Equilibrium is...dis-Equilibrium

The most influential celebrities on Twitter based on clickthrough rates. [Pic] source: DanZarrella.Com

 

Facebook can tell if you are a 'narcissist' but, please, don't believe this logic

Though social networking commentator Laurel Papworth doubt the fact, researchers at Canada's York University said that If you are obsessed with your status updates and picture uploads on Facebook, you are probable an online narcissist and your behaviour is related to egotism and low self-esteem. 

"They probably show that narcissist trait offline as well, but online, they update a lot and always write about where they are or who they're with," News.com.au quoted Australian Facebook researcher Julian Cole as saying.

However, Laurel Papworth said this was not true. "I would expect that to be true of a broadcast site like YouTube or MySpace, but Facebook is where you communicate with your inner circle of friends and it mimics your everyday behaviour," Papworth said. Instead, users were "trying to show that they feel loved by friends writing comments back," she added. And, I believe that most social media users, in their close circles, follow one common online behavior: "I-promise-to-listen-I-promise-to-respond-to-your-questions".

Your Facebook Friends Are Watching You - Did We Just Move Closer to 1984?

• Your Facebook Friends Are Watching You—Did We Just Move Closer to 1984? http://tcrn.ch/boUNp2 One of the scariest things you (&I)'ve seen!
• MG Siegler called it "Facebook's Awesome Dark Knight-Esque Live Check-In Display." Tho potentially a gr8 thing, also, troubling for us!
• "You and your friends can now post where you are & share this information, if you so chose." - Jon Orlin Some users're bound 2be confused...

via Twitter 1 2 3

Who To Follow? Confused??

• RT @dibyabttb: After Facebook and Twitter, now Google Buzz gets a "Who To Follow" feature too. http://bit.ly/asPIVN
• RT @gkhamba: Alright Twitter, I'll follow everyone you want me to follow. Except Sania Mirza. That's just underhanded.

via Twitter 1 2

Further reading on Twitter's "Who To Follow": Do you hate those recommendations from Twitter?

WebEden Launches First Website Building Facebook Application

WebEden, an independently run, London based, web Software Company, this week announced the launch of their very first Facebook Application. The app – called the WebEden Website Builder - makes it possible for anyone to build a website from within Facebook.

As of now, anyone looking to build a website has had to leave Facebook and find a website building service. The new app keeps users within the Facebook environment, and still lets them get on with their website building. MD Ken Builder said today: 

"Last year we set up a Facebook Page, and it has been a popular place for us to interact with our customers. We help them with support issues and get feedback about the websites they're building. Customers also share news about our website building service on Facebook. The problem, we realized, was that if anyone wanted to actually build a website, they were required to leave Facebook and come to our website. Thanks to our Facebook App they no longer need to leave, but can build a website right there within Facebook."

The Application uses a mixture of iFrames and FBML to deliver a seamless website building experience. Anyone looking to use the app can find it on the WebEden Facebook page or find it directly at http://apps.facebook.com/webeden 

Do you hate those recommendations from Twitter?

She asks on her blog, "Do you hate those recommendations from twitter as much as I do?" And, I replied with my comment: "No. A Big No." Here is my comment:

Oh, hi! Thanx for the coding-boding lessons I just "savor" on your blog: Removing Twitter's Recommended User to Follow "Feature". But, I think not the way you're thinking. I'm telling you the true story. Check yourself in your Google Analytics report. My Twitter page recommended me @sidin and, gladly, I followed him. Then I read some of his tweets and click on this link: http://bit.ly/bFYtsu And, that's how I reached here. Twitter introduced "Who to follow" and, end result: I'm commenting on your blogpost. No, no, wait... I'm thinking of writing a blogpost about this experience. Now, it sounds like a chain reaction, doesn't it?!

Why? Twitter's recommendations are neither complex nor difficult, nor do they compromise my freedom. It help me to get back my itchy feet. Before Twitter, Facebook has introduced a similar feature: "People You May Know" and most bloggers use a similiar feature called "You might also like" from LinkWithin. Why bloggers recommend the readers about their old posts? Why on earth do we use a "Blogroll"? Now, convinced? Not convinced? Why don't you take a hike? Don't wait. I'm not recommending you anything.

Facebook's "Like" is so easy...

Facebook's "Like" is so easy. Yeah! Easy because we're lazy?! No. Because, we want easy alternatives of those things we like or love in our life. That's why Facebook has invented the "Like" button and, now, gives us the HTML code so that we'll paste it on our website/blog and wait for someone to click on it. The popularity of this "Like" button is immense as more than 350,000 websites have incorporated this element that results in 3 million and more "Likes" in a day.

"Like" is so easy. It means you came, you saw, you clicked. But comments mean a whole lot more and convey at least that you took a moment to investigate the post, link, comment or thought. But who has time for that anymore? We've all got a feed overflowing with updates to catch up on and clicking "Like" will get us to the end faster. Until it fills up again.

via wheresmyjetpack.blogspot.com

Recently telling metaphors for Facebook

"On the one hand, the social-networking service signed up its 500 millionth active user. On the other hand, it was found to be one of the least popular private-sector companies in the United States by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. [...] Analysts always grasp for analogies to explain Facebook's tortured relationship with its users. Facebook has been called the sterile suburbs to the gritty urban Internet; it is a "walled garden" in the organic messiness of the Web; it is Russia under Vladimir Putin; it is (and this one stings in tech circles) today's AOL."

- Joshua Brustein via nytimes.com

Danah Boyd, a social media researcher at Microsoft and a fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, argues that Facebook fits that mold. On her blog in May, she posted:

"I hate all of the utilities of my life. Venomous hatred. And because they're monopolies, they feel no need to make me appreciate them. Cuz they know that I'm not going to give up water, power, sewage, or the Internet out of spite. Nor will most people give up Facebook, regardless of how much they grow to hate them."

And, in the comment section you can find one justified reaction from Jacob Kramer-Duffield:

"Facebook's approach to the market is much more of a would-be monopolist than a would-be utility."

How difficult it is to accept that behind the facade of our lengthy, narrative rages lies the aimless human circus. 

Q: What is the first brand to reach 10 million Facebook likes? A: Starbucks.

via insidefacebook.com

Study: 43% of online Americans addicted to social networking. 

via The Steve Rubel Stream