Facebook Timeline and the Perils of Oversharing

The new features of Facebook were announced a week and half ago with showy, real-life feed shown-where else, on their own "f8"-page. Anticipation is high in the air. What kind of new tricks and gimmicks have Zuckie and his pals   invented this time to  waste/consume/spend our time with? To begin with, as I commented during his speech, the logo looks somewhat similar:

Ring a bell? Has it been so long from the end of "Lost"? The first image is the official logo from the Facebook new change launch. The latter, well, is the logo of the "Dharma Initiative". I guess the bluebook-boys (and girls) are fans of the show. In any case, my comment was swiftly moved. Or disappeared to the abyss of the web. Charming coincidence.

Back to the topic of hand. What are the new changes waiting us all inside the great FB? Besides linking us together, Facebook now wants to be able to influence what we watch, hear, read and buy. Netflix, Hulu, Washington Post, Ticketmaster and Spotify among others are moving inside Facebook. "Like"- button will have other verbs, although the negative ones most definitely won´t be entering the menu. And this is just the beginning. It could be argued that it almost feels like the entire web experience is being swallowed inside the FB. And globally speaking, when FB indeed is currently the second most  opened site of the web in general, am I wrong to imply that?

"Facebook Timeline" is the major term on everyone´s lips as of speaking. (The chosen  term actually has postponed the renewal of the site, as a small web company from Chicago decided to sue the big blue book for using their  own name. Well, we all know this will be settled in no time. Money talks and... Let´s leave it at that, shall we?) What does "Timeline" imply for us common folks? Short and sweet, it is a practical face lift for the old profile. The main picture is bigger and bolder, and your personality with all its myriad epitomes is better conceptualized and communicated for your chosen audience. The idea is to enable dynamic view on your life, past and future. Electric diary of one sort-only to be shared with your preferred audience. Naturally, the idea is to get us more immersed into the world of Facebook and share more information of ourselves.

Looks like something you desire as an upgrade? Want to feel like one of the hip early adopters? For the majority, this is not open yet. But wait! By signing up as a "developer", you can try to change your profile into the new sleek look. Instructions for example here. Or here.  At present, around 100 000 people are signing up as "developers" per day.

Increasingly, our online- and offline- life is being watched and defined through the renewed Facebook. Can you choose to leave your embarrassing movie options outside its watchful eye? Maybe, but it most certainly will be difficult. All this information of your consumption habits will be made open for your friends to see, and hopefully have an effect on their shopping habits. Not to mention of the bigger, corporate significance. Next to this picture, the information gathered from your chain store vip cards pales in comparison. It may be time to suggest that Facebook will never start charging you for using their site- why should they? If anything, it should be the other way around in exchange for giving personal information. As it is the case, "we the people" are not Facebook´s customers -the advertisers are. And boy, are they eager to get their hands on that ever-growing personal data.

The question of privacy is tricky in an era, when an increasing amount of people just do not care whether their  identity is  open for discussion. We share and exist through our public personas, and it may be time that the whole concept of "fame" or "public" is redefined. Last week´s news on the upcoming (18.10) Facebook "tv-show" called "Aim High", which uses actual personal data and images of all the profiles, went largely unnoticed. So did the little tidbit on how FB tracks its users even when they are not logged in to the service. (The instructions on how to stop the tracking, are here. ) It is almost as we have quietly accepted this little exchange of info in order to gain access. And the bottom line is, nobody has to be logged in. Or share everything. But then again, it is a handy little tool to keep your contacts in check. After all, upon hearing of the looming changes most of the people seem to be worried of only one thing: how to stop people of seeing those embarrassing tracks on your "Spotify" playlists.

Facebook Timeline and the Perils of Oversharing

Facebook pushing advertising into Your Friend Feed

For those of you not yet alarmed by the growing problems of the big blue beast, here is one more interesting add on -feature interfering your social enjoyment: Facebook is planning to integrate shameless advertising into your Friend Feed. Yes, in the middle of your lifeline. In other words, if you think you can escape and ignore those agonizing ad slogans on the side, think again. Think of tacky Viagra ads popping up in the middle of ogling at your friends whereabouts. And there will be no way to hide those pesky lines. Yes, a mass of people will probably object. But will they abandon ship?

With over 750 million users and growing, the chances are good old Zuckie just simply doesn´t care what we think. Why should he? At this point, the beast of a company is mainly interested in generating income, in masses. We, the people, are commodity being sold to the advertisers. This is nothing new, it is how most of the privately-owned media works. But has Facebook grown to be something more than just a medium? A virtual living room consisting of our social life, private information, desires, loves and hates? If you change your status into single, would you object to condom ads popping up in your feed? Heck, they already introduced the idea of announcing your unborn child, so what is off-limits anymore?

E.B. Boyd from Fast Company already announced Facebook´s new partnership with the Nielsen company in creating an Online Campaign Ratings -system, which basically observes the demographic data behind ad usage within the network. Who is viewing and what; much like what Nielsen has done so far with measuring television use. This is clearly just the start. 

One might say that ads aren´t cool, but then again, is Facebook cool anymore? Has the fickle aura of hipness shifted and traveled over the rainbow somewhere like the Google+circles? What do you think?

Facebook pushing advertising into Your Friend Feed

The Race is on: Facebook versus Google+

Earlier this year we learned about the slight slump in popularity of the megaorganism known as Facebook. 
The number of Americans using the"blue timekiller" (as I lovingly call it) had dropped within the period of May from 155 million to 149 million. And this, they (as in the faceless, all-encompassing specialists)say, is a reason to worry. Is the pop rocket of a phenomenon showing signs of fatigue? Entering mature phase? (In all fairness it is gaining more adult users over 45 rapidly). Every trend has their beginning and an end. And now, with us all hooked into using social media services, it appears to be almost translucently cool to be able to resign from joining the game. At least, that´s what I blogged about at the end of last year, with hints of antisocial network and the luxury of saying no. Because let´s face it, being "off-grid" nowadays is getting rare indeed.

Then again, for a discernible part of us, Facebook, is just... plain fun. It is like the good old handy telephone book, with only a few tiny little upgrades. I like not always being forced to leave the house to talk with friends -especially when it is freezing cold outside and you feel overdrained. If only it did not play with our privacy so much. All the little bugs and crunches that made us cough, worry and shake our heads over the last year -could this be done differently? And hey, as we are talking about it, why is there no good competition? Sure, there was (and is) diaspora , where at least you can own the rights for your own pictures. But that did not really catch fire. Nowadays, it seems diaspora is mainly being visited by its developers. Correct me if I am wrong. So what is a girl (or a boy, or an animal) to do?


Enter Google+.  The latest development of the magnate company to get us all hooked inside the big megacorporation. After being released a few days ago for a selected group of people (ok, the ones who managed to buy, bag or steal an invite) it has generated buzz all over the web. Is this the Facebook-killer? Can the social network be redone, and better?
So far, my experience is quite narrow and clinical. With the lack of an as established and large friendsupply inside the "+", playing around just isin´t as fun, at least for now. One feels like the odd kid left on the sandbox with a plastic toy and anticipation hanging in the air. However, the positives of the new social media are visible, and Google has definitely noted the problems within Facebook, which we all are more than familiar with.

The pages are clean, sleek and free of clutter. Have you noticed how the sideline of ads in Facebook has grown deviously over time? How everything you search or write about is instantly met with similar themed ads? So far, there is no such thing in Google+, but then again, they might start playing the moneygame any day soon. Google+ consists of "hangouts", "circles" and "sparks". "Sparks" is where news become social and users can set the news to match their preferences. "Hangouts" is like the name: place to hang out with your friends from various circles -through video chat. And guess why Facebook announced they are bringing Skype-powered video chat this week? The competition can be fruitful for the large public.

"Circles" is the main pro side of Google+. Tired of setting up limitations for various friends over at Facebook? Yes, the whole thing can be done differently and smoothly. In Google+ the user can easily place people in separates "circles", and set limitations to these circles of friends. Now you can literally put those parental units in their own circle, and not worry about them seeing you every post from last Friday. Let´s not forget business contacts, either.  Oversharing just is not what most of have a need to do.

Another pro (or con, depending how you look at it) is that the whole thing is integrated with other Google services. Just log into your account (gmail, Youtube etc) and you are free to play with Google+, as well. This should be good news for Android- phone users as well, as the "app" for Google+ is already available, as write this. And I got it yesterday, thank you very much. Intrigued, but wondering how to switch all you hundreds of close friends from Facebook to Google+ smoothly? No worries, there is a solution! Courtesy of a friendly developer named Mohamed Mansour, one can easily switch the bundle of pals from the blue system into the G-system. It is called "Facebook Friend Exporter", it is free and available here . Be prepared to move everyone into their respective circles, though.

So how does one get inside the happening hotspot of the moment? My, by invitation only! As I am writing this, the invitation system does not work smoothly as of yet (that´s why the system is not officially open yet!). But every now and then a few invites slip by. So... does anyone want an invite? If so, write a nice comment, send your gmail-address (snoweffect333@gmail.com) and I will do my best.

The Race is on: Facebook versus Google+

James Bond, Product placement and the not-so innocent Quickie

The old days of moviemaking, when a simple Coke-can might give us a quick innocent flash on the sidelines of the overall story (semi-accidentally) are long gone. These days it is all about the business and cross-promotion.

In "The Social Network" all the computers were conveniently old-school Sony-apparatuses, to boost the sales of the parent company producing the Facebook-epic.  The two "Sex and the City" movies were blatant advertising towards females from beginning to end, much like the tv-series they were based on. "Cast away" was nothing but a long commercial (for which we moviegoers paid!) defending the glory of Fed-ex. "Up in the Air", while still having some artistic value, was basically showing us how cool "American Airlines" is- look, even George Clooney likes to travel with it! In the eyes of the mass public, there is no difference between an actor and his/her character. We buy for a multitude of reasons, and a lot of the choices are anything but rational. Or so they say. They, you might ask?

These days, when actual commercials are easy to miss with TIVO, illegal torrents and just plain growing resistance to direct messages, the (M)ad Men have gotten ever more creative. Believe it or not, there are actual people making a living planning all those wicked marketing moves to be shown on film. Sometimes it is grotesque and obvious, often so subtle and fast that you might blink and miss it. But images are never unintentional. The idea is to plant a seed, make the viewer desire the product and not even realize what hit her/him. At the moment this beast of a business is valued at $ 3 billion.

One of the professionals in the mind game business of today is Norm Marshall, whose official title is "entertainment marketing consultant". Former car salesman has made a living arranging fertile unions between brands and Hollywood, and sees no harm in what he does. But even Marshall admits that there has to be a balance between the creative forces and the marketing forces: "otherwise it is just one big commercial". He himself only watches period movies anymore, due to boredom with contemporary flicks and their constant ads.

And how does this get us to the "Man with a licence to kill"? The production of the next earth-shaking spy thriller was almost halted due to difficulties in arranging financing. But alas, a few calls to quite a few companies, and the budget is back in order. So much so, that practically a third of the overall budget of the next James Bond- classic is coming from product placement. In total that makes a nice $45 million dollars, and with that kind of money, we are sure to see brands names from beginning to end. If you want to pass them, you might as well pass the entire action adventure.

Morgan Spurlock, the ever-curious American filmmaker on the loose, has naturally chosen this sexy topic for his new documentary, "POM Wonderful presents: The Greatest Movie ever sold". In his customary satirical way, he exposes the modus operandi behind the entire business, and manages to sell some visible space in his own film, as well. All in all, he has about 20 brands sponsoring his cultural critique, making one question what his overall goal is in the first place. According to Spurlock, even the first short clips of film were filled with advertisements: Thomas Edison shot the famous train scenes with ads plastered on the sides of the train. Spurlock´s intent is good, yet his idea seems to lack teeth on the actual agenda. These days, the few glimpses of a Coke-can or a  brand name cigarette  are increasingly being upgraded with actual script inserts, making movies (or tv-shows) seem like occasional, well,  plain commercials.(Fast-rewind to previous example on "Cast Away"). Problem does not lie with marketing itself: nowadays it is hard to walk through a street without being offered something. The issue lies within ourselves as a society, and our increasing acceptance to become targets for messages masquerading as innocent cultural texts. Or, does it all really matter? Are we consumers above all else?




Even the genius auteur himself, Mr. David Lynch, is not immune to the allures of commercialism. Besides making brilliant and mind-boggling art films every now and then, he has also ventured into the world of commercials. Perfume, pregnancy tests, cars, game consoles, antacids... Lynch is first to admit he does these for money and access to latest technology. But product placement for him putrefies.

James Bond, Product placement and the not-so innocent Quickie

Bitesize Pops : "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro"

After my latest grim posting, I figured it is time to lift up the mood. For now.
I have lately been getting into Hunter S. Thompson´s collected writings. My oh my, the man was a serious loose cannon. Constantly in trouble, intoxicated and high whenever and wherever. Kind of like the character of "Hank Moody" in the Showtime series "Californication". The new season? Not convinced, not yet.
It takes a lot to please my taste. So here we go.

Japanese scientists have a party, get drunk, spill the drinks -and by accident find out that the partymix-booze also induces superconductivity. Cheers!

Contrary to popular gossip, Facebook is not shutting down on March 15. Although it would be interesting to see how people would react -yes,  I am looking at you, Face-a-holics. Still eagerly waiting to see what happens with the "alternative" facebooks, such as Diaspora.

Music influences our brain the same way as cocaine. But it has to be our favorite tunes. I knew this. Try as I may, German schlagers won´t do it for me. Even in the dark. Apparently the dopamine level increases (while listening to music) varied from 6-21 % depending on the test subject. Which proves that some of us can get more high than others. Wonderful.

Google co-founder Larry Page buys a $45  million dollar super-yacht, to join his fighter jet. "The adventure boat" can carry a helicopter, but fits only 10 guests. So now you know where to go if he invites your over.

In need of a new hangout? Gaius Baltar´s former  crib is free for taking. Beautiful scenery, ocean front views, 4000 sq.ft., large wrap-around balconies with hot tub. Yes people, that tub. Near Whistler in British Columbia. The rent is only $4350 CAD, which is reduced from the original 4800. Hmm, no takers for this amazing opportunity to live like the man himself? I am suspecting that the beautiful blonde robot does not come with the house, though. Don´t know who Gaius is/was? Then this post is not for you.

In case you have not heard yet, The History Channel killed the highly anticipated eight-part miniseries "The Kennedys". It has been shopped around, but nobody touches it. Why? Because it is the Kennedys, and here is the story on how the family persuaded the network to bury the already filmed product. Great eyeopener for those in the dark on how power works. Even though the family does not have a member in the elective office anymore, after Patrick J. Kennedy, they still have influence. Interestingly it was the women of the family behind the pulling of the plug, as it is the men of that clan who make up all the dirty laundry. Need not go into detail, I think we all know.

PJ Harvey is releasing new stuff on February 25th. I know a lot people still regard her early recording, "Rid of Me" from 1993 the best . I still prefer "Stories from the city, stories from the sea" (2000).

Courtney Love´s erratic, strange, absurd yet entertaining Twitter feed is no more. As I commented on earlier, her bizarre pictures in states of various undress and levels of intoxication have charmed us for quite some time now, but it appears an unfortunate case of a lawsuit stopped this train from moving. Rest in peace, CourtneyLoveuk.

Trent Reznor is responsible for the score of the upcoming American remake on "The Girl with the dragon tattoo". My interest level for this unholy cooking shot up immediately; I suppose I have shared my opinions on that earlier. I do hope it is better that what he did with "The Social Network". Well, there is always The Downward Spiral, which I love.

For last, let´s see some images from that up-for-grabs house over at Vancouver:

Bitesize Pops : "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro"

The Antisocial Network

Funny how trends go about. First it´s the few innovators that proudly show off their new toys and habits for the rest of the vulgar herd. If it works, the masses catch on. The cycle dies, when the conservative everyman has heard or adapted the trend. Early adapters and coolness hunters are valuable in showing the way forward. This reminds me of Iceland, and how it is commonly used by companies as a closed testing ground for new fashion. If it passes there, it will most definitely work elsewhere. Don´t believe me? Go and visit. What the people wear now, is all the rage a few years from now. If anything, the current economy might even push out the creativity and craftiness in full blossom.

In the light of this cycle of chic, should we be alarmed of the recent death of the oldest known Facebook user? Ivy Bean was 104-years-old, had 4949 friends (!) and proud to be part of the network since 2007. She also used Skype, which I suspect is not the usual tool of communication for seniors in her golden age. Yes, the mature surfers are catching on the social media wagon. I blame it all on William Shatner. The old prankster with a phase gun has been tweeting since the early days of the service and currently is the proud owner of 417 394 followers. He turns 80 next year.




Jesse Eisenberg, the actor mostly known for portraying the founder of Facebook, was recently interviewed by Time Magazine. The young hipster proudly claims to not reading his mail, not having a television set for the last 10 years, and no, he does not have a Facebook account. (So I suppose the nine fellows or so presenting themselves under his name on Twitter are not really him, either) In essence, Jesse has decided to opt out of the all-encompassing influence of real-time networks, being in touch 24 h and knowing the news instantly. Or, that is at least the image he likes to give us. Why? Because it is cool. I can almost  picture Jesse carrying a vintage retro Nokia log, which works occasionally, carries a ton -but brings instant street cred for the lone cowboy who just doesn´t want to be like the rest of us. (Oh please, he so has a Blackberry or iPhone with him at all times. Trust.)

Another low-tech trendster and the original lady of hip is our very own Winona Ryder. She also has declared her open dislike for our digital age. While she treasures her old mix-tapes (remember those?), the girl has no computer. Apparently Winona has heard  that "one can find anything on there; troubles, salaries and such". Ms Ryder lives in San Francisco, of all places, so the idea of her being isolated amids the hot spot of global information technology development seems absurd. But plausible, yes.When you think of all the necessary information and services being available today online ONLY, it becomes  hard to imagine someone being able to live separate from the web (in United States). This leads me to assume that this kind of living is a right for the rare and privileged. In other words, one has resources  and people working for them in minding their affairs. Can you imagine living without a computer and modern communication technology?

The Antisocial Network

Bitesize pops

The Steve Jobs -action figure has arrived. 80 dollars, and Steve can be lurking at you on your desk. But be patient - there is a waiting list , as the first 300 Steves were already sold out.

One in four(4) websites visited by Americans last week was Facebook. Almost five times more pageviews than Google. scary

The house portrayed as the home of vampire queen Sophie-Anne Leclerq in the acclaimed tv-show "True Blood" is on the market. Tacky sunroom, anyone?

According to dna-studies, Native Americans visited Iceland 100 years ago.

Steve Wozniak believes that Android phones will surpass other smartphones in world dominance. He still likes his iPhone, though.

Daniel Day-Lewis will play play Abraham Lincoln in a new epic made by Steven Spielberg.

Wesley Snipes is finally entering prison for his tax evasion. His sentence is three years.

Tim Burton is writing a Twitter story with his followers. Anyone can participate.

Warner Brother is rebooting "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" -but without Joss Whedon

And finally, "The Green Hornet" -trailer is here:

Bitesize pops

Facebook Privacy Reach

Wall Street Journal  revealed today that many of the top applications ("apps") on Facebook are actually devices for gathering and selling user data for third parties, namely advertising and internet tracking companies. In other words, every time one engages on Farmville or Texas Hold ´em poker, for example, the Big Brother is watching and recording. Or shall we say, the Ad Brother is.


Officially Facebook claims that no actual private data is compromised and that they are limiting the ad-and data collection companies´abilities to gain information. Thousands of applications are said to have been disabled for violating its policies. However,  it is hard to believe that Facebook itself did not know of the scope of this data mining in action. The growing number of applications are producing revenue for Facebook via virtual currency used in the games.
Data gathering seems to be so pervasive all around the internet these days, that one must ask, are we surprised of this news?

Facebook Privacy Reach