danielbower.com

Dennis and the Rosedale Chimney

A few weekends ago some friends and I decided to tackle the the North Yorkshire Moors during a two day trip from York to Robin Hood’s Bay and back. For those of you who have ever done been to the Moors you’ll know that it’s pretty up and down, and for those who have ever cycled it you’ll know it’s a gruelling as they come.

Of all the ascents we tackled none were more difficult than the infamous Rosedale Chimney which is 1 in 3 in parts as it snakes up the hill. Not wanting to be outdone we decided to have a crack at it and despite falling off my bike once as a car came a little too close to me I actually managed to make it to the top.

Problem: there was no one to take my picture. Some of the gang had already whizzed back down past me, and some didn’t make it up. Enter Dennis Marshall who was kind enough to take a photo of me and note down my address in London.

When it arrived in the post a few days ago it brought a huge smile to my face. Not only did I now have proof that I’d managed to ascend the Chimney, but it reaffirmed my belief that there are people out there who are willing to go out of their way to help a complete strangers.

Thank you Dennis, your photo is now sitting proudly on my sideboard and the certificate you wrote out alongside it.

A small thing Twitter could learn from Google+

I think it’s pretty clear now that Google+ isn’t going to set the social world on fire. The reasons for this are plentiful and not the purpose of my post, however a central theme will be the lack of differentiation between it and it’s major competitors. That said Google+ put some lovely user experience around it’s largely borrowed features, and in my opinion Twitter in particular should take note.

I’m talking about ‘Circles’ which were in fact ‘Lists’ done time before by both Twitter and Facebook - I’m not sure who came first. Lists allow the user to quickly filter the content they are looking at, which when you are following thousands upon thousands of people is extremely handy. What’s more lists allow you to segment what you read. Only interested in ‘Cyclists’ then just read that for a while.

What Google did was make Circles front-and-centre of it’s UE, and in beautiful way too. Every time I add someone I’m pushed into adding them to a Circle too.

Twitter should do this too, and save me, and many other users, from the flood of coming tweets. If they don’t, I fear people may drastically reduce the number of people they follow, or move away from Twitter entirely - neither are in the bird’s best interests.

Google+ won’t become the social player they want it to be. But if they’re sensible both Twitter and Facebook could take note of some logical improvements they’ve made.

Thoughts @danielbower.