After Allyssa’s presentation I decided to look around and see what else is new in the adventurous world of internet advertising and stumbled on this article. Apparently Facebook filed for a patent that searches your friend’s interests and gives you adds based on the that. The idea behind this is that if enough of your friends share a common interest then you probably do too. I can’t help but think of this just churning out more spam advertising. Currently I ignore the advertisements that are popping up that are supposed to be catered towards my tastes. Now I will get advertisements about what other people like, which serves to 1). Alienate me and show me how distant I am from my Facebook friends, and 2). Reinforce my hate for advertisements.

Though as much as I loathe most advertisements they are a necessary evil especially as sites like Facebook expand. The problem is that during the 90’s there was such enthusiasm for the internet and all the cool innovation it would bring but there was little talk about who would pay for it. Now that the internet is finally upon us we have to deal with the reality of paying for it; the reality of advertisements. As I sit here writing this post and avoiding the pop up ads from my browser, my mind wanders to a simpler time, when the internet was free and could fit in a box…

Nerd Rant Against Desktop Apps

Browsing through the net I came across this article that mentioned Apple will now have apps for their Mac OS systems. This means that now people can download apps for their laptops and desktops. For most this might be a good thing but for me this is a dark path with no light at the end of the tunnel.

Growing up I have always had a love affair with computes, building my first computer when I was 10. When I was 12 my family finally got an internet connection (I can’t believe it has already been 12 years) and I loved surfing the web and finding new sites. The best part about the internet in the 90’s was all the free programs you could find. Free games, editing software, music software, music, etc. Even store bought videogames had free stuff you could get online. This was also the era when cell phones came with free games and applications. Then after the whole Napster fiasco and the regulation of music online, companies started charging for a lot of the stuff that used to be free online.

Now that Apple is going to release apps for desktops it really jeopardizes this give and take community that is online. Other companies have tried to do this, most notably seen when game companies try and charge for downloadable content, and it has worked with limited success. But now with a major company like Apple using this type of sales platform it could spell doom for all the stuff that was once free online. It makes me wonder, if desktops and laptops start using apps, will we have to pay for things like notepad, paint, recycling bin, system utilities? I remember when windows used to come with word and excel but slowly started charging for these programs…I also remember what a hassle it was to get all those free programs to work correctly.

Etiquette: Complicating Social Networking

What's been on my mind this week with regard to social networking is the social etiquette of sites like Facebook. I don't just mean posting certain pictures or status updates that maybe inappropriate but actually dealing with people online. I think most of us have friends on Facebook that we wish we didn't have and the simple thing to do would be to de-friend them but due to different online social etiquette this might not be a simple task. Sometimes talking to people can be a bit problematic since status updates or comments on someone's profile cannot capture the tone of our voices. Articles like this one or this one have constantly been popping up about the different etiquette that arises and one can't help but question who makes up the rules. Is it because of the inherent features of Facebook? Are these rules a reflection of what happens when social norms become digitized? To complicate matters even more etiquette changes depending on the social networking site. This video explains how what is acceptable in one form of social networking is not necessarily acceptable in others. Even sites themselves change as their base of users changes. Facebook was a different place when it was just college students on there and etiquette has changed due to employers and parents being on the site. But then again as I think about real life friendships and relationships, things are just as complicated, not being able to express how you really feel or not being able to get rid of certain people from your life. Sites like Facebook are suppose to be places where people can go, hang out with their friends, and share a bit about themselves but like with most things in life we the people like to complicate it.

Should Facebook have a Will Option

Having read about privacy settings and how death is handled on Facebook I can't help bit think that one day there will be a “will” feature on Facebook. Hearing the story about the girlfriend who was removed from her recently deceased boyfriend's Facebook or the wife who's husband died four days after being married and the family that blames her for his death makes me think, what would the deceased want?

Having a will option is a very morbid thought but may be a necessary one if Facebook truly becomes part of our society. Some people may want to keep their image and online persona private after they die and may want their accounts removed. Other may want to be remembered by friends and have the memorial option. Still other may not want anything to change and keep their profile the way it is with the identity that it has.

Then again having a will option may end up like many of the other features on Facebook and be completely ignored. It will be interesting to see how Facebook or social networking sites in general evolve and react to people's lives, and deaths.

Who is looking at you?

As we talked about privacy settings in Facebook and other social media, and looked at the data found in the Boyd and Hargittai article it became clear that the biggest concern for most Facebook users in the “youth” demographic was what their immediate peers and figures of authority thought of them rather than faceless corporations or the government. I am not sure what to make of this finding. I can understand why someone would not be too concerned over a company getting information from your profile since they are probably just trying to advertise to meet your needs, though hearing stories of companies taking upon themselves to announce to your friends your spending habits is a bit disheartening. But why would the government want to get your information? This question becomes more important with the recent bill that the government is trying to pass that would make wiretapping on the Internet easier. This means that emails, social network sites, and everything else on the Internet could be closely monitored. Even though this worries me I feel divided on the issue because on the one hand it is my personal information but then again it is my information that is already on the Internet. If the Internet is suppose to be the ideal free flow of information then the government just like anyone else has the right to that information. Regulating the Internet either to support government interference or to prevent it may end up being it's demise. I understand that the government may just be trying to help defend the nation but because it has used fear to get previous bills into law I feel a certain distrust of the government's actions. Of course if I have done nothing wrong then I have nothing to worry about and the government should be allowed to view my information, right? It will be interesting to see how the issue of government and corporate data collecting plays out especially with the advent of geotagging sites like Foursquare.