Writers Cafe - Do You Need A Second Brain? And Win A Free Macbook Air
I think a second brain would be very handy so I was intrigued to discover that you can actually have one now - at least an internet second brain.
What Is Second Brain?
Second Brain is a new free social content aggregator.
I’m fascinated by social media and information. I’m an ideas and information collector.
The trouble is there’s too much of it and more is coming every day. What to do?
Well, I’ve been exploring Second Brain. Second Brain allows you to gather, organize and share your online content and bookmarks. It can interface with your choice of various applications and import your content e.g. from Wordpress, Twitter, Flickr, Google Docs, Slideshare, Mindmeister, Digg etc.
I would have liked to have seen StumbleUpon included too. There are also private and public display/sharing options.
Second Brain Video
I must be getting old as I found the soundtrack a bit “busy”, but it shows Second Brain’s “All Your Content Online” concept quite effectively.
You can display your Twitter and Wordpress feeds, for example. I like the feed option. I know this sends traffic, as I’ve used this option on Facebook and have had new readers from there. The more avenues to send readers to your site the better. You can also follow others and they can follow you in the same way as Twitter.
Usability & Support
I found it reasonably intuitive, except that I couldn’t see at a glance a “remove” option if you wanted to delete e.g. your Wordpress feed. I contacted support and had a speedy reply from Lars Teigen.
As CEO and founder, I guess you could call Lars the first brain behind Second Brain. He even sent a screen shot with an arrow pointing to the remove option. I was impressed. There’s a Second Brain blog which chronicles progress. Later they’re going to add a forum.
I’d still like the “remove” option to be immediately evident. As a new user exploring the site I would be hesitant to add my content, not being sure I could change my mind and remove it.
Second Brain Pages
Looking at Lars’ Second Brain pages and the services he has incorporated there actually gives you a good insight into the potential of Second Brain as a content aggregator.
Searching Second Brain
Everyone’s Second Brain content is searchable if they opt for the public profile. You can explore by a person’s name, topic, updates etc.
I searched “writing” as a topic. These were the results along with the top 4 results from everybody’s collections.
• writing (2134)
• reference (331)
• tips (295)
• tools (280)
• blogging (260)
• blog (253)
• howto (242)
• books (189)
• web2.0 (180)
• software (166)
• Design (165)
• news (158)
• literature (156)
• productivity (153)
• education (148)
• language (148)
• web (147)
• english (139)
• blogs (137)
• programming (126)
• business (123)
• collaboration (115)
• research (106)
• culture (104)
• Lifehacks (101)
• Tech (100)
• creativity (100)
• art (97)
• toread (90)
• online (90)
Idea Sparks & Discovering New Sites & Content
You can then click on the results and drill down further. I found this an interesting way to find idea sparks for posts and related topics too, in much the same way as mind mapping.
Win A Free Macbook Air
Second Brain has a competition on at the moment to celebrate the Beta 2.0 launch at the end of May.
Win prizes including a Free Macbook Air, an XBox, iPod and Amazon gift cards.
Have a look at Second Brain for yourself and see what you think.
HOW ABOUT YOU?
DISCUSSION STARTER:
- Would you use a content aggregator like Second Brain?
- What do you think about this concept?
- How do you control your content?
- Any other thoughts about how you could use Second Brain?
Catch me on the web - Yvonne Russell
www.growyourwritingbusiness.com
www.smallbizmentor.com
www.homebiznotes.com
I’ve joined Second Brain, but I can’t quite figure out what to do with it. It does look like it will be quite useful, though.
Laura Spencer’s last blog post..Are You A Writer Who Blogs, or a Blogger Who Writes?
Hi Laura
I particularly like the blog feeds option. I also like being able to drill down for info.
It’s early days yet and still in Beta, so I think they’re open to suggestions too.
Secondbrain is one of the top three social aggregators on the web - Profilactic and FriendFeed are somehow “ahead” but I personally know Secondbrain’s developers and I also know what plans they have, plans that will push SB at the top.
The purpose of any Beta startup is to get feedback from the users, in order to evolve. So yes, SB is open to any suggestions. As a matter of fact users who are involved in the SB community are closer to the big prize than those who just open an account thinking that the contest is a lottery.
Mihaela Lica’s last blog post..Destroying Wikipedia from the Inside Out
I´m with Laura, I set up an account a while back . . . but it was a bit confusing and I ended up not doing anything at all. I guess I just need to dedicate a bit more time to the whole thing, but at the moment, spare time is in short supply!
Genesis, actually SB saves lots of time - it helps you organize your content in one place, even post on twitter directly from your SB account. It is easy to use - you’ll find a How to Use Secondbrain page that explains it all. It has handy firefox plugins that will save even more time - and the main advantage is that your last added content will show up on the SB main page as you publish it, boosting up traffic to your sites, especially when the community will grow.
Right now we deal with a company that just started “making waves.” I remember StumbleUpon’s beginnings, and digg’s. All early users became “power users” - so I think it is in our best interest to help SB grow.
Mihaela Lica’s last blog post..Destroying Wikipedia from the Inside Out
Hi Mig
Thanks for your input. As you’ve had a chance to experiment with it, that’s useful.
Hi Genesis
I’ve only just discovered Second Brain, so my approach is not to try to do the whole lot at once, but just add the applications you use the most for a start.
In my case, I started with Twitter and Wordpress.
The way people use social media tools needs to be the way that works for them.
And I guess this is how the tools themselves evolve and change to reflect what is most popular.
Hi Yvonne, I have not tried SecondBrain but will give it a look. I use FriendFeed and Minggl and have poked around Digsby. All have their pros and cons and none have the perfect combination of being intuitive and aggregating all my sites. Thanks for sharing this as it sounds like a good possibility. Like you I love social media but am on the hunt for the perfect tool to bring it all together. Great post Yvonne!
Karen Swim’s last blog post..Strap on Your Heels and Take a Step Toward Your Dreams
Yvonne, what if the second brain seems to make your first brain swim?
Robyn’s last blog post..How Do Genius’s Think?
Hi Karen
Let us know how you go when you start exploring. You’ll no doubt find things I haven’t discovered yet.
What would you like the “perfect” tool to do, ideally?
Have fun!
Yvonne Russell’s last blog post..Writers Cafe - Do You Need A Second Brain? Win A Free Macbook Air
Hi Robyn
LOL. I feel that way about every new tool until I get used to it.
It’s interesting though that there are some things which are being adopted more widely and will possibly become standard e.g. @ is used in comments and on Twitter.
I like how Second Brain has a “Follow” option like Twitter. If this more consistent approach is adopted across all new social media tools, perhaps they will become more intuitive.
What do you think?
Yvonne Russell’s last blog post..Writers Cafe - Do You Need A Second Brain? Win A Free Macbook Air
Yvonne, yet another great post and this contest does rock. Second Brain is the cleanest platform or its type, if a little behind on development. The thing I like is that with what you might call a “blank slate” to paint a fantastic community on - anything is possible.
I know their CEO personally and there is no smarter or harder working developer out there. SB needs great users and the technology is there. The services are a matter of time over effort on the part of SB and the community.
Always,
Phil
Phil Butler’s last blog post..Power Blogging Extreme - The Existence of God
Yvonne, I just joined Facebook this week and am getting settled into it. But you are so right it is “hairy” dealing with a lot of new “tech.” The learning curve is high here for me, but I do like to give new things a chance and will give myself more time to take in exactly what it does.
Robyn’s last blog post..How Do Genius’s Think?
Hi Phil
I’m starting to realize as I use social media tools that there’s actually no right or wrong way to use them. What I mean is that it’s quite okay to only use the the parts of an application that suit you and not feel you have to master or use every part of it.
For example, with Facebook I’ve worked out groups, blog feeds, inviting and accepting invitations and that’s about it. There’s probably lots more I could do, but I’ll explore this as I go along.
If I never use any other Facebook applications, I have already had enormous value out of it, and I don’t feel pressured to know it all, and certainly not straight away.
As my needs and knowledge base changes, I may add other options.
I guess it’s about different people having different needs.
Second Brain looks like a good place to integrate all your content. I think what will happen is that everyone will use the parts that best meet their needs.
If it develops a broad community and becomes the “go to” place for that alone, the “blank slate” if you like has enormous potential.
Twitter really took off as it is community driven, so it will be interesting to follow progress on Second Brain and explore it some more.
Hi Robyn
I know what you mean about the learning curve, but luckily we can all help each other.
Experimenting gets you so far. Then I’ve found the finer tweaks with the potential of a social media tool come from observation, reading and most importantly, others sharing.
That’s what’s so great about the blogging community.
How does anyone ever keep up with all the new concepts? Perhaps Second Brain would help me keep organized so I don’t feel so overwhelmed!
Mary Emma Allen’s last blog post..Want To Start An In Home Daycare Business? Our Article Series Launches Soon
Experimenting with SecondBrain sounds interesting, Yvonne, except that I might be needing a third brain to be able to use this 2nd one (chuckle).
One thing I look forward to visiting you is that you keep my brain working.
A great mother’s day weekend to you.
Hi Mary Emma
There are new things coming every day, so I guess something like Second Brain could be handy to keep them all together.
Has anyone tried out Second Brain? What do you think?
Yvonne Russell’s last blog post..Writers Cafe - Do You Need A Second Brain? And Win A Free Macbook Air
Hi Princess
Happy Mother’s Day weekend to you too. Great to have you visit.
Yvonne Russell’s last blog post..Writers Cafe - Do You Need A Second Brain? And Win A Free Macbook Air
I join at second brain. But It is not so clear to me. I think I need to find more. Thanks for your post.
mountainbike’s last blog post..Aufbau des Fahrrads
Like Laura, I’ve signed up for SecondBrain (after I read about it on Mig’s blog). But I haven’t used it yet … maybe it will save time if I ever find the time to understand it.
Lillie Ammann’s last blog post..Global Day of Prayer
Thank you for a great post Yvonne and introducing Secondbrain to your community of readers.
Secondbrain wants to bring some sense of order into the fragmented and distributed nature of social media. We want 1) to
help people collect and manage all their online content in personal libraries, and 2) make it easy for our users to
subscribe to people’s updates and find good content.
We want to break down the silos of content and allow people to organize, share and socialize around content across
services.
We launched early to get input from our users. We understand that we cannot build a perfect service without being
community driven, and we take the feedback that we get from our users very seriously. For example, many people tell us
that they find it difficult to get started - to understand the utility of SB immediately - and that is why we just
started an iteration focused on redesigning the home/landing page. In addition, people want us to support more services
(of course, with All Your Content as tag line, that’s a pretty obvious expectation:)), and that is also a high priority
for us - StumbleUpon will be added on the next release update - tomorrow or Wednesday.
We’re designing Secondbrain for the Content Crowd first - people who create and consume a lot of content online. If we
can make it work for you - I am sure we can make it work of “everybody” else. We have a big vision for Secondbrain and
still a long way to go - but with your feedback and support I am confident that we can make it the next destination to
organize and discover good content.
If you’d like to contact me directly, pls use my first name and then the domain name. I read and reply to all emails:)
Thanks,
Lars
Founder/CEO
Hi Lillie
LOL. Shades of which comes first the chicken or the egg?
Yvonne Russell’s last blog post..Writers Cafe - Do You Need A Second Brain? And Win A Free Macbook Air
Hi Lars
I appreciate you joining in the conversation. Pleased to hear StumbleUpon will be added. I look forward to seeing Second Brain develop, and what you have in store long term.
Great to hear that you welcome feedback and suggestions.
Yvonne Russell’s last blog post..Writers Cafe - Do You Need A Second Brain? And Win A Free Macbook Air
Yup… StumbleUpon is there all right. Yeee!
Lars took this entry very seriously I see. Check out the new entry at the Secondbrain blog - it has a poll where he included other services that will probably be added soon… depending on the public requests.
Mihaela Lica’s last blog post..Destroying Wikipedia from the Inside Out
Yeah — SecondBrain doesn’t make it instantly obvious what it’s good for and overwhelms people. I know it tries to narrow it down by asking if you want to import content or add bookmarks… but it feels like a big job because we all have loads of bookmarks.
I am sure if I take the tour, it would make more sense… but I just wanted to sign up and go. Not quite so fast.
Just too many options and sites like this — that developers have to think of a way to make sign up fast and provide a call to action without overwhelming and that makes sense. Bookmarks and Content just sound too big at first glance.
Meryl K. Evans’s last blog post..Links: 2008-05-16
@Meryl You are right we need to make the first impression and sign up process a bit smoother. Preferably we should only show features that are relevant at the moment you need them, and this is something we’re fine tuning all the time.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts - working on a redesign of the front/landing page right now.
@Lars, thanks for listening to my feedback. Sometimes a fresh perspective can help… when you work for something so long — it seems to make sense and it all sounds easy. Something I am struggling with as I work on HELP for a redesigned site.
Thanks Meryl and Lars for your feedback.
@Lars - It’s great to see a developer so “hands on” with listening to and responding to feedback.
It sounds like this conversation has been useful for you too. Thanks for “listening” and all the best with Second Brain.
I just finished reading through both Yvonne’s post and all your feedback - so much great input! As Lars said, we’ll go through the whole ‘getting started’ process and tweak every little nut & bolt to perfection
Basically, it’s in our spirit to have the user up and running instantly. So we’ll put all our effort into improve that part. Thanks for the feedback, and I’m looking forward to come back with an updated version to hear what you think!
Thanks,
Johan
Product Manager
May 14th, 2008 at 9:26 am
[…] is big business already. Delicious, Second Brain, StumbleUpon, FaceBook and the other social media tools aim to help us control this information. […]