Friday, August 18, 2006

Two thumbs up for the BlogHUD

As the population of SL has exploded at a rate of 15% per month, so have the incredible number of things to see and do. I never got a handle on most of the places when I joined in 2005, and now a year on I feel like every time I go into the world I'm faced with the same paralysis I get when staring at the ridiculous number of shampoo products available on the pharmacy shelf. I just don't know where to start, so often I just give up and leave.

Enter BlogHUD. Doctoe Schnook recently gave me a copy. It is an inspired application.

Users wear it in the virtual world and when they come across something they think people might find interesting, they type /9 and a description. Each entry can be categorised into five channels (e.g., shop, event). This text goes to BlogHUD.com, where other people can browse without needing to enter the application. If they fancy something they see, they can click on the post and shazam, they're in the world, at the place. Superb.

Of course because it's social software, it's like a Craigslist for a non-existent (please, no philosophy) place. Some users develop reputations for knowing about certain things and, I would argue, their input becomes more valuable to the readers, say, someone who's just posted once. This needs to develop over time. At the minute, it feels like a happy socialism, where everything listed can be of potential interest.

Further, it's an excellent way to keep up to date with the sheer mountain of useful, utterly unnecessary and worthy things in SL. Put the feed into your RSS reader and you'll never be lost something to do in SL again.

One thing I would really like to see implemented is a comments section. I'd like to be able to contribute to ongoing debates, to offer pointers and directions, and to receive feedback for questions I have in the world.

Hear hear to Koz Farina for devising such a fantastic integrated system - one which this crazy world really needs.

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