Another reason to like Japan--they have excellent taste in social networks :)

Another reason to like Japan--they have excellent taste in social networks :), a photo by thepetecom on Flickr.

Saw this in the Zite app last night. Turns out Japan is the only country that uses Twitter more than Facebook. I'm really not a fan of Facebook at all because it's filled with (largely useless) distractions. Twitter is simple to use, has a fairly intuitive UI, and, best of all, is as focused as you want it to be--all of this is unlike Facebook, in my opinion. I have a feeling this is why the Japanese, generally prefer it to FB. Of course, Twitter is more useful to the Japanese than it is to us, in the West, thanks to kanji. Kanji are single characters that can represent entire words. So, instead of 140 characters in a Tweet, they can, theoretically, post 140 words, though forming a sentance with just kanji is impossible, I think. Regardless, my list of things I like about Japan just got longer.

Read the entire article on Japan's preference of Twitter to Facebook here: sociable.co/social-media/in-which-country-is-twitter-more...

My Take on the latest Facebook Mess (The one where it tracks you even if you're logged out)

I posted a variant of this post earlier on Website666.com. Check it out if you want more context, but my commentary is more meaty here.

So, even if you log out, Facebook can still track you through the magic of cookies--those little "bread crumbs" that websites leave on your computer with info about your behavior on that site or other sites.

Well, this doesn't surprise me too much.  After all, every one of us should be aware that we're not Facebook's customers. Facebook's customers are advertisers.  We are Soylent Green fed to the advertisers--aka, what advertisers pay Facebook for is made of people. Our eyes, our traffic, our behavior patterns are what Facebook customers pay for.  This is how big brother really works.  It follows you where ever you go and knows whatever you do (online).  But it's not government watching your every move, trying to control you and manipulate you, it's big business.

If you don't mind having your every move tracked and exploited by Facebook, they'll be happy to provide you with a place to connect with friends and family and a place to post links, pictures and video that you can share with said friends and family and play really stupid, time-wasting games.

I hate to sound jaded, but I don't know if Facebook being all KGB on our asses is that big of a deal.  I mean, so what? We're being exploited.  So?  I mean, it's lame we don't get a bigger piece of Zuckerdouche's financial pie (we just get the services Facebook offers, which are easily found elsewhere), but in the end, what are we losing?

I'm not saying we're not losing anything, it's just that I'm honestly not sure what it is.

I know I don't like the feeling of being exploited, but capitalism already does that to us.  When we buy a $3 cup of coffee at Starbucks, we're not just paying a mark-up, we're paying a HUGE mark-up that has allowed Starbucks to expand around the world and its executives to get very rich.  I don't blame vendors for mark-ups to cover costs and salaries, but Starbucks (and many other companies) don't charge what they need to, they charge MUCH more.  How do you think Apple ended up with so much cash laying around?  Because they only charged you for what that iPhone in your pocket cost to make?  Hell no.

We're all being exploited every day.  Personally, I don't like it.  But what can I do? Capitalism is everywhere.

Ha! I almost typed "capitulationism" just then.  Well, I guess that sort of fits. :

Speaking of business, buy my book, wouldja? Thanks!

Facebook is tracking your online activities at all times even when you log out.

Facebook is tracking your online activities at all times even when you log out.

podcaster:

The most ridiculous brand of human being, in my opinion, is the one who responds to online privacy concerns with “Everything on Facebook is public. I don’t have anything to hide.” I’m interested in what these people say when they realize that Facebook automatically sends certain purchases to your profile without your permission, and that its cookies track and record every Web site you visit on your browser even when you’re logged out of Facebook. But hey, it’s all public, right?

That’s it. Game over. Just deleted my Facebook account.

Check this out - Yes Facebook tracks you even when you’ve logged out ? http://nikcub-static.appspot.com/logging-out-of-facebook-is-not-enough

youngmanhattanite:

moorehn:

Seriously?

Well, this doesn’t surprise me too much.  After all, every one of us should be aware that we’re not Facebook’s customers. Facebook’s customers are advertisers.  We are Soylent Green fed to the advertisers—aka, what advertisers pay Facebook for is made of people. Our eyes, our traffic, our behavior patterns.  This is how big brother really works.  It follows you where ever you go and knows whatever you do. If you don’t mind having your every move tracked and exploited by Facebook, they’ll be happy to provide you with a place to connect with friends and family and a place to post links, pictures and video that you can share with said friends and family.

I hate to sound jaded, but I don’t know if Facebook being all KGB on us is that big of a deal.  I mean, so what? We’re being exploited.  So?  I mean, it’s lame we don’t get a bigger piece of Zuckerdouche’s financial pie (we just get the services Facebook offers), but in the end, what are we losing?  

I’m not saying we’re not losing anything, it’s just that I’m honestly not sure what it is.

We build products that 500 million people see …If 5 million people see a movie, it doesn’t really matter that much.

We build products that 500 million people see …If 5 million people see a movie, it doesn’t really matter that much.

Mark Zuckerberg (via azspot)

Very true.

(via falconieri)

But that’s bullshit—you really think 500 million Facebook accounts equates to 500 million people salivating/fawning/ogling/devouring every thing that Mark Zuckerberg squeezes out? How many people have FB accounts but do nothing with them? I have three and barely touch them. How many other people out there are the same?

I’m calling douchery until Zuckerberg grows a spine and tells us how many ACTIVE Facebook users there are.

I’m pretty sure the number will still be plenty impressive, but I’m sick of everyone just accepting what so many people say in the media.  Brain-up, kids. 90% of what we hear is hype—aka bullshit—and should not be trusted.  Zuckerdouche has a vested interest in making us think he’s the shit.  When really, we should not be so trusting.

Just my 2¥…

A good reason to stop using Facebook

From whitneymcn:

“Jason Calcanis sent an email to Facebook early this morning, because just after the new Facebook Groups feature went live, someone added both him and Michael Arrington to the newly-formed NAMBLA group. (NAMBLA, for those of you who don’t watch enough South Park, is the ” North American Man/Boy Love Association”.) So not only were they both enrolled by someone else into a group they don’t want to be a member of (we assume) but now they’re receiving email notifications for everything that happens in that group. Thankfully, your group memberships are not shown on your profile page, so it’s not as if they are suddenly publicly broadcast as NAMBLA members to anyone else…outside of existing NAMBLA members.”

—

Hey Facebook, Please Make Group Email Notifications Opt-In (RWW)

Gee, who could have imagined that allowing your friends to make this kind of statement about you this might create problems? 

I need to write a longer post on this, there are some really interesting social dynamics in play here.

Another wonderful example of how Facebook is lame. How many more screw-ups like this will people put up with before we get a fricken clue and stop using that site?  I’ve already limited my activity over there—I think I’m going to have to do more limiting. Like deleting my content entirely and blocking as many apps/ads/etc as I can.  I just don’t like a site that keeps effing up like this.  These are obvious problems that should have been worked out before going live with them and it’s not like any regular users of FB are freaking out about these features—no one was screaming “OMG I NEED GROUPZ!”

I’m so sick of this constant drive in the tech sector to improveimproveimproveimprove.  It’s like TV commercials for McDonald’s.  Really? Not enough people eat your food?  Likewise with Facebook: really? A larger number of registered members than the population of many countries not enough for you?

This level of excess is just absurd.

Facebook ?????Holy DNS Failure! Does this mean they're getting nailed by a DDOS attack?

If Facebook can get taken down… NObody is safe!! O_O

100 Million Facebook Users Data Collated into One Giant-Ass File

The harvest has begun.. Ron Bowes is from Canada, and he is a security consultant. Just this week, Mr. Bowes changed the world as we know it, perhaps ever damning the word “privacy” into the trash heap of history. And how did he do it? Using the very data that people knowingly and happily gave up themselves on Facebook..

Bowes collated 100 million Facebook users’ names, addresses, and unique ID numberson a single 2.8 gig file and posted it online..Facebook also enabled this grand release of private data.

via coalspeaker.com

I would quit Facebook in a New York second if only I could convince my family and friends who treat the site like a religion to quit, too.

Maybe I should bite the bullet and set the good example.  The problem with that is simple: FB as lame as it is, is great for networking.  Plus, it saves me money on business cards—I barely give them out. I just tell them the socnets I’m on and they find me if they want to.

I just wish Zuckerberg wasn’t such a douche with our stuff.

"Zuckerberg needs your data..."

“Zuckerberg needs your data. His business is built upon it. The most important thing to understand about Facebook is that you are not Facebook’s customer, you are its inventory. You are the product Facebook is selling. Facebook’s real customers are advertisers. You, as a Facebook member, are useful only because you can be packaged up and sold to advertisers. The more information Facebook can get from you, the more you are worth. In response, a FB spokesman told me: “I’m sorry you feel that way.”

Lyons, on Facebook (via newsweek)

But isn’t this the same with any ad-supported service? MySpace? GMail? Etc?  Hell, even advertising on the old TV is built this way. It’s our behavior that is the product.

All that said, I wonder if most people understand this dynamic.  No one is getting “free hosting services” for their pics and status updates—they are getting hosting services in exchange for their pics and status updates.  Maybe not the literal content, but the behavior patterns behind the content is sold to advertisers.  How else are these sites supposed to remain “free”?

Zuckerberg’s Law of Information Sharing

Link: Zuckerberg’s Law of Information Sharing

newsweek:

soupsoup:

“I would expect that next year, people will share twice as much information as they share this year, and next year, they will be sharing twice as much as they did the year before,” he said. “That means that people are using Facebook, and the applications and the ecosystem, more and more.”

Call it Zuckerberg’s Law.

We think sharing is great! Except maybe not so much when you’re being pushed to do it by large corporations whose business model depends on convincing you to not value that information you’re sharing as much as advertisers do.

Yeah, for me this has always been about control, not privacy.  I’ll share what *I* want and keep private what *I* choose.  Thanks.  Facebook has just proven that we need to question what we post to any network.  Like anyone else’s bottom line is different from Zuckerdouche’s?

More Facebook "Fun" making it tempting to Stop Facebooking... (not that I was that active, anyway)

Facebook Glitch Brings New Privacy Worries

By JENNA WORTHAM
Published: May 5, 2010

…

On Wednesday, users discovered a glitch that gave them access to supposedly private information in the accounts of their Facebook friends, like chat conversations.

Not long before, Facebook had introduced changes that essentially forced users to choose between making information about their interests available to anyone or removing it altogether.

Although Facebook quickly moved to close the security hole on Wednesday, the breach heightened a feeling among many users that it was becoming hard to trust the service to protect their personal information.

“Facebook has become more scary than fun,” said Jeffrey P. Ament, 35, a government contractor who lives in Rockville, Md.

Mr. Ament said he was so fed up with Facebook that he deleted his account this week after three years of using the service. “Every week there seems to be a new privacy update or change, and I just can’t keep up with it.”

via NYTimes.com

This has been my attitude toward Facebook for, what feels like, years now. These latest problems, a Gizmodo rant I posted about the other day, and, quite honestly, the stories of others who share the same “can’t keep up” feelings as myself, are making me consider leaving Facebook. Or at the very least, emptying all of my content from them and no longer posting there. Thanks to Rohit Khare’s post over at TechCrunch today, I’ve learned that there are a few ways to leave Facebook.

I’m sick of this sheeple mentality from other folks who just roll with the tide and put up with anything just because something is convenient. Facebook is NOT convenient when every few months they move everything and change the ToS. Speaking of Facebook’s Terms of Service, did you know Facebook is trying to make violations of it’s ToS a crime??

I think I smell this week’s EFFYOU.

How Keyword Targeted Ads Are Far From Perfect (Why does Facebook think I'm Christian?!?!)

How Keyword Targeted Ads Are Far From Perfect (Why does Facebook think I'm Christian?!?!), originally uploaded by thepetecom.

I am such a vocal Atheist, I am baffled as to how Facebook thought I'd be interested in a band called "Lamb of God." This isn't the only Christian ad I've seen on Facebook.com, either. I suppose this kind of ad is better than ads for body hair removal or ads asking me to be thankful for George W. Bush.

Still, this whole keyword-targeting thing needs an overhaul. Like when I blog about how Republicans are lame, I get Google Ads for Republican dating services. Then there was that one time where I got two Google Ads that conflicted with each other on a topic that I never even wrote about to begin with!

No wonder there's no real money in Internet advertising--it doesn't work for crap.