Drunken Facebook photos? Get over it.

I just friended a former professor on Facebook. She and I sometimes email back-and-forth and she shot me an email mentioning my post I recently put up on my profile about Obama’s photo wearing traditional African garb. I commented something, ending with “What the EFF?” She mentioned that as someone who wants to be a journalist, our opinions can destroy our credibility.

I just have so much trouble grasping that in this day and age. We should be able to express our opinions on Facebook. I realize that it’s much easier to find someone’s profile on Facebook than it is to find them in a crowded mall now and one must protect themselves from the hazards of being so exposed online. But I have had Facebook for a few years now and always felt that I could dump my photos with friends into it without giving it a second thought.  I am beginning to realize that as I cultivate a place in the professional world, I cannot slap on photos or comments that potential coworkers and professors would see and would make their relationships on Facebook more ambiguous than their relationships with me in person. I mean, seeing one of your profs with their Hawaiian shirt and flip flops on in a bar drinking beer and shooting pool was a little disturbing when I was 21 and trying to party at the same bar, but I got over it quickly.

I don’t mean to make anyone I friend on Facebook uncomfortable when they see “drunk photos” or personal photos. We have to accept that we will see more personal photos when we integrate these networking sites into our daily lives.

Collaborating: It’s all about the flesh… oh yeah and the computer

Since our class is focusing more on how collaborating can be so beneficial to organizations and to each other, I will continue blogging about my thoughts on this. Yes, we collaborate and yes, web 2.0 has certainly been the Great Facilitator for humans to come into contact with one another more easily and more often. We are continuing to condition ourselves to rely on our network more frequently and in far more ways. I think that we have created a new importance level that we stay apprised of each other’s lives with feeds on social networks. It is not always crucial that we know what one another is doing every moment, but sometimes the information can give you a more holistic outlook on that person and it helps you gain perspective. Facebook has become one of the most efficient interfaces for keeping my identity consistent with varying “friends.” As friends can see how they are in relation to one another and how others relate to them, they gain more insight into which relationships are more worthy of nurturing. I have learned that as you mature, your virtual identity should align with your professional. I have not reached the level where I need my own website or need to promote my product, but I know that my Facebook profile and any other virtual footprints I may have will have to evolve with my career to a certain level.

I certainly don’t want to be a prude. I think it’s an understood thing that these social networks dump people into one-dimensional relationships that fail to highlight the quality of one relationship over another. I see the feature of explaining how one knows someone else on Facebook has allowed for them to give more color to this relationship but it is rarely used by my friends and me. Overall, Facebook and other sites have captured the element of archiving who you know so if you need to derive benefit or utility– whether it be for entertainment or for human capital– you have it there. My prediction is that as we pioneers of Facebook (whatever demographic that is, but I know I definitely fit into it) age and cultivate careers, we will expect that Facebook grow with us.

 By the way, I am so happy we live in a day where if we lose a business card, we know if that person is worth their salt, they’ll be on Facebook or LinkedIn.

I think The Wisdom of Crowds, as nap inducing as it can sometimes could be, was great to skim through. It highlights the effects opening up a system to allow diversity but explains the opportunity costs in opening up rather than preserving a more cohesive system of people. The book exemplifies how a company or a person needs to stay ahead of the game because social sciences are tough to conquer and the best way to attempt is by being flexible with the ever-changing demand and reactions in society. It’s all about flexibility and diversity, baby.

Collaborating

Wikinomics showcases the mass movement that we’re facing as a nation and world. The web is not a privilege nor should it be a luxury. Communicating on the web is so crucial to our functioning that any discussions on whether or not someone can thrive without the web should be a nonissue. We cannot thrive without the web in a postindustrial society. Neither can industrial and hardly third world. Furthermore, we cannot thrive without web 2.0 and any other platforms that will enable collaboration in the future. Now that we have the web, we have the ability to communicate, collaborate, and share information all the time and in multiple facets. The paradox of the web 2.0 movement to me is that, as we move toward more collaboration and streamline our ability to communicate en masse, we do not have to physically be around others anymore to interact. Wikinomics referred to blogging as “the world’s largest coffee house,” but I look at it as a virtual cocktail party (perhaps it just depends on which social networking site I’m on). If you consider social networking sites as learning tools for young adults to learn about each other and network, you have more potential for using these sites as a PR hotbed and an equalizer for the underdog. I think of Steve Hofstetter when I think of facebook. This is because about three years ago, I heard about this red-head comedian who was going around “friending” everyone on facebook to have the most friends ever. I ended up meeting and later playing pool with Steve one night in Tallahassee. He’s out in L.A. trying to get big gigs, but he got a foothold in comedy by touring college campuses and using facebook to spread the word. I am happy I caught on early enough that facebook had the potential to not only launch a minicareer for Hofstetter, but it helped people connect who probably could not have with the messaging features and profiles.  I always had a dubious view of wikipedia, but with the progress it has made in the last couple of years, it is gaining more credibility in academia and in business.

In my opinion, it’s all about organizing and creating meaning in the world and creating the most efficient process in doing so. Wikinomics used an example of this early on in the book by paraphrasing the way civilizations advanced by innovation in cultivation and harvesting and creating surpluses of foodstuff. After surpluses were created, it afforded more time for people to pick and choose what skills and trades citizens could hone. Economies began to bud and preferences became more apparent, thus creating diversity, markets, and conversations in the world. The web has gone through an evolution of the same caliber, building click-and-stare websites and later moving on to linky networks. Web users have created networks, blogs, and forums to share in similar interests with others regardless of where they are.

I see that there is a movement that cannot be ignored. I think most are engulfed in the movement and it becomes too difficult to separate oneself and examine the shift in the web and its impact in the world. The books we’ve read, including Wikinomics, have defined this movement better for those who want to swim even faster in and with the current of mass communication and collaboration.

Vday: This will solve some of my problems

This will solve the problem. 

A “boyfriend pillow,” old movies, wine, and chocolate. Throw a little crying in there too.

What ever shall I do for Vday?

I have a few options:

I. Smithpoint with my girl friend Erin.

plus side: rich boyz

down side: stupid, rich boyz

plus side: open bar

down sides: 20 dollars to get in, long line, outfit coordination, weeknight partying

II. Boy

Plus side: dinner will be made for me

Plus side: He’s so attractive when he cooks

Plus side: His good taste in music

Down side: We will have to pretend we actually have things in common other than wanting to share body warmth

Plus side: His cute dog

Down side: Dog hair

III. Ex Boyfriend

Plus side: Ex is hot and we have good chemistry, even when fighting

Plus side: I can pick up a few things I still have over there

Plus side: Dinner will be bought/made for me and he’s an amazing cook

Down side: Too many to list here

IV. Jill Night

Plus side: Early night means sleep

Plus side: By myself chocolate and wine and not worry about the calories and cost

Plus side: Reading and spending time with myself without feeling pressured into conforming with commercial holidays

Down side: Will be by myself and will probably cry

V. Drinks with other single girls

Plus side: Girl bonding

Down side:  A lot of repressed frustration flying around

Plus side: Lots of juicy gossip

Everyone should have Mums like mine

Harper, Virginia to Robert, Jill
show details 9:59 AM (12 minutes ago) Reply

To avoid loneliness
To round out your existence
To feed your soul…
No matter where you are or for how long, just do it…CARPE DIEM
Love MOM

Google Is a Stud

I remember when I first heard of Google. I was walking on Sanibel Island with my dad during either my freshman or sophomore year of high school. I can’t remember what I was looking for, but I had to stop into a local shop and ask a woman if she knew what/where something was. The woman replied, “No. But I can Google it for you.” I said what?

Google has certainly created a dependency to users, but is it a permanent fixture on the web? I can’t help but wonder how much Google will tap into until it experiences what some economists call “the fishing out effect.” This would be the running out of new ideas and a sort of cabin fever for users. The ridiculous growth rate for Google is a sign of its value to searchers and advertisers, but its resourcefulness will continue to be tried in the future. One has to wonder when the growth stops and the plateauing begins. I am selfishly enamored with Google because it has made my emailing much easier with gmail and I continue to find cool apps like Reader and Library. I might add that I LOVE the informational retrieval that is integrated into my inbox. Eh, as much as gchat was really cool, it’s now becoming a distraction at work and I’m facing having to block people because they are breaking what I call the “red light etiquette.”

Overall, Google’s godlike ability is impressive for turning chaos into meaning. Google packages and delivers the latent content in the vertigo of the web for us so we can begin our stream of clicking without a second thought. And now it’s reading our minds. I feel like Google has a hand on my shoulder and tells me “Let me guide you. Just tell me what you want and I’ll produce.” (In this respect, I hope to find a Google incarnate in my future husband.) Recently when I think of Google, I think of Jimmy Fallon commenting to (who I think was) an E! News reporter that he was married at Necker Island. Necker Island was the destination for Larry Page’s wedding that was scheduled before Fallon’s. Fallon jokingly commented that he will trade the camera charger he found in his hotel room for some stock options.

With the speculation following Yahoo and Microsoft, Google increasingly becomes a focal point for us. The Search was good for showing the underbelly of Google, including its run-ins with both other big tech firms and little businesses that stick their tongues out at Google. Google has created the launching pad for small business to be prime competitors for big business. Interesting to me was the nerve of small business owners to criticize Google for changing their algorithms when they created their sites and developed their sales dependencies on Google’s traffic. I don’t think that relying on free advertisement is the most sound way to secure a steady income but, nevertheless, it does reflect the sound trust in Google by Google users. I appreciated learning the different advertising strategy by Google with AdRank versus the conventional. As I continue learning about the leveling of the playing field in The Long Tail, the “voice of many,” namely bloggers, and even Google, it is becoming more apparent than ever that this is what defines big business in my generation. There is still so much speculation and uncertainty, but we are confident that technology and bright, young minds are the keys to the locks of success and progress by proliferating knowledge. We are definitely getting more socially aware in all aspects of life, if not altogether smarter.

Just as we found out how much our economy can “benefit” off of Britney Spears by creating a subsidiary “Britney Spears industry” of tabloids, TV shows, and websites, I am seeing a general trend that I did not pick up on as much until recently. Google is creating more wealth by giving its clickers an opportunity to find better business to meet their preferences. A chapter in The Long Tail is called “The Aunts Have Megaphones.” Well, they may have been given the megaphones with the web, but Google is giving them steroids. It’s a beautiful relationship. Let’s just face it: Google is a stud.

The reading has piqued my curiosity on another thing:

What kind of impact does Google have on my extended family’s business the RH Donnelly Corp and its future for the Yellow Pages?

I must also admit that I regularly look up my ex who is now on the PGA Tour just for fun.

You know just how cool Google is when you have a really cool author endorsing it. Chuck Palahniuk recommends in his writing tips by his cult that if you’re uncertain in your diction, just Google it to see what comes up.

I’ll end on the note of thanking the mysterious woman in the now forgotten boutique on the salty little island neighboring my hometown of Fort Myers for introducing Google into my vocabulary. Not only is she being blogged about it right now and will never know it, she is forever incorporated into my nostalgia of Sanibel day trips with my dad while growing up.

PS- I just bought a Google t-shirt online.

The Long Tail

The Long Tail captures in words the phenomenon of living in a time of streamlined business, more efficient exchange, and  a time of TMI. The book mentions that geography is no longer an inhibitor to cultivating relationships and finding markets. Affinity has supplanted geography and this is screwing with our heads, old and young. There is obviously a lag in time and a natural aversion to changing our techniques as the web’s acceleration and its externalities have eluded many speculators since its induction to our offices. Like most economic relationships, “The Long Tail” as an idea is captured in a curve. The demand curve shows the relationship between consumers and their preference or demand in a product or service. Most demand curves, Anderson explained, predating the recent upgrades in e-commerce sites show how consumers are influenced by marketing and advertisement to share similar, almost generic, preferences for a thing. This top-down marketing effects a desire in consumers to vie for scarce products because they are led to believe that those products are the prime choice. In a classical economic approach, the prime choice is the high demand reflecting the quality of the thing which has created value in society. This is represented in the peak of the curve, closer to the x,y intersection of axes. A sticky relationship is one of advertisement and consumers, but former economics show that while consumers derive benefit from their choices, they are influenced to act in a certain way and buy certain things because the message is they’re supposed to have it because we say it’s the best.

The Long Tail still supports that there is a heavy demand in scarce, or popular products. Although high demand creates a marriage of popularity and scarcity, there is a long tail on the right side of the graph of the demand curve which represents something perhaps less popular but cumulatively very powerful. The lower demand for a product is becoming more represented on the web because the barriers to entry are fading and transaction costs are lowering for those who want to jump into a market and exchange information and things, no matter how esoteric the information or obscure the thing. This is a beautiful thing in economics because it is snipping the search costs for responsible consumers and offering unprecedented diversity. It is also permitting people to create and share more easily.

I do think my generation is tackling the duality of virtual interaction and physical relationships with grace. We are finding a new respect for the web’s capabilities and we are learning that it’s OK to let go of the former and adopt to the new more easily. The sooner we embrace the new- not because it’s new but because it’s more efficient, the smarter we get. While reading I was reminded of my very short-lived internship at an antiques and art gallery while I was an undergrad. I would work the Friday night auctions as a display girl, but during the week I was an official e-bay lister. Smaller items that did not sell were put into plastic bags and labeled as “lots” and were usually things like costume jewelry. E-bay listing was not a bad job, although other pressing goals of mine, including writing some, swept me away from this potential career. During the Friday night auctions, we were told to watch the bidders carefully. I presumed we were to watch bidders who were looking to slip something into their pockets, but we were told to watch bidders’ legs and feet carefully. This was because bidders would walk around the auction house in search of the computer wires so they could “accidentally trip over the wires” and unplug the computers. I was later informed that we had webcams and computers to tape the auctions live and host them online for an interactive auction open to bidders inside the auction house and bidders anywhere in the world. Bidders inside the house were competing with bidders who could be living in New York and England, making for higher bids and a more competitive auction. The bidders sitting inside the house were not only competing with more people wanting the same thing, they were competing with people who could have stronger currency and higher standards of living. This was my first sampling of what the internet is doing to consumers. Hopefully I find myself on the side of embracing these options and not scowling over my losses by someone who outbid me from Long Island.

We have more information thrown at our eyes than ever before with the internet. Google and the TV Guide Channel have both shown that we depend on them for their sorting out of our confusion, but they have capitalized on our time and have brought about even more things that occupy us while we’re searching. If this is not a witnessing of the transformation and the democratization of information, I do not know what it is. We have more freedom to choose and it’s a nice thing. We can also get rid of things and put them into the hands of someone who values them more. That’s economics at its best. Today my father told me he e-bayed a Rolls Royce driving manual he had laying around the house from when he had his 1970’s Corniche back in his days of tight jeans wearing and driving around Palm Beach with my mom. He sounded amused that he found a place that bought old driving manuals for Rolls Royces in England and he made a quick 40 bucks.

As I continue my blogging adventure, I see the Long Tail effect in everything from Pandora to PerezHilton. The book nudged me a little more to see the benefits of not only the web, but of blogging. I am enjoying learning about so much by peering into windows of information, whether it’s on fashion or politics. The Long Tail started to lose me by page 113 (ok kind of admit I am nurturing myself right now from last night’s grand tour of D.C. night clubbing), when Anderson tried to exemplify the top blogs as top picks in groceries. I realize the analogy was actually meant to show it’s hard to see what “top” means unless you’re looking at comparable niches. My only point on the whole technology blogs being one of the top is that there are probably some confounding factors within that correlation considering techies started blogging first.

And as boring as I think I’m beginning to sound, I think I’ll end with my thoughts on podcasts. I listen to podcasts all the time, but since we had to specify for this entry, I’ll say I recently listened to the Harvard Business Review podcast on Generation Y’s need for immediacy. Basically she’s saying we’re products (Gen Y) of the Boomers and we’re worthy of study. We don’t want your lame old job working a number of years to win some respect in the corporate arena and then finally getting a bone as a mid-level manager with a lame window adorned office. Oh yeah, we’re impatient and we want to do our own thing.

I am tickled the subject is “Managing Gen Y-ers”: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/hbr/hbr_ideacast.jhtml

Jimmy

http://jackcolton.com/31_jimmy_greenup.htm

Sweet job! I’m going to see if TAO needs interns.