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Archive | November, 2012

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YouTube automatic captions now in six European languages

By on November 29, 2012

Google continues its plan to make every video just as searchable as the rest of the web.

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Facebook and Zynga tear up their contract

By on November 29, 2012

A pair of regulatory filings submitted late Thursday revealed that Facebook and Zynga have significantly revised the terms of a five-year deal they signed in late 2010. The new arrangement relaxes restrictions on both Facebook and Zynga, the gamemaker that drove 13% of Facebook’s revenue for the first nine months of 2012

Can you believe that 13% of Facebook’a revenue comes from Zynga games alone? For all the shitty ads we have to endure, somehow Farmville generates more than a tenth of that.

…Zynga investors sent the FarmVille maker’s shares plummeting 11% in after-hours trading.

How does Zynga have any stock value left?

 

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More Facebook friends means more stress

By on November 27, 2012

A report from the University of Edinburgh Business School has found that the more groups of people in someone’s Facebook friends, the greater potential to cause offence. In particular, adding employers or parents resulted in the greatest increase in anxiety.

Stress arises when a user presents a version of themself on Facebook that is unacceptable to some of their online ‘friends’, such as posts displaying behaviour such as swearing, recklessness, drinking and smoking.

Ben Marder, author of the report and early career fellow in marketing at the Business School, said: “Facebook used to be like a great party for all your friends where you can dance, drink and flirt. But now with your Mum, Dad and boss there the party becomes an anxious event full of potential social landmines.”

Sounds like as good a reason as any to unfriend some people tonight.

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Google Plus Wants to Know Your Relationship Status

By on November 27, 2012

Oh boy! Another attempt to get more demographic information!

I love sharing my personal information with companies so they can serve me more ads. I love having my internet filled with ads.

Still, I think it would have been more effective if they just played this video in the iFrame pop up.

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Twitter’s Official Blog is BS

By on November 27, 2012

Read this crap from Twitter’s blog:

It’s no surprise that the @DallasCowboys, aka America’s team, and phenom rookie QB @RGIII placed the Cowboys / Redskins game as the most mentioned on Twitter for Week 12. Meanwhile, the other NFC East team, the @Giants, ended the@Packers’ winning streak with a big 38-10 victory over Green Bay.

Here are this week’s most buzzed-about games:

1. @DallasCowboys vs. @Redskins 
2. @Packers vs. @Giants 
3. @HoustonTexans vs. @DetroitLionsNFL

Twitter used to update their blog with meaningful updates about the service.

Now their blog is desolate wasteland, filled with meaningless entertainment highlights.

When Twitter will realize it’s turning itself from a realtime social network into the 11 o’clock news?

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Your Life - Brought To You By Facebook’s Sponsored Stories

By on November 27, 2012

When I look at my news feed these days, every other story is sponsored.

  • I know every dumb thing my friends like.
  • I know exactly which types of photos appeal to my friends.
  • I know precisely who subscribes to get the worst crap.

Ugh.

When did every moment, every interest, every fiber of our being become a sponsored story?

Were we not shaped by the experiences that made us and our relationships? When I think back on my brightest memories between friends, I don’t think things like:

  • “Thank goodness we had Coca Cola and not Pepsi!”
  • “We never would have been friends without Nikes!”
  • “The only thing we have in common is we both like Super Mario.”

Ok. Fine. I’ve thought the last one, but that’s not something I think back on fondly.

We’re crossing a fine line between sharing our lives with friends and having those moments sponsored by highest bidder on a relevant keyword. Are you ready to see what’s on the other side of that line?

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The False Privacy Notice

By on November 26, 2012
In response to the new Facebook guidelines I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details, illustrations, graphics, comics, paintings, photos and videos, etc. (as a result of the Berner Convention). For commercial use of the above my written consent is needed at all times! (Anyone reading this can copy this text and paste it on their Facebook Wall. This will place them under protection of copyright laws.) By the present communiqué, I notify Facebook that it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, disseminate, or take any other action against me on the basis of this profile and/or its contents. The aforementioned prohibited actions also apply to employees, students, agents and/or any staff under Facebook's direction or control. The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of my privacy is punished by law (UCC 1 1-308-308 1-103 and the Rome Statute).
Your "friends" on Facebook

I can’t believe how many of my “friends” posted this (or some variation of it) on Facebook today.

Clearly, no one has ever read Facebook’s terms of service except for privacy freaks.

This is just another example of how little Facebook does to educate its users. If you use it for free, you probably don’t own the content you put on it.

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WTF Twitter?! An Email Share Button?!

By on November 20, 2012

Email your awful Tweets - The Anti-Social MediaTwitter amazes me with how bloated they continue to make their product.

Case in point? Twitter added a new button so people can share tweets via email. Everyone wants another 140 character message in their inbox with a hashtag so long that it makes no sense.

#AmIRight?

The product managers at Twitter don’t understand their own product. Seriously. They don’t.

Check this out from the official Twitter blog:

Just click on the “More” icon next to the reply, retweet and favorite buttons in order to email a Tweet to anyone you know. You can add your own comment, and we’ll send an email with your comment and the Tweet together. Just like that.

Was it really THAT HARD to copy and paste a tweet into email? If only there was a way for me to share messages word for word with the people who choose to receive my messages!

Let’s review the benefits of this “update.”

  • What does this update do for people already on Twitter? Nothing.
  • What does this update do for people who might want to join Twitter? Nothing.
  • Who wants to join a social network just to send more email? No one.

Twitter - understand your own social network. Stop adding useless bloat features. Focus on making Twitter so amazingly easy to use that nobody will send an email ever again.