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Mark Zuckerburg answers Facebook fans
Friday, September 08, 2006
Here’s a passage that I particularly liked:
This is very true; if it weren’t for the News Feed, most of the people who joined these anti-News Feed groups wouldn’t have known they even existed in the first place! That being said, I remain convinced that turned out to be a fully exploited publicity stunt, even if it wasn’t planned so in the first place. My colleagues tell me that the media attention was not planned and that it would have been “too evil” for Facebook to willingly cause the uproar. My argument against this is that if they did realize they were causing uproar, they could have simply shut down the feature until they updated its features. But no; they chose to keep the feature up, exposing it to the media, CNN, Time, and others, because their attention suddenly went from 8 million to several million more users, some of which can’t even sign on to the Facebook. But advertisers or politicians who were looking for a new outlet to reach the Facebook customer niche are now aware of its very existence. I say good job Facebook. You quickly answered your users’ wrath (which makes you look good and responsive) AND you exposed yourself in a positive light to the media even though you jeopardized your competitive advantage - the ability to give users a fake sense of privacy.
All and all, I think the quick response time was a key element in turning this potential catastrophe into a successful publicity stunt.
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Facebook’s New “News Feed” is causing uproar! But why?
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Some of the items that get put in the feed seem to be crossing the thin line between “trust” and “violation of privacy” and this is what most people seem to be contesting in the newly created group, Students against Facebook News Feed (Official Petition to Facebook).
The creator of this group argues that:
Facebook is “private”. You get to PICK who sees your info and your activity. BUT… why do we need to know who updates what? So far, I agree. Next…
Ahhhhhhh.... but here it is!!! What bothers people the most is that what’s being written on the “Walls” is being read by everyone who’s marked as a friend! Here’s where I start to disagree with the whole protest. Walls were never meant to be used the way they are used now. Walls were meant to be a public description of the person that is meant to be read by everybody. Facebook users were supposed to write about each other so that people could get to know a little more about each other even if they only met for a short time or if, in some cases, they had never met at all! And yet, walls are not used for this purpose! Walls are used as a place to post up messages about how your vacation was or to ask the person when they’re coming back or to tell them that the party was a blast last night… ALL OF THESE THINGS SHOULD BE POSTED AS MESSAGES!!!!! Therefore, at this point, I conclude that any demands to remove this feature on the basis that what you’re writing is being read by others is invalid. Write your messages in a message if you don’t want others to read it. Also, Facebook does allow you to remove items that will appear in the News Feed. You have the option of removing the item from the “My profile” section. This is a good first step but still needs to allow the user to automate which events do or do not get posted. This feature, when extended, would meet the requirements of the above group. To the Facebook Dev Team - The feed was a good idea. Sometimes good ideas need to be forced upon people in order for them to realize it. By creating this News Feed, you will successfully acheive your ultimate goal - To have members spend more time logged in, online, checking things out, and exposing themselves to your ads. So, overall, good job. On the other hand, your failure to realize and act on the way your community has evolved is simply amazing. How could you not see this coming? Walls have never been used for their original purpose as have other features and so this was bound to upset the hardcore fans! You should never upset fans; guide them to see things your way but don’t upset them abruptly. Facebook was founded and has been successful because it gives its members a sense of trust; a sense of belonging to a closed community. What people fail to realize is that this networking system actually exposes them to more people than they actually know about. What’s even scarier is to think what might happen if Facebook were to let other people access this data… all of those pictures that were only put for friends to see; friends you trust. Facebook is playing a dangerous game… TIME magazine has interviewed Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, and states:
This anti-News Feed group now has 322,519 members; that’s 40,000 more than when I started writing this entry!
Conclusion:
I am looking forward to any comments or opinions you may have on this subject. So please drop a note!
Meanwhile, I’m back to Facebook… |
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I believe it was only yesterday that Facebook updated its interface and introduced the “News Feed.” The idea is quite simple and common to those who use RSS and ATOM feeds - the user gets to see any updates about any event that has gone on recently that is either directly or indirectly related to him or her. In other words, the user gets to see all of the latest things that his or her friends have done.
The total number of members on Facebook is estimated to be 8 million. The phenomenon is growing at an exponential rate!
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Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Shadow Puppets is book in a series of books written by my favorite author, Orson Scott Card (OSC). I will write about him in another entry one of these days. Summary:
Today, I finished reading this novel, the 7th novel in the Ender Saga (or 3rd in the Shadow series depending on how you look at it). I have already read the previous ones and I had been meaning to get to this one a long time ago. I’m glad I finally got a chance to read this one. In all honesty, I had started this novel a few years back but I had lost interest. This might be one of the reasons why I took some points off of my rating. Like the 3rd book, Xenocide, I found this one to be a bit slow at times and sometimes plain too chit-chatty. Ender’s Game set the bar very high for Mr. Card and so his readers expect wonderful things! That said, this novel explores that same world that was developed in Ender’s Shadow and brings back and develops characters that we thought had passed. Bean will probably never play such an important role as he did in this novel and the same might go for Petra.
As always, I highly recommend the Ender’s Series to anyone who likes science fiction. Orson Scott Card is a master at combining action, turn-paging suspense, and tormentful dilemma in his work. If you do not like philosphical aspects of literature, I would advise you to read Ender’s Game and then skip to Ender’s Shadow. Otherwise, reading all the novels in order is definately worth the time and the learning experience is unique. Enjoy! |
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Airport Pickups!
Sunday, September 03, 2006
What a day… A few months ago I agreed to help with airport pickups because they’re usually fun and interesting. This year was no exception. There were a lot more students to pick up and this kept us very busy (8 of us). The headquarters of the Airport Pickups team, located at 2C of the CDG airport in Paris, was the meeting point and also the main setting for what would be an exceptional theatrical performance. In fact, I would not be surprised if it turned out that more people came to the booth to ask us completely unrelated questions than actual students who came to confirm their arrival! Such questions included: “Where’s the cafeteria?” “Where’s terminal 2B?” “Do you have scrap paper?” “Where is the bathroom?” “I’m going to Benin. Where should I check-in?” and probably many more that I don’t even remember! The constant questioning became so unbearable that we added a few signs to our stand:
Despite all those signs, people still came up to ask us questions; to which we simply laughed and pointed to the signs. Needless to say, an airport rep asked us to take them down after a while.
Other small anecdotes:
Got back home late at night after dinner with friends and members of this same team and slept till late the next day… In fact, I’m still tired. But there’s a bday party to get ready for and so I shall. Cheers! |
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Back from Spain!
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Just spent a little over a week in Spain with aZ and I must say it was great… Lots of sun, hot weather, Bikinis everywhere, and the greatest company ever. I’ll try to post some pictures up later on… UPDATE: Some pictures can now be accessed by clicking Photo Gallery on the right side. You will have to register and I will have to activate your account before you have access to the full gallery (including the Spain pics). |
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