Small Bits of Interpertation

Published on February 9, 2008 in Culture and Facebook. 0 Comments

Do you ever wonder why Facebook communication works for some people and why it doesn’t work for other people? Log onto Facebook and go “what the heck are they talking about” or “how childish”. I think that the answer is quite simple. Facebook wall posts are a supplement to everyday communication, inside jokes you might say. Someone who does not communicate on a more formal basis has no idea what the heck everyone is talking about.

It is funny, by trying to stay inside the loop via facebook, you are missing the entire of facebook. And that is to enhance the relationships that you already had with friends/ strengthen the ones you create offline.

How the Media Appeals to Me and Only Me, Part I: Gawker

Published on January 2, 2008 in Branding, Media and Trends. 0 Comments

People are pretty easy to predict and can be calculated into precise sub groups of people where in which products can be sold to. Different media groups represent different lenses in which people see the world. Most of the new media entities on the web represent geek interests. Because lets face it, they were there first and the internet provides a terrific platform in which to calculate people.

emily-doree-gawker-debut.jpg

Let’s take a first at Gawker Media. The feel of Gawker Media is pretty condescending if you had to ask me. Many of their blogs seem to appeal to a certain geek demographic I like to call the normalizing geek demographic.

The Demographic:

In my experience the demographic is consciously aware that they are geeks but do what they can to hide that fact by attempting to learn about pop culture and then dismissing it. Will buy anything that will give them the edge on life and have a pretty firm belief on how they see the world. Sometimes they are into politics and sports.

Let’s Take a Look at the Blogs:

Valleywag: The silicon valley gossip blog. They dish the latest in geek celebrity news, web2.0 companies that fail…they thrive on misery and generally pretty cynical. Readers of Valleywag probably like to make fun of other geeks when in fact they are still geeks themselves.

Gawker: This one is pretty simple. Mainstream celebrities through the lenses of a geek. Let’s face it there’s a section on their website called “Gawker Stalker“.

Fleshbot: Ha this one’s kind of interesting. Fleshbot in my mind appeals to geeks who know absolutely shit about porn. I think of Evan from Superbad talking about how he wants his porn to be high production value.

Deadspin: Geeks like sports too. It’s sorta weird how the culture has shifted in the past decade but sports entertainment TV has allowed for your typical American to get a share in the glory when it comes to athletics. I suspect that at a subconscious level some people see it as a way to “fit in” to common folk.

Gizmodo: Not much here.  It’s a gadget blog and gadgets are sexy.

Lifehacker: Pretty much anyone looks to improve their own life but only geeks look to patterns and technology to improve their personal life….at a subconscious level that is.  Which brings up a good point, how many tips and tricks does it take to be a successful person?

Coming up next: Weblogs Inc.

If You Don’t Have Time, You’ll Make Time

Published on December 20, 2007 in Opinion. 0 Comments

Online activity does take a significant chunk out of your time but it really irks me when I see a person log onto a online community and imply that people who spend any amounts of time on the internet have no lives and that is why they are leaving the internet.

People spend plenty of time on the internet, maybe not on chat forums but on various news sites and joke flash pages.  Increased internet usage is a reality and people are finding ways to manage their time around this new habit.  Or rather should I say that people are finding different ways to occupy their free time.  It’s neither here nor their.

What Does This Mean for Businesses on the Web?

  • Website will probably have to find ways to entertain people.
  • Advertisers will have to look at how much time is spent on a website vs. page views.

Why Do People Still Hate AOL?

Published on December 14, 2007 in AOL and Culture. 3 Comments

I don’t get it. There was a 9rules note about AOL’s new TV ad and tons of people started to talk about how they hated AOL, right out of the blue. It doesn’t make sense. I mean I didn’t really like AOL as an ISP but those days are long gone and AOL’s got a whole new business plan.

In retrospect I can see how AOL was in fact useful to some people, the software buggy and invasive as hell but still useful to those who didn’t have the expertise to use anything else. Meh I’m a forgiving guy.

So what does AOL do now? Well they own the major tech blog Engadget, the nationally televised gossip blog TMZ and they’ve really cleaned up their online mail client. So what’s to hate? And even if they do have a really buggy piece of software then you don’t have to use it.  With that said I really hate using MS Access.  Peace out!

Why Bloggers Hate Facebook or Should Geeks Have the Right to Define Social Networking?

Published on November 29, 2007 in Advertising, Business, Culture and Facebook. 1 Comment

Like it or not, Facebook is the social norm in higher education/college/the post graduation workforce. When you start moving through the blogosphere, one can begin to pick up the cynicism surrounding Facebook. How can they sustain their business model? And for that matter, why the hell am I giving out my private information just so that Facebook can make a profit?

Tyme White from Not Too Geeky wrote several articles critical of Facebook and I am here to critique them. Why is Facebook so widely rejected amongst bloggers? The short and simple answer is because they are geeks. The long answer is much harder and more complicated to explain to someone who is either out of the loop or not a member of this generation.

Who Uses Facebook?

Alright let’s go down the list…Tyme tries to argue that someone who spends their time online/is a geek should be a perfect fit for Facebook. No no no, that assumption is probably the farthest from the truth. People by nature are sociable beings. If you’re a person who likes to spend time online, chances are that you already spend your time talking to people through BBS’s/World of Warcraft or passively through the absorption of television and online news.

Why would a geeky person need to expunge a whole set of energy on Facebook when he already has an online community/real life friends to deal with in the first place? In the case of an internet sociopath, why would that person join a community full of people who ostracized him in the real world? They wouldn’t.

Your Personal Brand

When you create a Facebook profile page, you upload photos, put down your favorite movies and quotes. That profile becomes your person brand. People who want to date you judge you, employers look for naughty behavior and parents are defriended. (no offense mom you’re a cool lady) Part of Facebook’s business plan is hyper analyze your brand to sell you ads.

And this is where I think the generation gap comes into play. The older you are the odds are in the person’s favor they understand how important their brand is. They worked hard to build their career, reputation (or brand). Jeopardizing their brand can mean the difference between having a roof over their head and the mortgage being paid.

And this is where people in the older generation have a hard time comprehending new lines of thinking. Reputations follow you throughout life, lead to more friendships and eventually jobs and marriage. Tyme’s statement implies that we young people are more loose with our personal information and because of this, we are putting ourselves at risk for scrutiny or even stalking.

Well yes you are putting yourself at risk. When you talk to someone you don’t know about your favorite book you put your reputation at risk. When you talk to a stranger about where you work, you put yourself in potential physical risk. But come on, people are pretty darn smart and I do believe that the majority of people are smart enough to avoid unnecessary risk.

Your Personal Information has Monetary Value

Because Facebook is a free service, a user must agree to give up their personal information in exchange for the privilege of using Facebook. It’s called an exchange relationship and it’s how business works. Tyme suggests in her post that a person should get a share of the ad revenue from Facebook. Why? The service is free why should Facebook pay you to use it?

Get Your Friends to Comment on Your Blog

Because the blunt honest truth: if your friends are that valuable on Facebook they have the same value on your blog.

No I’m pretty sure that my friends wouldn’t want to comment on my blog. On this blog I talk about the web and technology. Most of the them aren’t into this sort of stuff and would be baffled if I asked them to use the Wordpress commenting system. They’ve already got enough homework.

The reason why Facebook is in such a powerful position is because people don’t have time to maintain their own personal brand. aka build our own website/blog. Facebook is a facilitator for that and we give up personal information in exchange for the privilege to use their service. It’s convenient.

Is Facebook on the Way Out?

I doubt it. Does Facebook really care if people like Dave Winer, an old guy and Jason Calicanus delete their accounts? People who aren’t even part of their core demographic? Nor the people who wouldn’t have signed up for an account if it were not for these people? Facebook probably does not care. A twenty year old sorority girl probably has more monetary value on Facebook than a highly respected thirty nine year old Washington Post columnist. Why? Because that young person is probably going to generate more page views.

Uncomfortable Stereotypes About Facebook Applications

Do you have eccentric friends? I have some and the people who send me Pirate vs. Ninja application invites are usually those people. I get no such invitations from my less eccentric friends. Why are bloggers like Paul Stamatious constantly bombarded with app invites? Probably because the majority of bloggers have a lot of eccentric friends. We are on the web and we are geeks so this shouldn’t come as a big surprise.

Not that we don’t love you eccentric friends but I think that there is a terrible mis perception about the “rest of facebook”. A lot of people I know don’t get a lot of application invites. I am a geek but I do not zombie hug.

Is Facebook Putting You at Risk For Getting a Job?

I think you put yourself at more risk by having a blog. When you write on a blog you put your personal beliefs out there for the whole world to see. If an employer judges your posts and thinks that you are at all creepy/dangerous, then that employer is not going to hire you.

If I remember correctly, there was a user in 9rules named dook that posted a note about how he got fired from his job because of something that he wrote. In a competitive job environment, an employer could look at such a post to justify firing someone. A scary piece of writing might be more incriminating than a scandalous facebook picture. Yeah it’s uncomfortable but people are pretty judgmental. It’s pretty harsh but that is a part of life.

Do you have your game on?