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Archive for the ‘social media’ Category

A Load of Twitter — Read It And Tweep

Posted by andreaitis on February 22, 2009

“We are the most narcissistic age ever,” agrees Dr David Lewis, a cognitive neuropsychologist and director of research based at the University of Sussex. “Using Twitter suggests a level of insecurity whereby, unless people recognise you, you cease to exist. It may stave off insecurity in the short term, but it won’t cure it.”

“Receiving a tweet is like a friend whispering something in your ear,” says de Botton. “We all want people to whisper secret messages to us. Children like to play ‘I have a secret to tell you’. It’s great fun, but what they say is often not very important.”

A load of Twitter – Times Online

Whatever.  I’d just like to globally decimate the word ‘tweet’ and replace it with something less tweety.  Who’s with me?

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Posted in news, social media, twitter | 1 Comment »

Steve Jobs, Unplugged

Posted by andreaitis on February 22, 2009

Social media cues and clues, from behavioral patterns…and the breaking of them.

Report: Steve Jobs has logged off

“A friend of mine has for years been one of Steve Jobs’ Internet chat buddies. And as such his chat client has – again for years – shown as Steve came online each day and remained there for hours and hours as you’d expect a Silicon Valley mogul to do. And it’s a trend that continued well past Jobs’ announcement that he was taking a six-month leave of absence to get well. But then Steve started logging-on less and less. And several weeks ago he stopped logging-on at all.” (link)

Report: Steve Jobs has logged off – Apple 2.0

Posted in news, social media, technology | Tagged: , , | 2 Comments »

Facebook 'em, Dan-o

Posted by andreaitis on February 17, 2009

Facebook Privacy Change Sparks Federal Complaint

mark zuckerberg facebook

The backlash against Facebook’s updated privacy policies is about to expand. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is preparing to file a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission over the social network’s updated licenses, PC World has learned.

Facebook Privacy Change Sparks Federal Complaint – PC World

Posted in facebook, news, social media | 2 Comments »

Trust, But Verify?

Posted by andreaitis on February 17, 2009

Mark Zuckerberg talking on Facebook (of course) about the change in their terms of use.  He actually calls it a clarification, and I believe it is.  The snippet below stood out for me as I read through Zuckerberg’s post:

In reality, we wouldn’t share your information in a way you wouldn’t want. The trust you place in us as a safe place to share information is the most important part of what makes Facebook work. Our goal is to build great products and to communicate clearly to help people share more information in this trusted environment.

On Facebook, People Own and Control Their Information | Facebook.

So I got to thinking:  Who do I trust more, Facebook or Google?  I’ve put off trying Google Latitude yet just because it’s one more avenue for Google to invade my space.  Yes, yes, I’m inviting Google into my space.  But by now, Google probably knows more about me than my mother (minus that incident sophomore year).  Google sometimes gives me the creeps; Facebook does not.  Maybe it’s because I am largely in control of the information I’m putting into Facebook, so I know what they can pull out.  Not entirely the same with Google.  I feel like there are boundaries around my Facebook experience, and I can go beyond those or not, at my discretion.  I pretty much know what Mark Zuckerberg plans to do, at least at a high level.  Google, on the other hand, seems all about breaking boundaries and connecting information whether I want it connected or not.  Google’s overall intentions are still unknown, a giant galactic vacuum sucking up bits of me from here and there.  And I’m not sure how they’ll piece it all together just yet.

So, we can’t really verify.  Which means it does, in the end, come down to trust.  It all made me think of, well, Ronald Reagan first…but then Elvis Costello:

“You said you’d stand by me in the middle of Chapter Three
But you were up to your old tricks in Chapters Four, Five and Six”

Dare ya to sing along with me.

Posted in facebook, news, social media, technology | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

For Those Who Don't 'Get' Twitter….

Posted by andreaitis on February 16, 2009

Think: Real-time thought streaming, zeitgeist and search.

twitter and thought-streaming

What if you could peer into the thoughts of millions of people as they were thinking those thoughts or shortly thereafter? And what if all of these thoughts were immediately available in a database that could be mined easily to tell you what people both individually and in aggregate are thinking right now about any imaginable subject or event? Well, then you’d have a different kind of search engine altogether. A real-time search engine. A what’s-happening-right-now search engine.

In fact, the crude beginnings of this “now” search engine already exists. It is called Twitter, and it is a big reason why new investors poured another $35 million into the two-year-old startup on Friday.

Mining The Thought Stream

Posted in news, social media, technology, twitter | Tagged: , , | 4 Comments »