Comments on: With a name like SocialOyster, it’s got to be, um… http://www.altsearchengines.com/2008/08/19/with-a-name-like-socialoyster-its-got-to-be-um/ The most wonderful search engines you've never seen! Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:10:09 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Marcus Reimold http://www.altsearchengines.com/2008/08/19/with-a-name-like-socialoyster-its-got-to-be-um/comment-page-1/#comment-89579 Marcus Reimold Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:33:21 +0000 http://altsearchengines.com/2008/08/19/with-a-name-like-socialoyster-its-got-to-be-um/#comment-89579 Dear Hope, I try to answer your questions with my bad english. About the proper names: I did not find any API, where you can search users by their proper names. But just today I was thinking about this idea. And I think I found a way. Give me some more days. Also, could users somehow set up RSS feeds of set parameters for certain people? Yes, it is already possible. For instance, if you search for a twitter-user und you are interested in this user, click at the "add to Oysterline" button. Now you can add the users twitter-feed to your Oysterline. If this user is already a SocialOyster-user, you can select all that plarforms the users entered at his Oysterpass and add this feeds to your Oyserline. Also who is your competition in this area? How is your tool better? There are a lot of competitions. But I think the most difference is, that, if you are following your friends, SocialOyster gets the items live from the feeds. It is not a crawler and I don't cache the data. For example: If you are following a flickr-user and this user uploads a picture at flickr, it will be displayed at your Oysterline after your next checking-interval. And you select the interval. It is ajax - so the new picture will be displayed without refreshing the page. I am very happy, that you like SocialOyster. I will do my best, that you can search for proper names very soon. Best Marcus Dear Hope,

I try to answer your questions with my bad english.

About the proper names:
I did not find any API, where you can search users by their proper names. But just today I was thinking about this idea. And I think I found a way. Give me some more days.

Also, could users somehow set up RSS feeds of set parameters for certain people?

Yes, it is already possible. For instance, if you search for a twitter-user und you are interested in this user, click at the “add to Oysterline” button. Now you can add the users twitter-feed to your Oysterline.
If this user is already a SocialOyster-user, you can select all that plarforms the users entered at his Oysterpass and add this feeds to your Oyserline.

Also who is your competition in this area? How is your tool better?

There are a lot of competitions. But I think the most difference is, that, if you are following your friends, SocialOyster gets the items live from the feeds. It is not a crawler and I don’t cache the data. For example: If you are following a flickr-user and this user uploads a picture at flickr, it will be displayed at your Oysterline after your next checking-interval. And you select the interval. It is ajax – so the new picture will be displayed without refreshing the page.

I am very happy, that you like SocialOyster. I will do my best, that you can search for proper names very soon.

Best
Marcus

]]> By: Hope Leman http://www.altsearchengines.com/2008/08/19/with-a-name-like-socialoyster-its-got-to-be-um/comment-page-1/#comment-89572 Hope Leman Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:33:23 +0000 http://altsearchengines.com/2008/08/19/with-a-name-like-socialoyster-its-got-to-be-um/#comment-89572 This is a very handsome, potentially very useful tool. I like Social Oyster. The major difficulty I see is that users may not know a person’s user name. I may know his proper name, but what if he goes by, “Bubble Gum Man” so some such moniker? Could you add an index of proper names? (Or would that be too massive to be practicable?) Also, could users somehow set up RSS feeds of set parameters for certain people? For instance, could I follow via an RSS feed the new entries of a specific person’s additions to her del.icio.us bookmarks and to any new photos she posts on Flickr? Could you set up categories of famous people in certain fields—like noted scholars such as economists, politicians, journalists, venture capitalists, etc.? I could see that being very useful for journalists. Could you add Connotea? Academics use the Web, too. Also who is your competition in this area? How is your tool better? It is certainly slick and handsome. Whom do you best and in what way? It would be interesting to see what Chris Pirillo would think of Social Oyster given that he blogged about Ping a few weeks ago: http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/06/24/how-do-you-update-your-friends-with-whats-happening-now/ and related stuff: http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/08/08/where-do-you-keep-your-social-profile/ He talks about the generators of the stuff. Some of don’t us generate any stuff—we just read about other people—that is where you come in. Keep up the good work! This is a very handsome, potentially very useful tool. I like Social Oyster. The major difficulty I see is that users may not know a person’s user name. I may know his proper name, but what if he goes by, “Bubble Gum Man” so some such moniker? Could you add an index of proper names? (Or would that be too massive to be practicable?)

Also, could users somehow set up RSS feeds of set parameters for certain people? For instance, could I follow via an RSS feed the new entries of a specific person’s additions to her del.icio.us bookmarks and to any new photos she posts on Flickr?

Could you set up categories of famous people in certain fields—like noted scholars such as economists, politicians, journalists, venture capitalists, etc.? I could see that being very useful for journalists. Could you add Connotea? Academics use the Web, too.

Also who is your competition in this area? How is your tool better? It is certainly slick and handsome. Whom do you best and in what way?

It would be interesting to see what Chris Pirillo would think of Social Oyster given that he blogged about Ping a few weeks ago:

http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/06/24/how-do-you-update-your-friends-with-whats-happening-now/

and related stuff:

http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/08/08/where-do-you-keep-your-social-profile/

He talks about the generators of the stuff. Some of don’t us generate any stuff—we just read about other people—that is where you come in.

Keep up the good work!

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