The Steve Rubel Stream

Insights on emerging technologies and trends.

On Verified Identities

This is one of those streams that's too short for a blog, but too long for a tweet...

It seems downright medieval to me that we don't have more ways to verify our various identities on the web. Google has it, but it's tucked away. Amazon has it. Twitter has it for the privileged. But really, why not everyone? Here are some sites that as far as I can tell do not have it: Friendfeed, Facebook, Yahoo (though they support Open ID), etc.

Seems like an easy thing to do that probably would make everyone happy, why not? A gallery of these follows. Open ID is a potential solution but it's geeky right now. We need more.

     
Click here to download:
On_Verified_Identities.zip (13 KB)

Filed under  authenticity   identity  
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Posted 8 months ago

Google Knows You

Here's a fun little find for a Friday. If you have a Google Profile and you're logged in to your Google account, search for the word me. Your profile will come up as the top result. This is great if you get amnesia.

Filed under  google   identity   search  
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Posted 8 months ago

Why I am Forking my Content

I have been writing a weblog for five years now - and it's been very good to me. However, my job at Edelman is to remain at the cutting edge and to advise major marketers on what's next. This means I must experiment and evolve or I will die.

Every great artist reinvents him/herself. I am not a great artist. But I admire musicians like Sting who try new genres like classical or Will Smith who dabbles in drama. I need to do the same when it comes to emerging technology, otherwise I will get stale.

So here's how I am planning to fork my content (unless you vehemently all disagree) ...

Micro Persuasion :: My existing blog will become a place for "best of" essays (weekly or a few times a month). These will be longer think pieces and essays about emerging technology trends and their impact on media, culture and marketing. Basically, it's what you get here now. Some will become AdAge columns and vice versa. (RSS feed)

The Steve Rubel Lifestream :: This site will have a lot more - and it will be daily. Content will include the full text of the essays published on my existing blog but also brief insights, observations, links, photos, videos and more about emerging technology. I may even do audio too since the Posterous feed by default is a podcast. I am inspired by the incredible flexibility of the Posterous platform and I plan to use it to the full extent with my iPhone, especially for video. I recommend you join me over there since it's going to be where I publish the most. (RSS feed)

Twitter :: I will continue to share links on Twitter (and not just links back to these sites), but begin to use it more for conversation around the links so that I get smarter. Net, expect the same here as what I do now.

Friendfeed :: This is where you can get all my stuff (and more) and talk about it too. I plan to engage here as I have been. I am on Facebook too, but I limit my network to only those who I have met face-to-face or corresponded with.

I have given this a lot of thought. A part of me just says autop-ublish everything I post to my Lifestream site to here, but that will just create two carbon copies of the same. I want to create a distinct purpose for each site. I may merge the sites and feeds eventually. And I am sure some of you will think this is crazy because of the Google Juice my blog has, but it feels like it's time to branch out.

For more on my strategy, see this interview I gave via email to Peter Himler. Also, this related thread from Louis Gray is relevant too. Of course, if you have thoughts, leave them here, there or anywhere!
Filed under  blogs   essays   Friendfeed   identity   Twitter  
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Posted 8 months ago

How to Get a Facebook User ID back from a Squatter

AllthingsFacebook:

"By filling out the Facebook client username form, there’s a good chance that you’ll get the username back. Both Darren Rowse of Problogger and the team at CDBaby were able to get their usernames back relatively quickly after filling in the form. Getting your username taken can be a big deal especially if someone else is looking to build a reputation using a brand name that you’ve spent a long time building."

Good to know they are doing this. They have done a nice job with the roll out of the IDs.
Filed under  branding   Facebook   identity  
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Posted 9 months ago