Yesterday I saw the rather startling statistic that the average Facebook user views a whopping 27 pages on each visit. Of course the story goes on to explain that this huge surge in page views on Facebook has devastated the news portals which just a few years ago devastated newspapers and their websites.
Of course I am on the fence in my understanding of the popularity of Facebook. It is definitely a useful tool just as much as it is an enormous waste of time. The plethora of time wasting games and tedious updates and outright bitching that Facebook users engage in on the site is not just hard to understand -- it's troubling.
On the other hand, as I said, it is vastly useful. Facebook is basically a community bulletin board. You can post the trivial updates from your sad and pathetic day to day life and post way too many snapshots. But in exchange for using this free community bulletin board known as Facebook, they own it. They own it all. The terms of service are so vast and complicated that nobody, outside of a few highly techie folks, really read or understand them and those are the folks that have publicly deleted their accounts. Not because they are ashamed of what they are sharing but because the nerd behind Facebook could turn around tomorrow and change the TOS and sell every bit of information users have given up the rights to and we'd be even more relentlessly spammed than we currently are.
But in my eyes it's a necessary evil. It's the current hot spot and even though posting content there gives Facebook the right to do whatever they please with it, Facebook does actually drive traffic and increase readership. It's necessary because it's hugely popular. It's evil because once people move en masse to the next bigger and better network (hey, I used to use MySpace) Facebook's nerdy owner will get desperate even with his huge stacks of cash and he could very well peddle all of the information that has been collected via Facebook to persons or companies with less-than-good intentions.
In all reality, I give Facebook another two years at the most before users begin migrating to whatever comes next. It's part of the evolution of the internet. The users haven't gone anywhere, it's just the places where they congregate that has changed.
But some things haven't changed. MinnPics, nearing its second birthday, is even better than you remember. Check out the best photos from all over Minnesota now!
Showing posts with label social networks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social networks. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
It's not so much the sharing as it is the oversharing
Privacy seems to be at the top of everyone's minds right now. If you haven't been paying attention, Facebook is taking a lot of heat for its relatively lax approach towards their users' privacy. Sure, I've used Facebook for a few years myself and for about two years to promote a couple arms of the company I work for but I've always been careful what sort of information I put online for all to see. And the "for all to see" thing may be totally incorrect because I have my Facebook account (my personal one) locked down like a chastity belt just because I don't want everyone to know everything about me.
It's not that I have a ton to be ashamed of but I post photos of my daughter there and while I can't speak for her, I am fairly certain that at some point she'll want to have control of her own life and what aspects of it are made public.
That's what I don't quite get about today's generation of teens. They are the first to come of age in an era where everything can be shared online instantly. The key word there is "can" - nobody has ever said "share it all" because there is plenty that others don't need (or want) to know or flat out shouldn't know.
For instance, I'm not going to tell you what kind of underwear I'm sporting but I'll gladly tell you that I'm wearing a nearly two year old pair of Converse One Star sneakers that are dangerously close to disintegrating while I wear them. It's all about selective sharing.
But back to Facebook... I'd love nothing more than to see a company who has done nothing more than give people a place to play pointless games and share way too much meet its demise. They have been loose with the privacy of users and that needs to change. However, Facebook's owner has found a lucrative way to profit from giving people something they obviously love and collecting information they are very willing to freely give up so Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is simply profiting by being a middle man. After all, the internet is all about information and people expect websites to be free. Maybe we've become too lax in how we control our personal information and maybe a few years from now things will be vastly different and people will be far more reluctant to share every tiny detail of their lives. Maybe people will find something more productive to do with their times rather than asking everyone they know to help them with their barn raising.
Maybe if Facebook had never existed we wouldn't have experienced a huge financial meltdown in the past few years. Maybe people, instead, would have been reading the very mortgage contracts that sent them to bankruptcy. But what's done is done so let people continue oversharing but also let them realize that those photos from last night when they were naked and smoking ditch weeb from a bong might hamper their job prospects down the road.
But not all sharing is bad because without people sharing their awesome photos of Minnesota, MinnPics wouldn't exist.
It's not that I have a ton to be ashamed of but I post photos of my daughter there and while I can't speak for her, I am fairly certain that at some point she'll want to have control of her own life and what aspects of it are made public.
That's what I don't quite get about today's generation of teens. They are the first to come of age in an era where everything can be shared online instantly. The key word there is "can" - nobody has ever said "share it all" because there is plenty that others don't need (or want) to know or flat out shouldn't know.
For instance, I'm not going to tell you what kind of underwear I'm sporting but I'll gladly tell you that I'm wearing a nearly two year old pair of Converse One Star sneakers that are dangerously close to disintegrating while I wear them. It's all about selective sharing.
But back to Facebook... I'd love nothing more than to see a company who has done nothing more than give people a place to play pointless games and share way too much meet its demise. They have been loose with the privacy of users and that needs to change. However, Facebook's owner has found a lucrative way to profit from giving people something they obviously love and collecting information they are very willing to freely give up so Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is simply profiting by being a middle man. After all, the internet is all about information and people expect websites to be free. Maybe we've become too lax in how we control our personal information and maybe a few years from now things will be vastly different and people will be far more reluctant to share every tiny detail of their lives. Maybe people will find something more productive to do with their times rather than asking everyone they know to help them with their barn raising.
Maybe if Facebook had never existed we wouldn't have experienced a huge financial meltdown in the past few years. Maybe people, instead, would have been reading the very mortgage contracts that sent them to bankruptcy. But what's done is done so let people continue oversharing but also let them realize that those photos from last night when they were naked and smoking ditch weeb from a bong might hamper their job prospects down the road.
But not all sharing is bad because without people sharing their awesome photos of Minnesota, MinnPics wouldn't exist.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Belle Plaine manages to come off as full of rednecks
In an overly-long FOX 9 News story proving that FOX 9 doesn't have enough real news to fill their 90 minutes of news beginning at 9 PM (below) a bunch of barhounds in the far south Twin Cities exurb of Belle Plaine found a way to be the news. Rather than use Facebook for what it has devolved in to - playing Farmville and Mob Wars - a local yokel took it upon herself to create a Facebook "Fan" page about a local bartender who is basically a prick.
I've been in that bar a few times as I celebrate St. Patrick's Day in that particular city each year but have never witnessed anything out of the ordinary. The real story here is that a bunch of disgruntled barflies have A.) too much time on their hands and B.) a serious problem with confronting problems face to face. Now, I'm not suggesting an old west type of Main St. shootout but these people need to drop the high school bullshit. This isn't a matter for the cops either - unless a true crime has been committed.
In a world where money talks, the bar patrons in and around Belle Plaine need to speak with their wallets and, if the manager/co-owner of Andy's Bar & Grill (Brian Mayrand) is as much of a dick as these people say he is, spread the word in a more civil fashion to get others to simply stop buying their drinks there. There are about a half-dozen other bars within walking distance of Andy's Bar so it's not like the town is experiencing a shortage of bars.
This all boils down to a two-sided argument where both parties have some truths to what they are saying. The bartender/owner/manager might run a tighter ship than what previously existed but he may be a total prick as well. Let's face it, that many people having similar experiences can't exactly be an elaborate conspiracy. It's also an obvious example of FOX 9 trying to be ultra-investigative and in-depth - even when the story is a non-story because let's face it, unless the bartender is stealing cash and serving and then having sex with underage girls this isn't news.
That would be like me claiming that MinnPics is all breaking news. It isn't because it's all photos of Minnesota every damn day. Check it out!
I've been in that bar a few times as I celebrate St. Patrick's Day in that particular city each year but have never witnessed anything out of the ordinary. The real story here is that a bunch of disgruntled barflies have A.) too much time on their hands and B.) a serious problem with confronting problems face to face. Now, I'm not suggesting an old west type of Main St. shootout but these people need to drop the high school bullshit. This isn't a matter for the cops either - unless a true crime has been committed.
In a world where money talks, the bar patrons in and around Belle Plaine need to speak with their wallets and, if the manager/co-owner of Andy's Bar & Grill (Brian Mayrand) is as much of a dick as these people say he is, spread the word in a more civil fashion to get others to simply stop buying their drinks there. There are about a half-dozen other bars within walking distance of Andy's Bar so it's not like the town is experiencing a shortage of bars.
This all boils down to a two-sided argument where both parties have some truths to what they are saying. The bartender/owner/manager might run a tighter ship than what previously existed but he may be a total prick as well. Let's face it, that many people having similar experiences can't exactly be an elaborate conspiracy. It's also an obvious example of FOX 9 trying to be ultra-investigative and in-depth - even when the story is a non-story because let's face it, unless the bartender is stealing cash and serving and then having sex with underage girls this isn't news.
That would be like me claiming that MinnPics is all breaking news. It isn't because it's all photos of Minnesota every damn day. Check it out!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Do you get personal at the office?
Here's a serious question. What kind of value, outside of your described duties, do you add to your job? If you are an administrative assistant have you stepped up and taken on additional duties - without being asked - such as shoveling the sidewalk in front of your office? What as the reaction of others at your office?
I ask because in times like these when we're all supposed to just be happy we have a job it seems that behavior is scrutinized - perhaps too much in some instances. For some it is a privacy issue with a work computer or work phone, for others it is internet usage on company time. But what about some fuzzy lines we all encounter? It's nearly impossible to schedule a doctor's appointment on your own time because a doctor, or some reason, has the same office hours as the rest of the universe. So it essentially boils down to taking care of something personal on company time. But does it effect your performance? I remember one episode of "The Office" when Jim called out Dwight as being hypocritical about the whole personal business/company time conundrum. Try it for a day - see if you can go an entire day without doing anything deemed as personal on company time. Then see if you were any more productive than you usually are.
I would venture a guess that you end your day without personal tasks feeling more exhausted. But you also end it having done about the same amount of work, if not less, than you would accomplish with taking some personal time during the course of your work day. Whether you check your personal web e-mail on your office computer, update your Facebook status or blog for a few minutes it gives you a break - outside of your normal break time(s) - from the daily grind and you are more refreshed and focused.
So, what has the situation been? Do you take personal breaks for those little tasks?
Or do you hop on over to MinnPics to see what kind of photographic gems I've dug up?
Thursday, August 27, 2009
I have succumbed to Twitter
If you haven't noticed, I've officially joined Twitter. Sure, I've been a member of the Twitter community with a work-related project (light marketing stuff) for most of this year and used it previously for another (but ill-fated) work project so I'm not a noob by any means. But regardless of my non-newbie status, I mulled this decision over for quite some time. Would I have anything worthwhile to say? Will I get the all-important followers? (Hey, it's all about my image) My gut is turning and I feel nauseous. Well, maybe that's because I ate some pizza I found wedged between the stove and the cabinets.
The deal with Twitter is that I can more readily drop my random bits of wisdom on the general population, easily converse with others and hopefully push a few more readers to this blog (which is sorely lacking in readers, tell a friend about it, PLEASE).
Outside of that, I'm not changing anything. If anything, me using Twitter gives everyone even more of a glimpse into who I really am, what my interests are and what makes me tick. And it is true, I'm a big fan of pies.
I'm also a big fan of photos and MinnPics is my outlet for that interest. Check it out and appreciate the cool Minnesota photos captured and showcased. And feel free to inquire about my burgeoning wedding photography services...
The deal with Twitter is that I can more readily drop my random bits of wisdom on the general population, easily converse with others and hopefully push a few more readers to this blog (which is sorely lacking in readers, tell a friend about it, PLEASE).
Outside of that, I'm not changing anything. If anything, me using Twitter gives everyone even more of a glimpse into who I really am, what my interests are and what makes me tick. And it is true, I'm a big fan of pies.
I'm also a big fan of photos and MinnPics is my outlet for that interest. Check it out and appreciate the cool Minnesota photos captured and showcased. And feel free to inquire about my burgeoning wedding photography services...
Friday, August 21, 2009
Is the internet just a fad?
Just because something has had popularity with the masses for a decade doesn't mean that it's here to stay. Sure, the internet has drastically changed our lives. The fact that you can check your bank account with the click of the mouse is a huge time-saver and paying your bills the same way is just as amazing. But think of what the internet has taken away from us.
When's the last time you waited in a line at the post office? See, that's the internet's fault. Those long, snaking lines are the sort of thing that builds character. No longer are we subjected to the gruff demeanor of those behind the counter at the post office. And what has become of the weapons business? Think back to a time when "going postal" made the nightly news. Where has our friend, the random post office shooting, gone? These things are just the tip of the iceberg.
Have you heard of Facebook? Yeah, me either. Apparently it's this thing on the interwebs that lets people connect with the profiles of current and long-lost friends. But isn't that what your 10-year high school reunion is for? I truly miss each and every one of the 327+ classmates from my graduating class and am looking forward to my ten year reuni... wait a minute, that reunion would have been two years ago. What the hell? Oops. But wait, our class, as oh-so tight knit as they were (sure...) never even made an effort to organize a reunion.
And it even boils down to technology as a whole. I miss the days of film photography. I loved dropping off a couple rolls of film at K-Mart, waiting a day or two and picking up seven bucks worth of prints where one or two were actually worth printing. Even better was the judgmental looks from the pepperoni-faced punk at the photo counter. I only learned why I was glared at after opening the envelope to see that a friend had snuck off with my camera and snapped a few cock shots and pics of other's bare asses.
Yeah, all of that internet stuff and technology is just a fad. I'm sure that by next year we'll be back to mailing everything at the post office and maybe even carving notes in to stone tablets.
MinnPics is serious stuff as opposed to this. And it depends, even thrives, because of the internet. Check out the awesome Minnesota photos now.
When's the last time you waited in a line at the post office? See, that's the internet's fault. Those long, snaking lines are the sort of thing that builds character. No longer are we subjected to the gruff demeanor of those behind the counter at the post office. And what has become of the weapons business? Think back to a time when "going postal" made the nightly news. Where has our friend, the random post office shooting, gone? These things are just the tip of the iceberg.
Have you heard of Facebook? Yeah, me either. Apparently it's this thing on the interwebs that lets people connect with the profiles of current and long-lost friends. But isn't that what your 10-year high school reunion is for? I truly miss each and every one of the 327+ classmates from my graduating class and am looking forward to my ten year reuni... wait a minute, that reunion would have been two years ago. What the hell? Oops. But wait, our class, as oh-so tight knit as they were (sure...) never even made an effort to organize a reunion.
And it even boils down to technology as a whole. I miss the days of film photography. I loved dropping off a couple rolls of film at K-Mart, waiting a day or two and picking up seven bucks worth of prints where one or two were actually worth printing. Even better was the judgmental looks from the pepperoni-faced punk at the photo counter. I only learned why I was glared at after opening the envelope to see that a friend had snuck off with my camera and snapped a few cock shots and pics of other's bare asses.
Yeah, all of that internet stuff and technology is just a fad. I'm sure that by next year we'll be back to mailing everything at the post office and maybe even carving notes in to stone tablets.
MinnPics is serious stuff as opposed to this. And it depends, even thrives, because of the internet. Check out the awesome Minnesota photos now.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Drama, Dancing with the Stars and Twitter
The American workplace is a clusterfuck. There, I said it. Over the years it moved from casual conversations about last night's episode of Knot's Landing around the water cooler to people endlessly shopping on ebay. Then it moved on to people dicking around on their MySpace page (which is now officially the Detroit of the internet). Those same people have now all moved to Facebook where they post results to mind-numbingly stupid quizzes about what kind of fruit they are and are always buying me a drink. Sorry bub, but I can't drink my 24 inch Dell LCD monitor.
The cool kids drop tweets all day long. You can tell the ones who spend too much time tweeting because their Twitter page consists of updates about what they are eating, have eaten or plan to eat. If you're gonna tweet, make it something at least mildly interesting or so strange that I'm compelled to know more. (My latest Facebook status update stated that I "feel like a cowboy" - I'll let you figure that one out.) My Twitter account is for business but even that is kept at least moderately interesting (my grandma, if she was still around, would probably be sobbing into her Pringles can of knitting needles with Reader's Digest filing chapter 11 today).
It's all good in moderation. I can even tolerate discussions about the performances on last night's Dancing with the Stars (that's a hot topic - I can't wait to see Kelly Osbourne's pasty skin shoved into a dancing outfit). But my biggest pet peeve is drama. Especially if it interferes with your job and, in turn, fucks up mine. Keep that shit at home and I don't care if I put my foot down and, in a roundabout way, make you feel bad for dropping the ball - especially when you straight-up say "I have a lot of drama in my life right now, not that you care". Bingo. I don't care. We are at work, not your latest counseling session. Now get off the phone with me and go make me some money. Daddy needs a new entertainment center.
MinnPics is far more controlled and free of celebrity gossip, rants and drama. Check out the killer pics!
The cool kids drop tweets all day long. You can tell the ones who spend too much time tweeting because their Twitter page consists of updates about what they are eating, have eaten or plan to eat. If you're gonna tweet, make it something at least mildly interesting or so strange that I'm compelled to know more. (My latest Facebook status update stated that I "feel like a cowboy" - I'll let you figure that one out.) My Twitter account is for business but even that is kept at least moderately interesting (my grandma, if she was still around, would probably be sobbing into her Pringles can of knitting needles with Reader's Digest filing chapter 11 today).
It's all good in moderation. I can even tolerate discussions about the performances on last night's Dancing with the Stars (that's a hot topic - I can't wait to see Kelly Osbourne's pasty skin shoved into a dancing outfit). But my biggest pet peeve is drama. Especially if it interferes with your job and, in turn, fucks up mine. Keep that shit at home and I don't care if I put my foot down and, in a roundabout way, make you feel bad for dropping the ball - especially when you straight-up say "I have a lot of drama in my life right now, not that you care". Bingo. I don't care. We are at work, not your latest counseling session. Now get off the phone with me and go make me some money. Daddy needs a new entertainment center.
MinnPics is far more controlled and free of celebrity gossip, rants and drama. Check out the killer pics!
Monday, January 28, 2008
So what if I watched Frontline
Last Thursday, between the final new episodes of "Chuck", I started my TV channel flipping at the very bottom of the dial -- channel 2.4 to be exact. That's when I caught the beginning of the venerable PBS series "Frontline". They were featuring teens and online social networks. I was instantly drawn to it.
I immediately started to think how this show related to the rather timely happenings in Eden Prairie involving the ignorant Eden Prairie High School students who thought it was cool to post pictures of themselves tossing back various alcoholic beverages on their public Facebook profiles.
The topic ran the gamut of what can happen and how various teens handle their increasingly public inline lives and it also got me thinking. I wondered how it is that these teens, all in a New Jersey town, even have real life interactions after they base so much of their lives in an online venue where, as one stated, it's all about collecting friends and openly admitted that there's no possible way she could know even a small percentage of her over 2,000 friends.
Some of the stories were about legitimate uses that teens have for online social networks and some stories featured the darker side such as relentless online bullying, one instance which even led to a teen's suicide.
I'm not going to deride these teens as I spend a fair amount of time online but I do so because my job requires it. I make money scheming about new ways to make a buck online and how each new development ties in to the growing portfolio of products and sites we as a company own. They (social networks) are great for keeping in touch with distant friends. I have plenty of friends who live a hundred miles away and it beats e-mailing photos and exchanges back and forth. The lesson is to have discretion in what is posted. Think about how public your information is and just what you admit to. Think about who, in a moment of anger, could take what you wrote and send it to eveyone in their contact list. Think twice about semi-nude pics of yourself.
It's not rocket science but some of those teens featured on that particular Frontline episode act like it is based on the actions they have taken online, the sheer amount of time they spend online and the fact that they admit that they wouldn't know what to do without a computer in front of them.
This first generation to grow up totally immersed in the online world will likely have some hurdles to overcome but they will also be shrewd in a world where the internet is the norm, not just a passing fad.
How about everyone else? What do your online activities consist of? Do you have a LinkedIn profile? How about Facebook or MySpace? Xanga? If you're a Minnesotan do you MnSpeak?
I immediately started to think how this show related to the rather timely happenings in Eden Prairie involving the ignorant Eden Prairie High School students who thought it was cool to post pictures of themselves tossing back various alcoholic beverages on their public Facebook profiles.
The topic ran the gamut of what can happen and how various teens handle their increasingly public inline lives and it also got me thinking. I wondered how it is that these teens, all in a New Jersey town, even have real life interactions after they base so much of their lives in an online venue where, as one stated, it's all about collecting friends and openly admitted that there's no possible way she could know even a small percentage of her over 2,000 friends.
Some of the stories were about legitimate uses that teens have for online social networks and some stories featured the darker side such as relentless online bullying, one instance which even led to a teen's suicide.
I'm not going to deride these teens as I spend a fair amount of time online but I do so because my job requires it. I make money scheming about new ways to make a buck online and how each new development ties in to the growing portfolio of products and sites we as a company own. They (social networks) are great for keeping in touch with distant friends. I have plenty of friends who live a hundred miles away and it beats e-mailing photos and exchanges back and forth. The lesson is to have discretion in what is posted. Think about how public your information is and just what you admit to. Think about who, in a moment of anger, could take what you wrote and send it to eveyone in their contact list. Think twice about semi-nude pics of yourself.
It's not rocket science but some of those teens featured on that particular Frontline episode act like it is based on the actions they have taken online, the sheer amount of time they spend online and the fact that they admit that they wouldn't know what to do without a computer in front of them.
This first generation to grow up totally immersed in the online world will likely have some hurdles to overcome but they will also be shrewd in a world where the internet is the norm, not just a passing fad.
How about everyone else? What do your online activities consist of? Do you have a LinkedIn profile? How about Facebook or MySpace? Xanga? If you're a Minnesotan do you MnSpeak?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)