A wise man once said “Talent imitates, genius steals”. I would argue that Blip.fm is the latter. It takes the best functions of Twitter lock,stockand barrel but adds an all important instinctiveness. Instead of asking “What are you doing now?” it asks “What are you listening to now?” and then lets you listen to that track. Simple twist. Genius result.
It speaks to a different audience than Twitter, though they undoubtedly cross-over. There are people who genuinely connect through music in a way that others connect through words or touch. A shared love of a track can bond people. This is what distinguishes Blip.fm. It enables otherwise random social connections in a way that genuinely touches its advocates. I would feel far more relaxed giving a stranger “props” because I love the fact that they have just posted a track by the Yeah,Yeah,Yeahs than I would sending a message to someone I don’t know because I liked the post they just made. For me music is a public domain object that can be commented on, a twitter message is a private domain object in a public space that I am less likely to respond to unless it is directed @me.
Neither of these responses are wrong, they just demonstrate that the same functionality can be used to speak to entirely different mind sets with simple changes. And that is the beauty that web 2.0 offers us.
Check out my marvellous taste at http://blip.fm/watusi and join up so I can enjoy your music too!
