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activity
May 2009 
I Love the Activity Feature!
Posted on Oct 25th, 2007
by 
~C4Chaos
~C4Chaos
We just released a new feature called Activity. Check out the details on the Team Blog.
With the Activity feature you can now keep track of your activity history on the site as well as follow your friends' activities.
Allow me to show you. When you click on the link below, you'll see all my activities on the site. Check it out.
http://coolmel.zaadz.com/activity
Now you can follow me around and see what I'm up to :) If you are on my friends list, then I'll be able to see your activities too by replacing my id on the above URL with your id. I can also see your activites on my Friends' Activity page which is only accessible to me.
You don't mind me following you around, do you? Don't worry I won't stalk you. I just want to be updated with what's happening on your end and join you in conversations with other members :)
We encourage everyone of you to be as transparent (or translucent) with your activites on the site (at least to your friends) as possible. But if for some reason you don't want people (even your friends) to follow your acitvities, you can always tweak your activity privacy settings.
See: HOW TO: Set Your Activity Privacy
You can also deactivate the activity widgets on your profile page, if you want to.
See: HOW TO: Activate / Deactivate the Activity Widgets
You can also specify your friends' activities you want to display on your “Friend's Activity” widget and page. For example, if you only want to see certain friends' activities like blogging and photos you can disable the other activities so that they don't clutter your Friends' Activity page.
See: HOW TO: Filter or Limit your Friends' Activities
As for me, I have nothing to hide. So my activity page is publicly accessible to everyone, even non-members. My Zaadz life is an open book. There's more serendipity that way :)
Feel free to ask me if you have any questions or feedback on this new feature. Use the support pod to report problems and issues.
BIG thanks to Ryan for working hard on this. Thanks, bro!
Take care and have fun with this new feature!
~C (for C'mon and follow me around the rabbit hole)
Access: Public
hmmm. I get you're excited and enthusiastic about this, C, and no, I have nothing to hide either - if I had something to hide I wouldn't put it out in the web in the first place - BUT I don't know, guys… when I saw the activity feature today I looked at it for a while and watched how it reported each move I made, each comment I wrote, new friends on someone elses lists…
call me old fashioned and secretive, but I really don't want that much information, either way. the best thing about the activities feature for me is that it can be disabled. thanks for the choice - I really would have been annoyed had there been none.
very curious about how everybody else feels about this.
made me think of that wonderful song from Sting, 'I'll be watching you', remember?
Every breath you take
And every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
Ill be watching you
Every single day
And every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
Ill be watching you
Oh, cant you see
You belong to me
Now my poor heart aches
With every step you take
Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
Ill be watching you
Since youve gone, Ive been lost without a trace
I dream at night, I can only see your face
I look around but its you I cant replace
I feel so cold and I long for your embrace
I keep crying baby, baby please
Oh, cant you see
You belong to me
Now my poor heart aches
Every step you take
Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
Ill be watching you
and so on…
GREAT song, very romantic, but in real life, oh well, I don't know… rather not.
anyway, I didn't want to just secretly nag about the new features ;) but rather put my thoughts out here in the open. see what comes back. maybe rethink.
with love.
Gabriele
Gabriele,
thanks for the feedback. but just to let you know, you also have the option of only showing what activities you want to share with whomever.
for example, if you only like to show your “blog” activities then you can disable all other activities and just enable the blog activity. you have *granular* control of your privacy settings. so you can share partial breaths instead of every breath you take :)
and yes, i love that song too. but i don't think it's romantic. it's more like a song by a paranoid, cynical and ultra-possessive lover. where is the trust, Sting? where is the trust?! :)
~C
wow, granular control sounds good. you got me interested again, C. actually showing my blog acticity on my profile page sounds like a GREAT idea… I'll have another look!
and I'll go and tell my suspicious friends about this! thanks C, has been fun being in touch.
p.s. just went there and tried to find how I can show only my blog activities. I can't find any choice that disables everything else. the choices are whether to show them to me only, friends, zaadz or anyone - is 'disable' missing? if so, it would be great if it could be added.
or did I simply not find it?
love,
Gabriele
Hello!
I would start by saying that I LOVE Zaadz and appreciate that there are people out there trying to make this great place even better for its' members. I chose to deactivate the Friends' Activity widget because I didn't feel it was any of my business that Joe commented on BB's blog. What if I was a very possessive zaadzter and saw that Joe had time to comment on lots of other people's posts but hadn't found time to contact me and I started getting all grumpy and resentful? I am all over the place here, and I don't feel secretive, but I also don't like the idea of my friends following all my activities. Sparrow just commented on C4 Chaos' blog–why does anyone need to know that? I think shout outs, status, friends columns and zmailing are effective and sufficient means of networking.
Thanks for the opportunity to share my opinion,
in kindness, Sparrow
I agree. This is TMI. I think the reference to the song by Sting is very appropriate. Yeah, breathing down your neck, slimey, stalking ex-boyfriend… Sting… what was w/ that song? It has a good beat and is easy to sway to…. but very creepy. I've worked with women who have been stalked, helped them attain restraining orders, etc. It can happen here on zaadz as well. I hope I'm not being an alarmist.
Why do zaadzsters really need to know all of this information? I find the beauty of zaadz is that we can zing from our friend's blogs and perhaps come across a brilliant comment that someone wrote … and discover for ourselves a beautiful - potential new friend, new idea, a website, an incredible quote. There is a dance that we get to do - and it is of our own choosing.
Were we told that this was going to be happening? I am surprised zaadz would just POP this out without talking with us about it first! Please re-think this being available as a tool.
Now where can I find out how to disable this Friend's Activity widget…
I am all for … letting people know when I post a new blog and that is really all they need to know - unless they want to watch every breath I take, every move I make… :-)
and yes, thank you so much for letting me express this concern! Hugs!
Peridot
“Why do zaadzsters really need to know all of this information?”
well, you don't have to. we're aware that even if a lot of people like this feature, there will be some people who are not going to be comfortable with it. and we respect that. that's why we made sure that you have total control of your privacy settings.
See: HOW TO: Set Your Activity Privacy
not only that, you also have control of what friends' activities you want to keep track of. for example, if you just want to see blog activities from your friends then you can disable the other activities and minimize the clutter on your Friends' Activity page.
See: HOW TO: Filter or Limit your Friends' Activities
i hope these answers all your concerns :)
~C
For some people this is probably a great way to keep up with friends, and I feel like Peri, Sparrow and Gabriele, and that I am literally following every step they take (which actually I did to get here) and, well, it is a bit unnerving. I enjoy wandering around zaadzland finding tidbits and treasures along the way, kind of like I was meant to discover a beautiful flower unfolding. It is something new, and I'll try it for a few days to check out the fit. I appreciate the opportunity to able or disable it and I will check into the granular control.
Thanks all,
Sprite
I like that it gives more possibilities - even to able or disable it! Great work.
hi C, I've checked it out. there IS the possibility of stripping down the friend's activities to, say, only showing their blog activities, and I can even let them show only to me and not all over the place, which is nice.
what is missing is the same set of choices for my own activities. if I want to show on my profile what my latest blog post is and what pictures I have put online recently I don't want everybody to see where I have commented last (I'm a pod moderator and do tons of comments, it's just too much stuff, I don't want all of that on my page…) and all the other things from the list that are shown now and cannot be disabled…
I'm not particularly passionate about this. if showing my activities cannot be limited to what I'd like to present, no problem, I just won't enable the feature. like Satya-Seer said, great work. I have the choice.
and I see why some people love to use it for getting more inspiration, meeting more people, being more visible… I'm fine with that. it's not the way I function, but that doesn't mean everybody else can not have fun with it.
I'm awfull with details, that's why I can't quote this properly - someone told me some days ago about a man in the US who has made himself totally visible in his blog because he has been harrassed by dunno, Secret Service? some anti-terror warriers anyway, when he flew back into the US from some abroad travelling… he has some 'suspicious' background, dunno anymore either, Iranian, Iraqui, just Arabian looking… (God, now everybody knows how poorly my mind stores details!)
anyway, he can be traced where ever he goes, whatever he does, on his blog, 24 hoiurs a day, 7 days of the week. he says it makes him feel safe, because this way nothing can be planted on him. oh, he's a painter (I think!)… you know anything about this? anybody? have his blog address maybe?
isn't that a somehow weird twist to the whole thought of security and privacy?
love and greetings,
Gabriele
Hi all, I found it very easy to disable what I wanted and to keep the fun stuff. I really like shouting and seeing what is the status of my friends :)
And Gabriele, I wonder if anything is really private and secure anymore. As to the man you spoke of, what a creative way to use the system to protect himself.
love and peaches,
Sprite
yeah,isn't it.
I found him on the web, thanks to google. what do you need a brain for when you can google all the information you forgot!! ;)
I found a very good article on him, unfortunately in German, his own page, under his name, Hasan Elahi (http://elahi.rutgers.edu/), where you find his tracking page and about 100 pictures he adds a day, where he is, what he's eating, which toilet he uses… it's his art project over about four years now. he's an art professor.
there's an American article on him that I don't find as good as the German one, but anyway, here is the page:
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/15-06/ps_transparency
the article is called: The Visible Man: An FBI Target Puts His Whole Life Online.
here's another one, from ABC news, there's also a video… maybe I'll do a blogpost on him, he really turns things around and makes not only himself visible!
I'm my own Big Brother: http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=3228016&page=1
so, if you disabled any of your own activities to be shown, let me know HOW you did it, would 'ya?
thanks and love,
Gabriele
a last thought, about the Sting song I quoted… I'll be watching you…
what I find really 'romatic' and heart breaking about this song is being reminded of falling madly in love with someone, being infatuated, obsessed, totally dazed and confused and head over heals and chemicals all over the place… longing, yearning, obsessing…
it's not the most joyful of all states we have on the menu, but hey, guys, remember? the song wonderfully transports the madness of this fortunately passing state - it gets really sick and frightening when people get stuck in it and start stalking their obsessions, of course…
and I do see a soft connection to the song in the new features, for of course you will, can and are supposed to use them to be in touch with and closer to people you find inspiring and interesting and showing you new things and stuff…
last word on the subject. from me. for now… ;)
have fun, you all, acticities enabled or not, I'll see you around!
sending love,
Gabriele
Gabriele said: “what is missing is the same set of choices for my own activities. if I want to show on my profile what my latest blog post is and what pictures I have put online recently I don't want everybody to see where I have commented last (I'm a pod moderator and do tons of comments, it's just too much stuff, I don't want all of that on my page…) and all the other things from the list that are shown now and cannot be disabled…”
actually it's not missing. that's what the *granular* privacy settings is all about. you can select each of your activity which you want to show on your profile (via the Activity widget) and your Activity Widget page. *only* you can see all your activities.
for example, let's say you just want to show your blog activities. go to your Activity Privacy settings, on the “New Blog Entry” activity select “Anyone”. for all other activities, set them to “Me only.” save your changes. then log out of Zaadz and go to your profile page. you should only see your blog activities on your “My Activity” widget. oh, make sure that you set your Activity widget to be visible to “Anyone” too :)
you can do a lot of privacy combinations on your privacy settings. try and experiment which privacy settings you are comfortable with.
See: HOW TO: Set Your Activity Privacy
~C
btw, i just created a board on the HOW TO pod for the Activity feature. please post any questions, suggestions, or any concerns you may have :)