Thoughts on Facebook

As of late, there’s been all sorts of stuff flying around the internet about Facebook. Some thought-provoking insights, some less thought-driven stuff.

My thoughts:

- FB is attempting to be everything to everyone. As not everyone wants/will want the same thing, there will always be someone(s) left unhappy.

- No matter how much people complain, user numbers continue to grow. If numbers are increasing for FB regardless of what it does/doesn’t do, who cares what people want? Especially if there is always going to be someone left unhappy, anyway?

- People complain about FB privacy, but what about all of those other terms of use we’ve all agreed to? Gmail, Yahoo, Target.com, Twitter, Flickr, online banking, amazon.com – why aren’t we all up in arms about all these other binding contracts we’ve committed ourselves to?

Preface: I Don’t Hate Social Media

I will make the following disclaimer before writing the rest of this post: I don’t hate social media. I do believe in the idea of “everything in moderation”. I also believe that “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should” …which goes hand in hand with my “having a logical / strategic purpose behind every decision” theory. Social media has some some amazing things for our society. I also think it’s contributed & influenced some not so amazing things. However, if used correctly & responsibly, social media can be pretty freaking sweet.

I was at a book store last night & came across a few of my favorite sections: psychology & pop culture. Browsed through a handful of book ( Paradox of Choice, Sex Drugs & Cocoa Puffs, The Church of Facebook, The Culture of Excess)   that got me thinking…

“We are all published now. We all have a presence. We all matter. Social media allows us to express ourselves, show our accomplishments, applaud ourselves. This is done in a relatively safe environment where we don’t risk negative feedback, unless of course you’ve allowed people into your network indiscriminately or just have really mean friends. We want to be known, and it’s easier to risk this online, somehow. To allow ourselves to be truly known is the biggest risk we take in friendships and romance, fearing that we will be rejected once people see who we really are. But we tell you, fearlessly, in our blogs, tweets, status updates and emails with an openness many of us do not practice in our offline relationships.” (excerpt from Val Brown)

Hmmmm.

You’ll Comment On My Facebook

…but not my blog. Even when I post the same exact thing on my blog (click prior link) and my Facebook:

As you can see, I had 16 ‘likes’ and about 256 comments on my Facebook, but zip, zilch, nada on the same thing posted to my blog.

I’ve always been interested in the influence, convergence and interaction between humans and technology. Why do we do certain things on one social web platform but won’t do the same on the other? Is it because everything is right there in the newsfeed on Facebook, whereas one would have to make a concerted effort to seek out a blog? (unless they are using some sort of RSS reader…)

Here are some general trends I’ve noticed over the years:

Blog commenting = I took the time to find/follow/comment on your post. Blog comments are usually a compliment, unless they tell you whatever you posted was complete garbage…then perhaps this isn’t as complimentary. I’ve been lucky to avoid the “your post is complete garbage” comments – usually people just don’t comment at all. Even though I know people look at it. Which is slightly creepy, slash, slightly interesting.

Liking/retweeting = I might/might not have actually read what you posted, but there’s something about your post that makes me what to like or share it. I can’t actually comment on it because that would take time and/or commitment. Plus, chances are, I most likely did not fully read/look at what you posted anyway.

Here are the posting patterns I have seen from my posts:

Facebook: People will comment/like my posts, both online and offline (in person)

Twitter: People will comment/retweet my stuff online but NOT offline

Blog: People will generally NOT comment on my posts online, but WILL COMMENT offline

Hmmmm.

Isn’t human online/offline behavior perplexing?

Radio Like Button

So this morning I got in my car, turned on the ignition, and on came Michael Jackson’s ‘Billy Jean’ blasting from my radio. Yes, please!

…or should I say: *LIKE!*

So, this got me thinking…HMMM. I really wish I could find a radio station to play this type of awesome music all of the time.

From here, I began thinking about Pandora, and how I have been able to train it pretty well to play the songs I have given a “thumbs up” to.

“thumbs up/down” system got me thinking about social networking.

Social networking got me thinking about Facebook..

Facebook got me thinking about the social phenomenon of crowd sourcing.

And crowd sourcing got me thinking about how much radios could benefit from a built-in car “like” button. I’m envisioning a mash-up between Facebook “likes”, Twitter trending topics, and the Pandora “thumbs up/down” system.

This would be a freaking amazing opportunity for radio stations. There’s no way I would have called the radio station to tell them I liked the song (heck, I don’t even know the name of the radio station) and by the time I got to work, I would have forgotten and moved onto the other 25 google million things going through my head.

HOWEVER, if there was a “like” button built into my car, heck yes, I would have pressed it when “Bill Jean” came on the radio! (and heck yes, I DEFINITELY would press DISLIKE if Rebecca Black’s Friday “song” came on.) [no offense].

This technology could be a huge benefit to radio stations as they would be receiving instant feedback and could tailor their playlist accordingly but could also bring back listeners they had lost to devices/tech. such as iPods, Pandora, etc.

Anyway…just a few thoughts from a random Wednesday…

projection, process, progress…

I sure find it interesting how the Internet has allowed us to edit ourselves in a way that we now have this opportunity to create an online persona for ourselves.

I’ve spent alot of time looking at / thinking about what people project online and I’ve noticed a few things:

- No one really talks about progress, mainly just results.

- Status updates are usually about recent, short-term. Usually about something that just happened but doesn’t mean much long-term…good or bad.

- People usually don’t post about what they’re doing, but how they’re feeling.

- The happier the status, the less happy the person really seems to be in real life (reading between the lines here, people).

I’ll certainly admin I’m on Facebook alot more now that I moved 1/2 way across the country. Mainly because it’s the quickest way for me to connect with everyone back home. Over the 6 years I’ve have a FB acct, the time I’ve spent the least time was my semester spent in Mexico. Partly because I didn’t have Internet everywhere I went, or a smart phone. Partly because I was super busy exploring Mexico. I will admin though, it felt pretty great to not be so connected. Everything in moderation though, yes?

ANYWAY, with this said, let’s go back to point no. 1 – people don’t talk about what they’re ACTUALLY DOING. I rarely see posts about people reading books, making pottery, visiting museums, spending the afternoon at the park, attending a workshop, etc. We all do this stuff but don’t really post it. Why? maybe it’s not “exciting” enough for a FB status?

We also don’t really talk about progress. But I love process. However, I’m also a perfectionist, so sometimes progress is a challenging thing to share because whatever you’re doing is still IN PROGRESS. Meaning parts of it still suck and you’ve still got a long way to go. But process is important to progress which is important to the final product, project, idea, etc.

So on that note, I’ve been working on building my piano skillz. Spent most of my time in years past with violin but I really do love the piano and want to improve. Sooo, I’ve been working on it! Remember when I posted a video back in June of me playing? Here it is if you don’t remember:

Yikes. I think that was one of the first times I tried playing that song.

Wellll, I slacked a bit over the summer, but am back on it again. So in honor of process…and talking about it…and being ok with posting something that is far from perfect, here’s the progress I’ve made:

I’ve still got a long way to go, but it’s getting better! I’ve just got to remember the 4 P’s Mr. Nelson always pounded into our heads: practice, passion, preparation, precision. Woot.