I came to learn about this app from an article on The Next Web. Quite interesting. If you got one really heavy Twitter "followee" like @YESUmob, well, this is the app you need. Actually, using it does not shut out such subscriptions from your stream. What Shuush does is that it "promotes" (lacked a better word here) your least active subscriptions. You know those tweeps you follow who tweet very little. With Shuush, tweets from these tweeps get to be prominently displayed on your timeline. :-)

How do you pronounce this?

Like the typical African I am, I'll pronounce it as "SH-OO-SH" just like the literal pronunciation of "Shish" from Tahidi High. But that may be wrong really. Let us try some deduction here. Taking the English word "hush" which is clearly related to silencing someone, then we can place its pronunciation as "SH-HUSH". Right?

Permalink

UPDATE: StatusNet Cloud Service is now running on the latest release of the script, 1.0beta. One new change that they have introduced into the service is that no free, public, microblogging communities can be created. See this post on the forums. Did I just tweet about it?


This is just a continuation of the previous post on the improvements on the StatusNet microblogging script.

Themes/Templates

In so many cases be it Internetware apps or any other kind of app, form has equal importance to the substance of the program/script. A site's or an app's appearance can make or break the attraction of users.
Previous releases of the script had 7 pre-installed themes: Pigeon Thoughts, Biz, Identica, Mozillaca, default, Cloudy and hack3r themes. But starting from the 0.9.6 release, 6 more themes have added: Clean, Cleaner, Rebase, Victorian, Mnml & Shiny themes. These new themes are much more crisp and glossy than some of the older pre-installed themes. As proof of the "wow-factor" these new templates have, check out the Mannconnect microblog with the Shiny theme. Cool, isn't it?
Oops, I almost forgot this. The navigation bars have also been updated too. There are some new additions to the navigation bars: the "Home" link/tab that points to a user's private timeline and the "Private" link/tab that points to a user's profile. The "Public" link/tab points to the public timeline's page.

Mobile Layout

The mobile Web is the in thing nowadays.Websites, more so social networking sites, that cannot be viewed from mobile devices are losing a critical portion of Internet users. The StatusNet devs have now included an option to convert a microblog's layout to a layout that is "mobile-friendly" - if I can say that. With a simple click on a link, you can change a StatusNet microblog's layout to its mobile layout. Just click on the "Switch to Mobile Layout" link that is right at the footer section of the site and you'll have your site on every iPod, mobile phone.... Good day!

Permalink

StatusNet, the open source microblogging script is rolling on and every release some tweaks that are worth a mention. Hopefully, if the devs behind the script continue with this trend , who knows, may be the script would be the WordPress.com of the microblogging world. Since the 0.9.2 release (that is when I started using the script), some changes have been made to the script: the current release is 0.9.9. These changes are noticeable even on the cloud service offered by the StatusNet company. Each release is quietly slipped into the service and only a regular user of the service can and will notice these changes.
The technical discussions of the changes that have been implemented can really put off the less technical persons amongst us. Additionally, some of the changes may be passed off in one general statement under such subjects as "New Themes Introduced!" and this may not help to bring them into light. I'll only focus on the most notable changes here without getting into the technicalities of the changes in the code running under the hood. You can get the latest updates on the script's development on the StatusNet blog.

Private Timelines

If you have ever used a StatusNet-powered site like Nairobi-stique, you must be aware of the feed of all posts of you (the user), and your subscriptions on the site. If you are a member of a group, you'll also see the stream of messages/notices by other group members in this timeline. This is your private timeline. The Public Timeline, on the other hand, streams all the posts of all the users on the site. This feature is similar to the "Home" page once you log into Twitter.
In the older releases, you could access this timeline right from your profile even without logging into the site. But with the current release, you can only view this stream when you log into the site. This is via the link, "Home", that has been added to the navigation bar. In the previous releases, you could access this timeline through the "You and Friends" tab/link on the navigation bar. You can also access this timeline by clicking on the site's log when you log into the site: in previous releases clicking on the site logo pointed to site's homepage only, so, this is one little change too!.

Groups Management

This is one area where important improvements have been made especially when it comes to administration. Groups are the major feature that distinguish StatusNet sites from Twitter. In the older releases, the super-admin had to dig in right into the site's structure just to delete a group, but with the latest release, starting from 0.9.6 , the super-admin can easily delete any group by clicking the "Delete" button right next to the group's name.

Accounts Settings

This is one change that can go unnoticed really, since it is very rare that any user ever changes their account information (an exception: if you always change your avatar, this may not be the case).If you go to your account's settings page (click on the "Settings" link on the navigation bar), you'll actually see 3 little buttons with the options for deleting, deactivating and recovering your account. These buttons were not there in the older releases of the script.

Permalink

Another digression from all the blogging on microblogging! But still this article has some sprinkling of social media trends here and there. Read on, buddy. Christian radio seems to be one tough business. Even though 80% of Kenyans say that they are Christians, very few ever follow up on issues to do with their faith. Now, what proportion of these group can be said to be loyal fans of Christian radio stations? I believe it is just a very small group. I know many do not even know any of the popular Christian radio presenters. More so, do they care a hoot about what is aired on the stations really?
I am one big fan of a particular Christian station that is really into CCM bandwagon. I was getting a little bit concerned of the high turnover of presenters on the station. Why were many of the presenters not staying for longer periods there? Presently, stations alone do not hog the limelight alone because of the coverage or their enticing programs. Presenters too, are working on their fame/careers. Check this out. Even as media houses have Facebook pages and Twitter profiles, their presenters have these social media accounts too. Christian radio stations have not been left behind in this. So, our presenters can get their fans/followers aside from their employer(s). Now just imagine if the presenter leaves one media house for another. I believe there is a slight negative impact on the stations audience. May be some of the station's fans would switch to the other station. Assuming Christian radio stations have very small audiences , then if a presenter leaves such a station the number of fans might decline.
And where do these stations get their financial support from? If they are affiliated to a particular denomination or church, they can easily get support through monies from tithes and offerings. OK, some churches do have some commercial interests that can bring in some revenue, so, well, it might not be solely through the 10 percent or the 20 bob coins we place in the offering baskets every Sunday. But if you look around you'll notice that some of the stations depend on donations from well wishers. And what about their workforce- read presenters? May be some employ members of their church or members of the clergy to play these roles so as to cut costs(?). Since media houses, like web publishers, earn their money from advertising, you wonder how much do Christian radio stations earn from the few adverts they run.
In short, Christian radio seems it ain't a cash-minting business in any way. If you want to start one, you'll have to get into it to further the Lord's Kingdom rather than to make money. I hope you remember that gospel station that was converted by its owners into a reggae station after only being on air for a few months.
P.S: I wonder what Christians would think if @SafaricomLtd were to run a Kenya Live (Kenya Live's Facebook Page) advert on any of the local Christian radio stations here yet it has some secular catz on its lineup. :-|

Permalink