WTF is "franscrollow?"
In today's complex world, there are too many options for connecting to those we like, love or are just obsessed with. Should you "friend" someone on Foursquare? Fan him on Facebook? Subscribe to her newsletter or RSS feeds? Follow her on Twitter or around the airport just to see if she notices? These are real problems faced by real people, and Congress refuses to act, but there is a solution:
"Franscrollow" [fran-scrahl-oh] is a new verb that eliminates headaches and complexity by combining all relevant stalker-related buzzwords into one easy-to-remember term. Friend + Fan + Subscribe + Follow = Franscrollow. So please, franscrollow me. You'll never be be made obsolete by smelly geeks again. It's the future, and you're welcome.
Ways To Franscrollow Baratunde
Join Baratunde's Electronic Mailing List
I plan to outlast all social networks. Tired of hopping from one service to the next wondering how to maintain our pseudo relationship? Email.
What you get: Roughly 1 email per week with live appearances, the work of kindred artistic and activist spirits, links to videos and other thoughts, plus unspecified exclusive offers. Just do it.
Powered by the ever-adorable MadMimi
Follow Baratunde on Twitter
I have posted over 23,000 tweets in three years. I tweet hard.
Twitter is my public address system, comedic open mic, political action tool, conversation forum and general tomfoolery platform. If you haven't see it yet, watch my Web 2.0 talk about hashtags.
I also "live tweet" events (e.g. presidential addresses, awards shows, the Super Bowl) offering blow-by-blow summaries, analysis and comedic observations. My favorite example is my "live hate tweeting" of the abominable vampire teen stalker flic, New Moon.
Sometimes I tweet too hard for mortals. The beauty of Twitter is you can unfollow me, but if you want to keep up with certain slices of my world, follow @TheOnion, @jjpolitics or @FutureOf.
Fan Baratunde on Facebook
I've been on Facebook since it was a physical directory of students back on Harvard's campus and "poking" someone resulted in stern talking to at a minimum and jail time at the worst.
How I use the book of faces:
I have a personal profile and a "fan page." Since hitting the maximum number of connections for my profile, I've had to restrict its use and now reserve it for people I actually know or deal with professionally. Everyone else has to become a "fan" over here. I don't want to be a douchebag. Facebook made me this way.
I regularly post my live appearances as Facebook events, upload photos, share tons of links related to my work and provide way too many status updates for any one person to consume. I also ask questions on topics as varied as my search for a meat locker, advice on software and political opinions.
Because I'm involved in so many things, people can get overwhelmed by my updates in Facebook. If you just want an aspect of the things I'm involved in, you can fan any one of the following pages: The Onion, Jack & Jill Politics or Popular Science's Future Of
Friend Baratunde on Foursquare
Foursquare is a game-like mobile service that allows you to announce your location to friends and get notified of their whereabouts in the same city while earning rewards for interaction.
As you can see from the image on the left, I've earned lots of badges on this service because I Foursquare hard. I also take mayorships seriously and will be developing policy platforms for the venues that fall under my administration.
Unlike my Facebook page and Twitter accounts, I'm not trying to connect to just anyone. The world of people I'm cool with knowing my exact whereabouts at any given time is small. I do occasionally post my location to Facebook and Twitter, but that's for public events. It is not an invitation to meet me at the grocery store.
If you request a Foursquare connection from me, and I don't accept it, it's because I probably don't know you well enough.
Other Random Ways To Be A Franscrollower
Follow Me On Google Buzz: I like buzz for deeper conversations on a single topic. A great example is the reaction to my rant after seeing Miriam Makeba's music being used to sell a car. It got a few mentions on Twitter but scores of deep and intelligent conversation on buzz. Here's my profile.
Subscribe To My RSS Feed: Yeah I still rock the RSS feeds. Feel free to pipe it into whatever. Just don't make an iPhone app and try to charge for it, cause I will hunt you down.
BTW the image is from Stephen Wolfram. It's a random sequence generation
