Good information about yet another FB fail moment.  I think they just want to “analyze” your email the way Google does. I’ll just avoid sending important messages via FB

-Waveybrain

mattgalligan:

Continuing with my series on User Experience, I’d like to point out an absolutely epic failure. So let me start this one off with a question:

What in God’s name was Facebook thinking when they defaulted everyone’s publicly facing email address to their @facebook.com…

Here’s a good commentary about FB’s vulnerability.  I agree with Patricia…People don’t go to FB to shop, they go there to share-or, play games.  It’s a communication tool as she points out.  They can’t bank on the ad model to grow as Google had.  The absolute value of FB I think, is the fact that virtually everyone is using it and they know even better than Google what our habits and interests are.  To my mind that’s actually another vulnerability:  every FB user is well aware of that, and would likely decouple if or when they learned that their privacy was mishandled or exploited.  On the other hand, I think FB has tremendous room to improve their user experience since it has been basically bad.  So, another “value add” they could adopt is simply making the site more user friendly or customizable-putting more controls in individuals hands rather than less.  They have to stop the unethical practices of pushing new policies (as default settings) that have made user privacy less secure.  It’s so ironic because Zuckerberg talks about privacy being one of their cornerstones.  If they turned that trend around and put the marketing power of their social network more in the hands of it’s users than relying on ad revenue which apparently isn’t panning out, I think it will do well.  -Waveybrain

patriciahandschiegel:

It was always likely that a day would come where social networks like Facebook, etc. would no longer be able to monetize easily via ad revenue.

It was likely that this would be driven by a paradigm shift in how users utilize social networks.

To date, social networks have had a fairly gracious…

brycedotvc:

It was a big week for social networks.

But the term itself seems to have lost some of it’s impact. Over time we’ve come to associate social networks with Mark Zuckerberg, Aaron Sorkin and blue pixelated Fonzy thumbs.

This afternoon, at our Foo Health event in Boston, Nicholas Christakis broke me out of that metaphorical mental rut with a session on the role and impact our social networks play in our personal health, happiness and achievements.

As he spoke, and as the group of participants questioned and expanded upon his ideas, I was struck with just how fortunate I am to be a part of the social networks that have come to shape my personal and professional lives.

It’s been a long week of travel for me, thus the slow posting here. As the events of the week wash over me on this return flight, I can’t help but trace the network connections of my past to seat 8C. From my beginnings in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon to my life in the bay area. From my first job as a file clerk to the work I get to do now. At each step, the networks I navigated shaped the ideas I pursued and opportunities afforded me.

In this TED talk from 2010, Nicholas breaks down the roll of social networks we participate within and the impact they have on us. Near the end, he compares the base material of these networks to carbon. Depending on the connections made between the same carbon molecules graphite OR diamonds could emerge.

The same is true of our personal social networks. We all have the same base material, it’s how we connect that material that makes all the difference.

Great food for thought and required weekend viewing.

Very interesting talk and analytics of social networks.  Though I agree with his final statements about fostering social networks because of it’s strengths and upsides, I don’t know which “strategy” makes more sense; the person more on the fringe who’s cautious and less easy to decipher or analyze, or the person who ‘weaves’ a cluster and becomes embedded in it. I think the problem with being so transparent is that it makes it too easy for those “think tanks” creating these cluster maps to study and or manipulate their data-aka, YOU.  -Waveybrain

A very talented and hard working friend of mine, James Burks created this universe of Gabby and Gator, and a UK studio called, Studio Distract made a deal with him to develop his children’s book into an animated piece.  This trailer is a promo they created to to drum up support for the project so they can shop it around.  They’d appreciate support both on the Youtube page it’s hosted on, as well as the Gabby and Gator TV show Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/gabbyandgator.com).  James deserves a show by now, he’s paid his dues and does great work.  I’m not that familiar with Gabby and Gator yet, but I’ve enjoyed reading, and actually watching him develop his first foray into print called “Martin’s Misdirection” (http://martinsmisdirection.blogspot.com/) -kind of an autobiographical comic strip he created.  Maybe he’ll hook me up with a Gabby and Gator for this promotion, so I can get acquainted with it.

Anyway, I think the look of what Studio Distract delivered is very nice and seems to compliment his source material.  Btw, I’ve never seen such an arrangement between an artist and a cartoon studio developing a promo like this.  I think James was wise to go the publishing route to get an animated show off the ground.  Go ahead, go and support James now.  

-Waveybrian

fastcompany:

Whoa. You never think about the actual infrastructure required to run a massive network like Facebook or even something as ambiguous as “The Cloud” until you actually see it. With your own eyes.

We have recently explored the machinery that undergids “The Cloud.” As these surprisingly artful images from a European data center show the cloud is a heavy, heavy thing.

kateoplis:

Facebook’s new server farm - its first outside the US - in Lulea, Sweden (architect drawing). ”Facebook confirmed it had picked the northern Swedish city of Lulea for the data centre partly because of the cold climate, which is crucial for keeping the servers cool, and the access to renewable energy from nearby hydropower facilities.”

An interesting synopsis of “Who Will Win”.  I think it’s clear:  As much as I love Apple and what they have done, let’s face it:  Jobs and Wozniak are Apple.  And, they are both gone. [EDIT:  Here’s an interesting interview with Wozniak and he also felt that Apple products embodied Jobs:  (http://realdanlyons.com/blog/2011/10/11/a-conversation-with-woz/]) Facebook?  Zuckerberg is hard to like and un-trustworthy. Amazon???  Is Amazon a contender?  I love Amazon too, but Bezos simply isn’t as smart as the rest (could be wrong though…Amazon is my wildcard of the grouping).  That leaves Google which like Apple, is it’s founders (who are young and healthy).  They are associated with “Do no evil”:  Google will win.  Unless, someone new comes along who’s a trustworthy and principled founder as Steve Jobs was (arguably, I concede).  

-Waveybrain

fastcompany:

It’s here!

I think this is a good position to take on Facebook by Patricia.  But, I also don’t think user wants/needs is at the core of what Zuckerberg is focused on.  They have been planning on monetizing their business since inception.  They had to first build out their user base.  The strategy is obviously to capitalize on all the rich and proprietary personal data they have mined, sifted and stored.  If they chose to make it more about user experience they would still have a wealth of data collected.  And, even if the business direction shifted toward user experience, the demand for that kind of market data would overpower even the best intentions.  In other words, it’s wishful thinking that Facebook would care more about it’s users than their bottom line.  And they have the upper hand.  Nobody wants to constantly re-establish their social profiles in various places only to be at the mercy of whatever entity they choose to entrust.   All Facebook has to do and has been doing is not piss everybody off too much and too abruptly.  I think eventually Google, Apple or some other large player will circumvent Facebook with more efficient apps that deliver what Facebook users have wanted all along-easy customization that isn’t constantly being threatened. -Waveybrain

 patriciahandschiegel:

“Let me talk to my friends the way I want. Focus on making my stuff more secure because that’s what everybody really cares about.” - a non-industry Facebook user on a call today, on why she’s dropped off in using the site

“Would you pay to use something like Facebook?” - Me

“It would depend…