Alan Is Good

This video from last week has everything – Web 2.0 and country.  Credit to Scott Rodgers.  

Lately I’ve noticed a few updates and notables to some of my previous posts.  None truly warrant an entire new post on the matter, so I’ll just jot them down here in this update post.  It’ll be like those reality shows on VH1, where they have the “Reunion Special” and everyone gets together for 15 more minutes of drama.

The Darker Side of Google Latitude

I wrote about the dark effects of this new app, but I didn’t consider the lighter side!  Yesterday TechCrunch wrote about a San Francisco woman whose purse was stolen, with her iPhone inside.  Sure enough, she was a Google Latitude user.  She called her sister who had access to see her location at all times, and they were able to track down the criminal, arrest him and get the purse back.   Check out this CBS video covering the story.  Epic!  Turn on your Google Latitude function and let a family member have constant updates to your location.  You never know!

The Fate of The Facebook Relationship Status

Facebook has since changed the layout of their front page, and for a time I thought this nullified my relationship status posts.  It seemed like the only way to check on relationship status was to actually visit a person’s page, which so few of us do on a regular basis.  Then I realized that the relationship updates do show up in the Highlights box on the right side of the page!  In my personal life, I found it in me to hit the “Like” button for a recently ended relationship of a long time friend.  It also put the status update at the top of the highlights list for the week.  

Additionally, with the “Comment” option on these relationship updates, I’ve been seeing more and more threads unfold from them.  So far they have all been light hearted, fun comments, like ‘ooo,’ or ‘who’s the lucky gal?” but I have yet to see snarky or vindictive ones.  My appreciation for my friend’s breakup probably falls under that category, but I’ve made several justifications internally for why I did it.  

Skittles Tastes the Fail Boat

Skittles is again using the Twitter Search results for “Skittles” as their homepage at Skittles.com.  At this point who knows what their strategy is.  They have the age filter, but no word filters or anything.  It’s like they just said, “Umm, I dunno.  Put the Twitter results up again, I guess.”

Cisco Fatty and Social Media Censorship

Many bloggers wrote the standard ‘this is why you should watch what you say on Twitter,’ or the ‘how to lose your job via Twitter’ postings, but I didn’t really see anyone take my stance.  My stance – you know, the one that was featured on Brazen Careerist and was one of the most popular posts of the week!  The only other update to this post was that horrible cisco fatty video on YouTube.  Very high chance of being offended, even higher chance of chuckling hysterically.

TIME Magazine’s Most Influential Person of . . . LOLwut? 

The voting for this is still going on, but it’s all for naught.  4Chan’s founder, moot, is ahead by an astronomical amount.  Here’s the latest tally, from TIME’s website: 

Of course, it doesn’t end there.  Just to show the world the power of the Anonymous, they also went ahead and strategically voted up the rest of the top 21 such that they acrostically spelled out MARBLECAKE, ALSO THE GAME.  Do you see it?  The phrase means nothing, really.  It’s another meme that’s lulzy.  Just the muscles of the Anonymous being flexed for the entire world to see.  The day that a viral campaign or digital PR effort is somehow supported by the Anonymous is the day that the marketers responsible for the campaign become quite wealthy.  

No Further Updates

This concludes the VH1 reunion special “AlanIsGood Blog Posts.”  See you next season.  And by next season, I mean tomorrow.

What title would you give it?  I thought of some horribly perfect Twitter puns, but I went ahead and scaled it back because there’s an actual analysis here of Twitter behavioral dynamics.  Despite the subject matter, please pretend that I’m wearing glasses and take me seriously on this one.

Previously, on AlanIsGood.com

Earlier this week I wrote about social media censorship, and generated an ongoing discussion over in the comments on Brazen Careerist.  (Shout out to them for not censoring the really interesting topics!)  As young professionals, we are concerned greatly with what we post online and who will see it.  We are paranoid about losing a job or not being taken seriously by co-workers.  In D.C., the line I hear most often is that people have aspirations of running for office someday.  Here’s a slow clap for everyone out there keeping it clean and professional online.

I’ll recite a quote from my own writings that a few people asked about later – “To appreciate the light, I’ve always wanted to be familiar with and understand the dark.”  We should always listen to and explore the extremes of an idea before making final judgment.  

Under the ‘light,’ I see new media professionals cleaning up résumés and making sure online privacy settings protect their personal thoughts and feelings.  They straighten their ties and prepare to make the best possible impression on their employers.  Their Twitter updates are informative, relevant and thought provoking.

In the ‘dark,’ I see pornstar Eva Angelina telling a well-known social media strategist to “f*** off.”  

More »

Last week’s discussions were about the dynamics of dating and relationship statuses online.  A few people I talked to mentioned that it would be nice to see who your new squeeze had dated previously and to be able to check out their profiles.  I brought this issue up with m3rkvry and he referred me to a scene from the film Amazon Women on the Moon (1987). He helped me rip the movie and extract the scene, and I uploaded it to YouTube.

More »

“Fear and love are the deepest of human emotions.” – Donnie Darko (2001)

This weekend is framed to reflect as much.  While Valentine’s day will heartily handle the love part, a night out at the cinema can stimulate the fear within.  Modern movie technology has prompted a couple of filmmakers to entice us this weekend.  With My Bloody Valentine 3D and the remake of Friday the 13th in theaters, there’s no excuse to not have a bloody good time.

More »

I told myself earlier today that the next post would not be about Facebook status updates…  But then a very relevant article was brought to my attention.

(Click the image to view the article on the NY Post)

Indeed we are ’shocked,’ Chris

More »

This is an interactive chart I made to describe the difference between what is posted and what I find true re: Facebook status updates.  Its a combination of what I have found true from my Facebook experience, and what I have generalized through others.  It pretty much speaks for itself, so I won’t ramble on.

For full interaction, scroll over the buttons at the bottom, and don’t forget to click over the tabs at the top to see Relationship Status Chart and the Status Update chart.  Enjoy.

More »