Social Networking Hangover
I find that I'm getting some great utility from both Twitter and Facebook these days. On Facebook, I have reconnected with friends I haven't talked to in years and have been enjoying reading some of the goings on of those family and friends. Twitter has been a fun way to get a glimpse into the lives of people I'd otherwise probably never otherwise get to see, including celebrities like Firefly's Nathan Fillion or Dollhouse's Eliza Dushku, nerd heroes such as Rain Wilson (who incidentally has WAY too much free time) or Wil Wheaton, and even favorite authors such as John Scalzi and Brandon Sanderson. People can post short SMS style updates with a quick thought or a quick URL without a lot of effort or drama, when it's just not worth the effort of creating a blog entry or mass e-mail. That's not to say that they are without their shortfalls, which I'm going to proceed to point out and complain about because, honestly, isn't having a place to complain about random crap really one of the key benefits of even maintaining a blog?
Let's start with Facebook. Applications. Let me say that again:
I can sum up my thoughts on applications in general with a single word, "why?" It seems like everytime I open Facebook I have at least one visible request for Bob's SuperSecret Monkey Mafia, Jim's Fantasy Banana Squad, or some random quiz "What flower from Martha Stewart's Garden Are You?". And if I click the handy "See All Requests" button I can see "Rainy Garden City Housing Fun" or "My favorite kind of stone to lick after eating bugs" and fifty other application requests, all wanting my attention and time. What is the carrot they dangle juicily in front of me? Why the chance to send the pain along to thiry of my other friends, as if that somehow makes it hurt less, and a chance to hear some made up nonsense about myself, "you like to drink grape cool-aid when it rains". Many of these applications even reward you for inflicting this pain on your friends, "You've passed our crap application to 20 friends, here's a free virtual cucumber!!! Check back when you hit 50 for your free virtual apple!". Even more insulting, many of the applications put their virtual bullshit rewards in the form of real world recognizable items, as if that somehow makes them more tangible. "You just bought a 82" Panasonic 1080p LCD television for your Hobbit Villa for the cost of selling out 100 of your Facebook Friends!". Oh boy! Now I can close my eyes and watch my favorite shows on my imaginary, virtual LDC television! Hey, wait a minute, that kinda sounds like something else, what could it be, oh yeah, a book, except without any actual content! Puhhhleeease. I'd really like an opt out of every application option or an ignore all application requests setting.
Don't think Twitter will escape unscathed either! Why is it that I have the choice between the two extremes of either:
1. Not letting anyone follow me on Twitter (i.e. get my updates)
2. Letting anyone in the universe follow me, including the many automated spambots who are just trying to sell me the next great real-estate deal or a method to pay zero taxes.
How about if Twitter were to implement some anti-bot technology? It seems like nearly every single other site in existence is able to implement some type of anti-bot system, even if it's just a basic captcha. I don't mind if an actual person wants to follow me on Twitter, I may not understand it since I usually don't have all that much to say, but I don't mind. Having said that, it's pretty damn irritating that every time I get a new follower I have to click on their username and review their updates to see if they are a spambot or an actual person.
I'm sure MySpace is feeling pretty left out about now, so let me just mention that I still think MySpace is the biggest crap vortex on the planet, they seem to account for a large portion of the Internet's malware quotient as well as sexual predators galore. MySpace is a huge waste of bandwidth and I'd be very the opposite of upset if they just happened to suffer X number of simultaneous drive failures, where X is the total number of drives they employ, and their backup system was found to be inoperational.
I have been enjoying GoodReads, which seems to be a great way to keep track of what books you have read or want to read, as well as share your X out of 5 star ratings and even more comprehensive reviews of what you've read and enjoyed, or not. I'm on there as Ryshon.remove.everything.between.the.first.dot.and.the.at.symbol@gmail.com if you'd like to checkout my reads/reviews and/or friend me if you decide to sign up.
Today's update has been brought to you by the letter:
-Z
