What's up with Facebook?

I don't mean to sound like a jerk, or rant and rave about nothing, but Facebook is getting annoying.

Today someone tagged me on a note that was attached to a nasty photo of a dog - presumably one of Michael Vick's (who's to say?) - who's face had been so mangled, it looked like spaghetti. Seriously, I don't need or want to see this. Especially not on Facebook. I thought about sending the person a note explaining my disgust, but then decided I didn't want to hurt the person's feelings, and left it alone.

I'm gonna hitch off on a tangent here:

Come on people...the guy has paid his dues. OBVIOUSLY he screwed up...and he spent 18 months in prison. And frankly, who are we to say we shouldn't let the guy pursue life, liberty, and happiness, now that he's paid his dues? This is the United States of America. People get out of prison everyday. Some go on to be productive citizens, some don't. People have been convicted of manslaughter, and served less time. I'm not condoning the guy's actions - no way...but there are far more important issues we should be focused on.

And as far as Facebook goes...I don't want to be part of your "Mafia Wars crew", I'm probably not going to "support your cause", and I don't want anything to do with your "Sunshine Ranch"...I may have been your classmate, but I'm not into "Yearbook" - and I'm not going to "Send my friends a sunset", or a "full charm bracelet".

Come on people! Seriously...this is a huge drain on society. People who could be working on something productive, are instead quizzing themselves on "Who is your guardian angel", or "If I were a state, which one would I be?" or "How heartless are you?" Hahaha wow.

And a note to Mark Zuckerberg:

See MySpace. It could happen to you too.

Death to voicemail

Today I ran across an article in the NY Times, which questioned the relevance of voicemail in the age of text messaging, email, and social networking.

I couldn't agree more - the continued use of voicemail should be questioned.

For months, I've been asking friends and family to quit leaving me voicemail...I've spent way too much time dialing the voicemail number, punching in my password, and listening to long, drawn-out messages about why I need to call someone back, when I should call them back, and what we need to talk about when I do call them back.

"Please leave a detailed message with your name, phone number, and the time that you called..."

Hahaha, are you serious???

Not only that, but I have to sift through ALL of the previous voicemails people have left (often they're new, because I refuse to take the time to check them), so that by the time I do go through my voicemail, it's at least a 15-minute process.

Case in point: This past weekend I was in downtown Detroit for the MSU basketball game v. UConn. The venue was loud, people were everywhere, lots of screaming and cheering, etc. - but somehow, friends managed to leave me at least two voicemails - the crazy thing was, these people were in the SAME building I was in, and to think that they actually thought I could hear their voicemail is somewhat hilarious...

Sending a text message is a whole lot easier...and quite frankly, 99 times out of 100 the caller ID suffices.

So here it is: I propose we all drop voicemail and get with the times - text message or no message will save us all a lot of wasted time and frustration.

Today's catchy stuff from the web

Masters in social networking

Urban scavenging

GM, consumer sentiment, and the effect of bankruptcy

Monetize social media

Virtual currency

Online spying

Conficker protection

Twitter...3 yrs old.

Apparently yesterday Twitter turned 3 years old.

Honestly, I'm not an expert when it comes to Twitter...I think I've written just over 40 posts (tweets) on Twitter since I joined last summer - although, many of those have come in the past month or so, as my general fascination with social networking has reached an apex.

So the other day when I sat down to lunch with some coworkers, I was pretty enamored when the topic of conversation turned to social networking and Twitter - and without regard to my office reputation, I foolishly and proudly announced the fact that I was a newly devoted fan of the service.

I sank a little lower in my chair, and I'm sure my face turned red when everyone around the table raised their eyebrows and seemed to harmonize: "Why?? What's it for??"

"Ummmmm....yeah, I don't know. It's, you know....microblogging."

"Micro-what?"

Since then, I've been feverishly trying to figure out how to explain the utility of Twitter, and social networking in general...so I don't feel like an idiot again the next time I'm faced with the question - especially by coworkers.

What I've decided is that there are 3 basic kinds of people that use Twitter, and likewise 3 basic utilities:

1) The people who like everyone to know EXACTLY what they're doing at a particular moment (or they think that you want to know). This category includes the people who write about what they just ordered from Wendy's, where they're going to watch the game, and what home-improvement projects they're working on today.

UTILITY: Updates on life.

2) The people who use Twitter to post things that interest them. This includes bloggers, activists, and people who spend a lot of time reading.

UTILITY: Spread the word.

3) The people who use Twitter to ask questions.

UTILITY: Collaboration, Crowdsourcing.

I'm sure there are things I'm missing, so feel free to comment, and make suggestions, or let me know if I'm completely off the mark.