> A proposal, dear reader: Create a list of bookmarks linking to websites you find interesting, and publish it for the world to see. You decide what constitutes “interesting”.
> The model is as recursive as it is simple. There is nothing preventing a list of bookmarks from linking to another list of bookmarks.
This + friend-of-friend commenting on shared bookmarks = Google Reader's "Note in Reader" bookmarklet + friends shared items[1] feature.
For the people who used shared items, the RSS feed reader part of Reader was just another way to generate shared items. The shared items list could be public and positive engagement was broadly open, but commenting on shared items was limited to designated friends and their friends.
This made the sharing aspect sticky. Sharing and commenting on items helped you expand your friends list, which exposed you to more shared items, for which you could be the aggregating conduit that shared unique items (including bookmarklet-captured items with no corresponding feed) for people on the other side of the friendship wall.
Those groups grew organically and were socially insulated from abuse. By definition everyone involved knew or had to vouch for each other, even without real names. And aside from blocking individual users, severing a mutual friend connection effectively cut them off from visibility to others.
> The model is as recursive as it is simple. There is nothing preventing a list of bookmarks from linking to another list of bookmarks.
This + friend-of-friend commenting on shared bookmarks = Google Reader's "Note in Reader" bookmarklet + friends shared items[1] feature.
For the people who used shared items, the RSS feed reader part of Reader was just another way to generate shared items. The shared items list could be public and positive engagement was broadly open, but commenting on shared items was limited to designated friends and their friends.
This made the sharing aspect sticky. Sharing and commenting on items helped you expand your friends list, which exposed you to more shared items, for which you could be the aggregating conduit that shared unique items (including bookmarklet-captured items with no corresponding feed) for people on the other side of the friendship wall.
Those groups grew organically and were socially insulated from abuse. By definition everyone involved knew or had to vouch for each other, even without real names. And aside from blocking individual users, severing a mutual friend connection effectively cut them off from visibility to others.
It was fantastic.[2]
1: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-readers-gets-more...
2: https://www.buzzfeed.com/robf4/googles-lost-social-network