Is Facebook Over?
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on April 18, 2010 by admin in Technology
Sunday, April 18th, 2010There are still no animated sparkly unicorns saying “THANKS FOR THE ADD”, but it IS “gettin’ all MySpacy up in that biach”
I was a little surprised – especially given the recent launch of Buzz – that Google didn’t seem to think so. Doing some quick googling, I found a lot of two and three year old pouty blog posts like this and this that seemed to reflect the writer’s ennui or desire to be ahead of the curve more than anything else. Or articles from the Washington Post or New York Times that likewise seem more a reflection of a narrow demographic’s hip intellectual consumer restlessness, always wanting the next big thing before the current one has run it’s course. Personally, I think the fact that the 35-54 crowd on Facebook grew 276% in 2009 is a resoundingly loud answer to the question “is Facebook over?”, at least in terms of being hip. The first person who friended grandma should get a special award as the vanguard of the paradigm shift. But is Facebook “over”? I hardly think so. It managed to pull off something we don’t see too often in the tech world: it became a utility. If your network of friends is anything like mine, Facebook managed to dislodge e-mail, texting, and casual phone calls for informal communication in pretty short order. What I have seen in terms of user exodus though, is a certain type of person (myself included) that exhausted the “classmates.com” aspect of Facebook that helped us re-connect with old friends, and then grew tired of the “fun” sort of communication that Facebook engenders. We’ve found most of our old friends, we figured out which ones are worth reconnecting with, and now we’d like a better platform for staying in touch. As anecdotal evidence I’d offer the several dozen LinkedIn requests I and my friends have received over the last couple of months. I secretly hope that the Facebook crew will recognize this, and figure out how to retain users like us. Because although there are still no animated sparkly unicorns saying “THANKS FOR THE ADD” it IS “gettin’ all MySpacy up in that biach”, as a friend joked recently. Mostly thanks to all the late adopters who only recently figured out why no-one had friended them on MySpace for a year. Facebook isn’t going away any time soon, but I’m looking for a change if it doesn’t evolve in the ways I need. What about you? Read the rest of this entry »
What’s So Great About Google Music Search?
[ Comments Off ]Posted on October 31, 2009 by admin in Music
Saturday, October 31st, 2009Nothing.
 Don’t look for Amazon or iTunes links in your results with Google’s new music search |
Nothing. Well, there are good things about it, but nothing great. Frankly, Google’s really starting to get on my nerves. They have a little bit too much of that Lord of the Rings “One Ring to rule them all” thing going on. Yes, it’s kind of cool that if you search for a band or a song, you now suddenly have the ability to play it right there in your search results. The other touted features – like the ability to search lyrics and get the same results for instance – are so inconsistent that I’m surprised the best and brightest at Google decided to include them. And the omission of iTunes and Amazon from those clickable previews is a mixed bag; yes it’s great to see less monolithic companies being promoted, but the fact is that this is probably just Google’s way of launching their own monopoly. It will be interesting to see how that plays out; so far their key partners include Lala, Rhapsody, Pandora, Imeem, and MySpace. I personally buy all my digital music at either Amazon*
Kutiman Remixes YouTube
[ 6 Comments ]Posted on March 13, 2009 by admin in Music
Friday, March 13th, 2009Israeli remix artist Kutiman takes worst of YouTube and creates the best of mashups
I secretly hold dear a belief that there’s an incredible harmony at the core of the chaos that is contemporary user-generated media. Well, an Israeli artist named Kutiman proves it with his project ThruYOU. You know all those misanthropic, socially awkward musician types you might find playing music in videos on YouTube, as if they were stars in some imaginary band? Well, even they didn’t realize it, but they WERE. Kutiman did something absolutely INCREDIBLE – and I can only imagine to be mind-numbingly tedious – by sorting through an amazingly diverse collection of YouTube tutorial and demo clips, and then assembling them into mashups and grooves that are in my opinion imminently listenable. I hope this guy gets some kind of distribution deal or financial reward for this stuff. One of my faves, I M New, is featured here. The easiest way to watch them in order is at ThruYOU, but he also of course has a YouTube page. He seems like a very cool and mellow guy; just check out his version of an “about” page. He also apparently does original work; see his MySpace page. Kind of cool dubby jazzy funky grooves, but I personally think his gift is with the mashup. Read the rest of this entry »
U2 Still Hasn’t Found What I’m Looking For
[ Comments Off ]Posted on February 21, 2009 by admin in Music
Saturday, February 21st, 2009I’m really not too fond of pop culture criticism; I think mom was right when she said “If you don’t have anything nice to say…”, so let me preface what I’m about to say with a little disclaimer: My inability to discern the differences between any two U2 albums is probably a result of my [...]
I’m really not too fond of pop culture criticism; I think mom was right when she said “If you don’t have anything nice to say...”, so let me preface what I’m about to say with a little disclaimer: My inability to discern the differences between any two U2 albums is probably a result of my own shortcomings. That being said, I haven’t been too thrilled with the band U2 since precisely the time that this became the case, or worse yet, since the moment I also became unable to tell if it was maybe a Coldplay
This Twit Won’t Twitter
[ 3 Comments ]Posted on February 5, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Thursday, February 5th, 2009I’ve created sample accounts on over thirty social networking sites as research for clients, which is why I’ve watched the recent explosion on Facebook of users over forty with considerable amusement*. I remember well the feeling I got when, as an 18-year-old, I went from being so far on the fringe of pop culture that [...]
I’ve created sample accounts on over thirty social networking sites as research for clients, which is why I’ve watched the recent explosion on Facebook of users over forty with considerable amusement*. I remember well the feeling I got when, as an 18-year-old, I went from being so far on the fringe of pop culture that there wasn’t a name for it, to suddenly being called “Punk” by “normal” people. Just about as soon as I got used to the idea that maybe I WAS punk, everyone suddenly started taking the worst aspects of whatever I was and basing whole music genres and movies on it. Before I knew it, my friends and I had gotten normal just to avoid the creepy older people that were mimicking us. This must be a little bit like what it feels like to be an 18-24 year old MySpace or FaceBook user the past few years. First they had to watch the oldsters creep in on MySpace, pimping out their pages like high-schoolers. Recently MySpace feels like 4am at a 30-year high school reunion; only the socially inept and drunk late-comers are still hanging around. Facebook should be suffering a similar fate by mid-year, leaving kids to Twitter desperately in a difficult economy. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see new text message pricing plans that gouge these users. I for one don’t see myself opening my mobile device up to this kind of shenanigans, causing the return of the nearly-extinct fail whale (pictured here). Maybe I’ll take up knitting and join Ravelry. Any suggestions for where to go with my social networking addiction?
*Confession: I’ve used Facebook addictively the last few weeks myself.