do it alone, but you have one or more colleagues or friends with similar interests and solid blogging skills, see if they’d be interested in joining your blog. The mutual encouragement can go a long way to getting you past a slump.
• Hand it over. Find someone who shares your passion – or the passion you once had – and transfer the blog to them. You’ll know that all your hard work will still be alive and appreciated; they’ll be able to launch with a built-in readership and traffic stream to build on.

Still not feeling it? If you’re sure it’s time to close the doors and turn off the lights, then go ahead. But let your readers know you’re doing it. And give serious consideration to keeping your blog online (with comments switched off if you don’t plan to reply to them, or weed out spam). It’ll serve as a resource for others… and, if your interest should be rekindled or your spare time suddenly reappear, you’ve left the door open to a return from the grave.

Yesterday, we had some fun looking at Fast Company’s Influence Project. (Well, I had some fun. If you did too, well, that must be my influence at work, right?)

Influence is weighing heavily on the social media community’s collective mind right now. I’ve noticed a surge in Twitter and blog chatter around Klout, a tool that aims to measure influence on Twitter.

Klout’s a pretty sophisticated tool, going way beyond a follower count:

Klout uses over 25 variables to measure True Reach, Amplification Probability, and Network Score. The size of the sphere is calculated by measuring True Reach (engaged followers and friends vs. spam bots, dead accounts, etc.). Amplification Probability is the likelihood that messages will generate retweets or spark a conversation. If the user’s engaged followers are highly influential, they’ll have a high Network Score.

We believe that influence is the ability to drive people to action — “action” might be defined as a reply, a retweet or clicking on a link.

The reports are detailed and interesting… and I’ll admit I’m also charmed by the way Klout elaborates on its assessment, using phrases that wouldn’t be out of place in a job application letter, performance review or LinkedIn recommendation: “@RobCottingham has worked very hard to successfuly build a large, highly engaged network.” “@RobCottingham is effectively using social media to influence their network across a variety of topics.” (Hey, thanks! It almost salves the wound of having dropped nine points in the last week.)

Klout’s newfound, well, influence has landed it a special place in the heart of Twitter web app HootSuite. (By the way, I’ve been using HootSuite heavily for the past few days, and can report it’s amazing.) You can now filter the people you follow so you only see updates from those who surpass a certain Klout threshold.

That’s a great way of seeing what the A-listers you’re following are talking about. But if you’re going to use that feature, may I recommend a healthy dose of caution?

There’s a risk with measurements like these that they become self-fulfilling prophecies, and reinforce attention hierarchies. If enough people use Klout to divide the world between the influential and the non-influential, and listen mainly to the former, then the influential will continue to be influential – because audiences aren’t hearing other voices.

And you’ll miss out on some below-the-radar surprises. Because as cool as Klout is, it doesn’t take into account the fact that your influence on Twitter is going with one segment than with others. It doesn’t account for long-tail phenomena: people who are leaders in their particular communities. And it doesn’t account for the kind of influence that isn’t so easily measured automatically.

Ultimately, Klout gives you one number – derived from many factors, true, but it’s a single number, aiming to measure something that is insanely multidimensional. I don’t want to take anything away from what they’ve built – it’s a great tool, it’s elegant, it’s beautiful, it’s engaging, and I can see myself obsessing over it in the weeks to come – I really want to get more badges - but don’t let it dictate where you direct your attention.

Yesterday, we had some fun looking at Fast Company’s Influence Project. (Well, I had some fun. If you did too, well, that must be my influence at work, right?)

Influence is weighing heavily on the social media community’s collective mind right now. I’ve noticed a surge in Twitter and blog chatter around Klout, a tool that aims to measure influence on Twitter.

Klout’s a pretty sophisticated tool, going way beyond a follower count:

Klout uses over 25 variables to measure True Reach, Amplification Probability, and Network Score. The size of the sphere is calculated by measuring True Reach (engaged followers and friends vs. spam bots, dead accounts, etc.). Amplification Probability is the likelihood that messages will generate retweets or spark a conversation. If the user’s engaged followers are highly influential, they’ll have a high Network Score.

We believe that influence is the ability to drive people to action — “action” might be defined as a reply, a retweet or clicking on a link.

The reports are detailed and interesting… and I’ll admit I’m also charmed by the way Klout elaborates on its assessment, using phrases that wouldn’t be out of place in a job application letter, performance review or LinkedIn recommendation: “@RobCottingham has worked very hard to successfuly build a large, highly engaged network.” “@RobCottingham is effectively using social media to influence their network across a variety of topics.” (Hey, thanks! It almost salves the wound of having dropped nine points in the last week.)

Klout’s newfound, well, influence has landed it a special place in the heart of Twitter web app HootSuite. (By the way, I’ve been using HootSuite heavily for the past few days, and can report it’s amazing.) You can now filter the people you follow so you only see updates from those who surpass a certain Klout threshold.

That’s a great way of seeing what the A-listers you’re following are talking about. But if you’re going to use that feature, may I recommend a healthy dose of caution?

There’s a risk with measurements like these that they become self-fulfilling prophecies, and reinforce attention hierarchies. If enough people use Klout to divide the world between the influential and the non-influential, and listen mainly to the former, then the influential will continue to be influential – because audiences aren’t hearing other voices.

And you’ll miss out on some below-the-radar surprises. Because as cool as Klout is, it doesn’t take into account the fact that your influence on Twitter is going with one segment than with others. It doesn’t account for long-tail phenomena: people who are leaders in their particular communities. And it doesn’t account for the kind of influence that isn’t so easily measured automatically.

Ultimately, Klout gives you one number – derived from many factors, true, but it’s a single number, aiming to measure something that is insanely multidimensional. I don’t want to take anything away from what they’ve built – it’s a great tool, it’s elegant, it’s beautiful, it’s engaging, and I can see myself obsessing over it in the weeks to come – I really want to get more badges - but don’t let it dictate where you direct your attention.