Is BuzzFeed Buzzworthy?

So I checked in on my site stats today, expecting lackluster numbers to reflect my lackluster performance. No, my hits for yesterday skyrocketed! (relatively speaking) Huh? I didn't do anything special... did I? A little further investigation and the vast majority of the readers came from a site called BuzzFeed.com OK, what the hell is that?

From their site's explanation they've got software that monitors the blagosphere and comes up with new trends that people are talking about. So if you look closely you'll note that my little rumination on meatlifting is the top listing in that trend for some reason. Sure, its under a different title (theirs is way better by the way) but its my post picked up mere hours days after I blaged about a hot topic. Shit Dee, thanks for the link, I had no idea you were so savvy. Maybe I should gank your profile links more often.

I spose it appears that BuzzFeed is a pretty interesting site, kinda like picking horses at the track. I'm willing to let it on my feed for a week to try it out. I'm not really sure how much editorial interaction there is in the process, but I assume there is some which could become an issue if it blows up like Digg. Digg is too damn big for its own good, I can't even check it any more. I run through an RSS list of the ten most popular things and then I'm audi. I'm more about a tight but pervasive group, people who've got an eye on everything cool and actually remember what's already been cool 7 months ago. And who knows, that might be exactly what BuzzFeed is. But they've gotta watch out for self fulfilling site syndrome, which is a highly technical concept that I've just made up. You don't want things to become trends because they are listed on the site, predicting the future isn't as impressive if you control it. So check it out if you'd like, but don't tell your friends. We don't want this getting out of hand.

• BuzzFeed: Meatlifting

In The Future We'll Fly Naked.

Its rough being on the bleeding edge. Especially when you enjoy buying and using electronic devices because they are unknown only to have people searching your person for unknown electronic devices. Imagine the hubub that arose when someone tried to board a plane with the new (and stupid) Nike+iPod implant in their shoe. Remember that some dude had shoes made of bomb, and now you have to run footwear thought the x-ray scanner. I find it funny only cause I don't ever think I'll be persuaded to get this thing. But it got me thinking. We're only going to have more and more wearable or implanted technology in the future. And if things keep progressing, we'll have more and more invasive searches in once public areas. How in the world are these two going to reconcile? Will TSA employees actually be versed in technology or weaponry? Or will they just keep raising alarms when they run across something they've never seen before? Honestly, my outlook is so bleak that I prefer not to even think about it.

• PSA: The TSA is not down with Nike+iPod - Engadget

The Treadmill To The Future.

Oh Internet, what will you do next? You have to admit that there's a change happening in websites these days, whether you believe in web 2.0 or not. And meanwhile I have to admit I'm warming a bit to the term itself. But there's quite a debate in trying to describe what it is (if anything). I'd like to venture a supposition that it depends on who you are and what you expect, which dictates what qualifies or doesn't. Since I have no interest in developing or capitalizing from this 'revolution' my concepts may be very different from an investor looking for the next money train. So here's a hybrid summary of 10 common attempts to constrain this ethereal (pun alert) concept.

• 10 definitions of Web 2.0 and their shortcomings at twopointouch: web 2.0, blogs and social media

I'm a hearty subscriber to the "marketing buzzword" camp. But there must be something else to it since its so easy to feel the presence (truthiness?) of web 2.0. Its like pron in that sense, "I know it when I see it." But there must be a way to say it. I think of it as new and exciting, but also a certain look and feel that couples with functionality. I also like to think that there won't necessarily be a web 3.0.

I you've ever worked with Artificial Intelligence, you know that the definition of what qualifies as AI is continually changing. A computer that will beat a chess master is no longer an acceptable test case. So maybe its like AI in that the definition changes as time and technology progress. Something that was 2.0 four months ago, is not now because there are a new set of exciting sites and services that are. We could just mean the slick bleeding edge of the web. So rather than a Road Ahead, its more like a treadmill and staying where you are is moving forward. Alright... that joke was ridiculous.

There is definitely something to the concept that there isn't a strict dividing line between 1.0 and 2.0, but a spectrum as to the "oh-ness" of a site. Daily Placebo, for instance, is currently at about a web 1.6 level. What with our swanky new banner, CSS, collapsing comments, DPmail, blogsearch, wiki, and shameless self promotion. Granted there's not very much user content control, but I'm pretty sure you guys are illiterate anyway.