The Official Kutano Blog

Screen name: Disfactor

Real Name: Jabrim Allen
Member Since: May 2009
Location: San Francisco, CA
Short Bio:
Researcher experienced in the field of mental health counseling and advocacy; political activist dealing with issues of homelessness, healthcare and minority economic development.
Website: http://thedisfactor.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Disfactor

How did you find Kutano?
When I’m on the net, I look to see where active conversations are concentrated. I call this vulturing, a term that my roommate and I developed one day during a long session of researching on the net. We likened ourselves to vultures in the desert that were watching animals to determine whom they should swoop in on; only we were watching conversations across the net and discovered Kutano.

How do you use Kutano?
I use Kutano daily. It’s extremely user friendly. I tell people to use Kutano as a supplement to Twitter. Twitter only provides 140 characters and that’s not enough space to really engage in real space. Kutano allows users to take simple chat and truly engage in conversation. It also shows you the context of the conversation (by showing the posts side-by-side the subject webpage) and allows you to shape conversation.

It’s also easier to find people to follow in Kutano. In Twitter, you almost have to be established in real space -- like a celebrity – or a shock jock to follow and find people. With Kutano, you can engage with people and learn about them and determine the relevancy of each person to see if you want to connect. Kutano also has a lower noise level than Twitter, so it’s faster to find people. Twitter really seems to be more about popularity and narcissism as opposed to serious communication about what's going on about us. Being an individual that is willing to converse on the net over serious issues, using Kutano to supplement Twitter is a must.

What do you like about Kutano?
After utilizing Kutano, I felt it fit the parameters of what I wanted from a social networking tool. It:

1. Allowed me to be consistently aware of the conversations across the Internet


2. Allowed me to connect to relevant issues, and


3. Links itself to media and relevant users related to events taking place.

With Kutano, I am able to engage in analytical discussion and keep track of traffic on the net relevant to these conversations. As a researcher and columnist with a background in psychology, this is important. It allows for a deep connection to relevant issues on the Internet.

How will you use Kutano in the future?
I consider Kutano to be a major challenge to Google and Yahoo. It is the one social tool out there that has the potential to create a “water cooler” scenario. A place where people can discuss an issue with others, and move on to a new webpage and a new discussion. Just like at the water cooler, you can have a deeper discussion with several different people, each coming in and out of the conversation as they wish. Doing this also lets each person establish their personality. Kutano has a huge potential to personalize the web.

With your expertise in psychology, do you feel that social networking is helping or hurting society?
Society is behind in adapting to technology. The maturity of individuals to take advantage of all the benefits technology has to offer has yet to fully develop. But tools like Kutano can have a serious impact in shaping social issues and help people to engage in social action. It has the potential to shape social policy. (For more insight into Disfactor’s take on social media, click here.)

If you would like to engage in conversation and shape the course of conversations on the internet, join Disfactor on Kutano. You can also reach him on his blog, on Twitter and YouTube.

Tina