[HN Gopher] VCard and RSS as an alternative to social media
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VCard and RSS as an alternative to social media
Author : nfraprado
Score : 144 points
Date : 2024-03-22 23:14 UTC (23 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (nfraprado.net)
(TXT) w3m dump (nfraprado.net)
| captn3m0 wrote:
| Interesting approach, but links in VCF files are not portable.
| Android ignores most links, for eg.
|
| I've been carrying around my entire VCF file in a QR code (not a
| link, works offline) these days, and it works nicely with iOS,
| but Android devices just ignore my social media links.
| wiktor-k wrote:
| I've just tried a sample vcf and on my Samsung phone and it
| shows the URL field (https://codeberg.org/nfraprado/vcf-
| test/src/branch/pages/vca...) in the contact page. But not the
| other links. I'm not sure about the iOS contacts app.
| iathan wrote:
| Nothing new here. That was the original idea of the (open)
| semantic web. Failed miserably as all social media companies lock
| in their customers. Technical solutions have been there for
| decades. They don't fit the business model.
| RandomGuy456 wrote:
| If you were just to follow the business model you would end up
| trap in a situation where big corporations control your social
| online identity, your goverments and pretty much very inch of
| exploitable sea and land.
|
| I like the idea of falling miserably over and over again.
| addicted wrote:
| That's the point though.
|
| The technical solutions exist. We need to do better at
| figuring out how to beat the power of the business model.
|
| The hundreds of billions of dollars that the current lock-in
| of corporate social media brings in is a powerful tool that
| companies use to keep better solutions inaccessible to most
| people.
|
| The other tool they use is the massive use of dark patterns
| and armies of phds whose only purpose is to keep you hooked
| onto the product they offer. Like a super drug whose
| mechanisms can be tailored at an individual level to maximize
| addiction.
| RandomGuy456 wrote:
| Word
| ivan_gammel wrote:
| It failed miserably because of poor UX, not business model.
| Social media conglomerates capitalize on integrated UX and use
| the power of it to fuel their business models. They do not
| really lock in their customers the way SaaS vendors do: before
| I left social media, I had at least 3 or 4 replicas of my
| social graph, overlapping by at least 80%. Users can move
| between platforms if there's any value in it.
| ivan_gammel wrote:
| What makes social media social is not a user profile and feed. It
| is the recognition of many types of different relationships
| between people and the solution for interaction within them.
| There are friends, family, colleagues at work, parents of other
| children who are friends with your kid etc etc. You don't just
| post updates for each of those audiences, you talk to them, plan
| shared activities and so on. It is not something you can build
| with RSS/vCard.
| SamWhited wrote:
| All of that sounds exactly like what RSS/vCard were built for;
| what part couldn't be done? Comments and replies could be
| integrated easily enough. You could do this with more RSS, but
| I've always wanted to build something like this where replies
| were via emailing a public inbox (from which an RSS feed is
| generated).
| ivan_gammel wrote:
| >All of that sounds exactly like what RSS/vCard were built
| for;
|
| Where exactly in those specs do you see possibility to say
| ,,A is friend of B"?
| uallo wrote:
| Maybe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOAF ?
| ivan_gammel wrote:
| It is a data format, not a protocol. You cannot send a
| friend request with it.
|
| Besides, FOAF is terribly designed. You cannot take
| seriously something that has aimChatID and icqChatID in
| it.
| 6510 wrote:
| The design is... well it isn't... no excuse but it's
| suppose to be hidden behind some UI ofc.
|
| Why do I need it anyway? In case I forget who is my mum?
|
| If I ask you for an organized list of your friends,
| coworkers, relatives etc along with contact details.
| Would you be likely to share it without asking why?
|
| Sounds like something that should be illegal.
|
| If mum has a public website with her short stories,
| reading list and her crafts on it one should write a blog
| post about it. You could also put the vCards in an RSS
| feed but it wouldn't be as interesting.
|
| I read the topic more like _Rum as an alternative for
| Whiskey_
| ivan_gammel wrote:
| I don't understand your comment. Do you ask me why do you
| need FOAF? I have no idea who would need it. This format
| without a protocol is useless.
|
| Or do you mean, why would you need a protocol? I don't
| know your use cases either, but many people have them,
| preferring to keep certain interactions and content from
| public eye. A simple website wouldn't work. Access
| management and context-specific permissions are needed. A
| way to request them too.
|
| This topic is more like tomato paste as an alternative
| for curry chicken with jasmine rice. You can eat it, but
| the real meal has many more ingredients.
| bastawhiz wrote:
| I'm not interested in explaining to my mom how she can share
| the recipes she finds to her friends using XML. The vast
| majority of folks don't give a flip about the protocol, they
| just want to talk to people.
| 6510 wrote:
| Different people use it differently. Each social platform has
| it's own unique features that one can continue to use along
| with anything else. How do you play games on RSS/vCard? How buy
| and sell things? How advertise on it?
| ivan_gammel wrote:
| Unique features are the least interesting thing in this
| context. RSS/vCard doesn't offer the basics that every social
| platform has.
| jillesvangurp wrote:
| A useful trick that I've been doing for a few years is having a
| folder with qr code images on my homescreen. Whenever somebody
| asks me for my linkedin, my phone number, or the wifi access to
| our office, I just pop out the QR code for that and show it to
| them on my phone. They scan it and job done.
|
| I started doing this around the time IOS added QR code support to
| their camera app (six years ago or so). Very fun to watch iphone
| owners heads explode that were expecting to go through a tedious
| ritual of typing out a phone number or email address. Still
| happens occasionally. People are used to awkward and tedious
| rituals for exchanging contact details and this is the complete
| opposite.
|
| Very simple to do and very practical. Most phones have QR code
| support built into their default camera apps now. You don't need
| any special apps for this. So, there's very little friction with
| this. Mostly it's just people being unaware that they can do
| this. There are gazillions of websites where you can create QR
| codes for web links, vcards, wifi credentials, etc. That part is
| easy. All you need to do is create a QR code and save it to some
| location where you can access it from your phone easily and show
| it to people.
|
| I use Google drive for this but it's pretty easy to find
| alternatives to that.
| safety1st wrote:
| Wish I could give ten upvotes for this, there's nothing I like
| better than a five minute solution to a problem that has
| plagued me for years.
|
| My problem for years has been that people still ask me for
| business cards even though I stopped carrying them in like
| 2005.
|
| Turns out there is a package called qrencode in the Debian
| repositories so this is as simple as:
|
| $ sudo apt install qrencode
|
| $ qrencode -o linkedin-qrcode.png
| 'https://www.linkedin.com/in/myprofile'
|
| Plus a few others, personal website, company website etc. All
| copied into a Google Drive folder as you suggest.
|
| Next time someone asks, boom pop out the qr code.
|
| Brilliant. Thank you.
| ramses0 wrote:
| Try the following: echo "RSVP by Text"
| qrencode -t UTF8 'SMSTO:212-555-1212:Thank You! RSVP for
| (name, number of adults, number of kids)' echo
| "RSVP by Email" qrencode -t UTF8
| "mailto:rsvp@example.com?subject=RSVP: Some Event&body=[ ] -
| Yes [ ] - No" echo "Directions"
| qrencode -t UTF8 "1600 Pennsylvania Ave Washington, D.C.
| 20500"
| jraph wrote:
| Plasma lets you generate a QR Code by copying something to
| the clipboard and clicking on the QR Code button. It is able
| to display the QR Code, and the QR Code happens to be
| draggable.
|
| It seems we are very close to add a Save button there, which
| would be incredibly convenient :-)
|
| That might be for a future contribution.
| yonatan8070 wrote:
| It also has an option to do the same for Wi-Fi networks,
| which is pretty cool
| kmarc wrote:
| Popular apps already have this built in (WhatsApp / LinkedIn /
| other social media platforms).
|
| My "killer" idea back then was simply putting a LinkedIn-qr-
| code on back of my business card. Whenever I handed it over to
| someone (at a conference, mostly), they found it brilliant,
| scanned it immediately and sent a request on LinkedIn. The good
| things about this procedure were that:
|
| * I didn't need to keep random people's business card and forge
| who they were after a 3-5day busy conference, I just had to go
| to my LinkedIn, and could remember them by their face
|
| * vice versa: they could associate my contact accept with a
| face. Not to mention that this opened a more direct
| communication channel with a lesser chance to "ghost" me.
|
| I guess business cards are not really a thing anymore on the
| more popular conferences that target a younger (engineer)
| audience.
| illwrks wrote:
| I did this for some people in my wider team when they were
| going to events.
|
| Most generated qrcodes (from a URL) will work fine, but
| LinkedIn is strange as their direct link will open a web
| browser and not always kick open their app on a persons phone.
| (The issue mostly seemed to be older versions of iOS that
| created headaches).
|
| If you're doing this for LinkedIn, instead open the app on your
| phone, find your QR code for your profile, screenshot the QR
| code their app generates, then crop it and use it as you need.
| jillesvangurp wrote:
| IOS link handling might not be that great on older versions.
| Probably if you decode that QR code they might be using some
| custom link scheme that they register for their app. That's
| still a valid approach but should not be needed with modern
| phones as you can just register your website urls to be
| handled by the app.
| spockz wrote:
| Two iPhones now also can exchange contact information when you
| tap them together. Not sure whether this also works for wifi
| credentials. Sharing wifi credentials does work between
| contacts if you are on the same wifi as they are trying to
| join.
| bdominy wrote:
| This helps with the initial exchange of contact information,
| but keeping it updated for the people that have it is a real
| challenge, especially if you want to avoid using social media.
| yonatan8070 wrote:
| I feel like in the time I take to open an app, find a QR code,
| and they open the camera and scan it, I'd have just told them
| the 10 digit phonr number and been done with it
| Socnic wrote:
| that's true, yet before I unlock my phone, Google shows me
| what song is playing... its almost as if it should not be
| called a phone because they don't prioritize that
| functionality.
| rmdes wrote:
| wondering how the https://indieweb.org movement and their
| microformat approach to profiles and the use of RSS feeds isn't
| already an expression of this idea, only missing bit is the
| ability to quickly pull a blog contact into one's phone?
| worthless-trash wrote:
| Does android or or iOS support the update url (and actually check
| for updates) as part of the vCard as a mechanism to stay up to
| date.
| wiktor-k wrote:
| Could you share what's the property name for the update url?
| robjan wrote:
| It's "SOURCE"
| ckcheng wrote:
| But does android or iOS support it and actually check for
| updates regularly?
| ckcheng wrote:
| To answer myself: I doubt it.
|
| The SOURCE property is optional and apparently more
| aspirational than real.
|
| https://stackoverflow.com/questions/57380771/how-to-use-
| sour...
|
| https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6350#section-6.1.3
| yakkomajuri wrote:
| Not exactly the same thing but I've been thinking quite a bit
| about concepts around the idea of "RSS as an alternative to
| social media". Interestingly just yesterday I started sharing the
| Beta of something I've been working on around this idea:
| https://app.recessfeed.com/
|
| Wrote some thoughts about it here:
| https://github.com/yakkomajuri/recess/blob/main/manifesto-is...
| bdominy wrote:
| Keeping contact info updated is a real challenge. I've been using
| neucards as it helps me know who has my info and I can switch
| which card someone has anytime. Here is my social card if you
| want to connect -
| https://www.neucards.com/of/braddominy?id=VOEF1RShv3&k=46QYx...
| jll29 wrote:
| I like the poster's "open standards" view on the topic.
|
| Of course closed platforms try to destroy this - try downloading
| your contacts from LinkedIn in vCard format and email one of
| them. You can do exports, but there won't be email addresses in
| them! And try to delete a conversation there in order to avoid
| that it leaks in case one day LI may get hacked - not possible.
| Smart people don't carry out business conversations on LI but
| quickly move to another medium.
|
| My hope is that as LinkedIn is increasingly becoming like
| Facebook, that eventually all people will leave for something
| simple(r).
|
| By the way, I have started using real paper business cards again.
| They are more useful if no-one else is giving out any. So after a
| a conference, guess what attendees find in their bags when they
| come home? My card.
|
| And when I return from a conference, I go through all contacts
| I've made and enter some data in a plain text file (the only
| durable format), with LI still an additional step (but >4000
| people that you cannot organize in groups easily makes it a data
| grave).
|
| You should start a vcards.org business network where people can
| add their own profile and follow others. You would only need
| "Create business card" - an interactive editor, a single page
| HTML form, "Search for Contacts" (a simple Lucene fielded search)
| + a "Follow" button and a "Post an Update" function - if not
| commercial and minimalist style like your own page, I would
| immediately sign up there.
| arran-nz wrote:
| A few years ago I made QCard to solve the problem of quickly
| sharing info at meetups and conferences - It's nothing but a
| convenience wrapper around VCard - Everything runs in the
| browser.
|
| Try it out: https://qcard.link
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