Spin it like a journalist
According to this comment, I put my spin on the Performancing for Firefox blogging extension and the Flock blogging browser. I’d think that “spin it like a journalist” is not a kind comment, but it’s an interesting one. I did put a bit of spin on my Performancing for Firefox post, I suppose, but I also don’t feel I said anything negative about Flock in the post. I certainly could have, but I linked to a good source on why they didn’t want to be an extension, and the reader can choose whether or not he/she agrees with the decision for Flock to be a standalone browser.
Flock should have been an extension in my mind. I firmly believe that. I’m not a developer, or even a programmer, but I already use up to 4 browsers (or at least have them installed) - IE, Opera, Firefox, and an IE-clone/add-on called Maxthon. I downloaded Flock, surprised myself at how confused I was, and promptly deleted it. It didn’t serve my needs immediately and that was that.
On the other hand, Performancing for Firefox was unbelievably easy for me to use. And it keeps me within Firefox, where I now read all my RSS feeds, upload to my server by FTP, and do all of my browsing. Believe it or not, the extensions for Firefox are just one more reason for me to stick with Firefox. I realize that a lot of these extensions may work in Flock, but it’s just not worth the trouble of figuring it out, especially since I was confused the second I installed Flock.
If you’re curious about my feelings surrounding Flock, I actually have a couple of sentences that I wrote with Flock in mind. In my Angry Blogger post, I said:
When I come across a glowing review for a piece of software, and then I download it, I want it to be a glowing piece of software. I’m finding lately that stuff I download is not all that great, and not one person is writing about its limitations and how much work needs to go into it for it to be truly useful.
I’m not a loyal browser user. I used Netscape, then IE, then Maxthon, then Mozilla or Netscape or something, then Firefox, then Opera, then Firefox. Flock just wasn’t for me at the time. It wouldn’t take a lot to get me to download it again, but it would probably take a lot to convince me to stick with it.
Update: I hadn’t noticed the Flock bashing going around, and have no idea if I fueled it by including a link to Flock in my Performancing Screenshots post. I wonder if a person has that sort of influence from one little link? In any case, I wasn’t cited in columnist Matthew Ingram’s post indicating that Performancing’s success should not be anti-Flock.
Technorati Tags: performancing, firefox extensions, flock, browser, wolftrust
December 24th, 2005 at 4:04 am
Spinning news is too normal. Your’s is very minor in comparison to the “mass media”.
I think spinning stories is about making things more fun, and I may be too pragmatic, but I think the following “negative about Flock in the post”:
* “was supposed to”, suggests it does not.
* “were left explaining why” comes across as negative to me.
Very little spin is what I enjoy most about citizen journalism,
Lloyd
December 24th, 2005 at 9:40 pm
I appreciate your comments. As I’ve said in previous posts, there isn’t enough dissent in the blogosphere.
December 25th, 2005 at 6:05 am
I find “there isn’t enough dissent in the blogosphere” a strange statement. Is it more about your perseption of the lack of independent voice than dissent?
December 25th, 2005 at 7:28 am
I’m not sure I understand about “lack of independent voice”, but I will refer you back to my Angry Blogger post. I think far too many people try to get into the good graces of the A-list so they get links and attention. That’s about all I can think of. Get off the computer and enjoy the holidays!
January 20th, 2006 at 3:22 am
I completely concur regarding “I think far too many people try to get into the good graces of the A-list so they get links and attention.”