The Absence of Presence and the Presence of Absence
October 21, 2009 :: Joe LoongThe Washington Post last week had an article looking at several Facebook refuseniks (people who’ve taken a stand against joining Facebook or similar online social networks), and investigating their reasons for (and consequences of) non-participation.
This, by itself, is only slightly interesting; as with any technology — dishwashers, automobiles, air conditioning, telephones, TV, cell phones — [...]
Everything You Say Can and Will Be Used Against You
September 24, 2009 :: Joe LoongIt should hardly need repeating at this point: When you post stuff to the Internet, people will see it, and quite possibly use it in ways that you don’t intend. And yet, either people keep finding new ways to make the same mistakes, or other people keep finding ways to use that information.
Two recent cases [...]
Social Gaming as Social Grooming: Mafia Wars and my High School Reunion
August 27, 2009 :: Joe LoongTwo independent events have sort of collided for me on Facebook, resulting in something that’s sort of interesting, sort of annoying, and sort of disturbing.
The first event is that I started playing Mafia Wars this month (my excuse that I’m merely doing it to evaluate online gaming mechanics and explore ways to use them to [...]
Helping Startups Understand Promotion & Survival Using Social Media
August 11, 2009 :: Kenneth YeungThis week I attended an event in Palo Alto in the old Facebook headquarters building. It wasn’t your typical event, but it was definitely a good one. Organized by the fbFund, this event featured several great thought leaders in the realm of social media and startups, including renowned author of The Facebook Era Clara Shih, [...]
Social Media Summer, or Do People Still Get Thrown Into Pools?
July 30, 2009 :: Joe LoongI have to ask a stupid question, as it’s been a while since my last pool party: Do people still get thrown into pools these days?
The reason I ask is I was with a friend the other night (at a restaurant, not a pool) and as she was gesticulating with her hands, the cell phone [...]
Social Broadcasting: Where You Are vs. Where You Aren’t
June 26, 2009 :: Joe LoongI’d like to revisit the implications of socially-broadcasting your location and status. Previously, I looked at social broadcasting from a security perspective — namely, the notion that by telling people where you are, you’re also telling people where you aren’t, which could open you up to shenanigans by ne’er-do-wells, or even crime (as in the [...]
Extending Situational Relationships With Social Media
June 24, 2009 :: Joe LoongWe all know that the Internet, online community, and social media tools are great for enabling and strengthening the connections between people of every combination of like-minded/differently-minded and geographically distant/nearby.
Here, I’m going to look at social media and expanding relationships between people who are already like-minded — even excessively so — and physically near each [...]
Please Burglarize My House: Personal OPSEC and Social Broadcasting
June 9, 2009 :: Joe LoongIn a previous blog life, I envisioned a scenario where cyber-savvy criminals simply did a blog search for the phrase “going on vacation” to target houses to burglarize. Given that people routinely post details about where they live, their whereabouts at any given time, what kind of stuff they own, and who they live with [...]
Suffering From Twitter Fatigue (Post-Twitter Stress Disorder)
June 1, 2009 :: Joe LoongI seem to be experiencing Twitter Fatigue (judging by the search results, it’s a term I can’t even pretend to have coined). It’s not so much the constant talking about Twitter, or even the hearing about it. It’s more like the actual using of it. But not the part where I broadcast to my legion [...]
Which Is More Effective For You: Twitter or Facebook?
May 27, 2009 :: Joe LoongThe following entry is a personal look at the relative effectiveness of Twitter vs. Facebook in getting responses from people — specifically, answers to questions. It’s based completely on anecdotal observation, and as such, solely applies to my own situation, and my own unique friend / follower makeup. So it’s probably completely worthless for anyone [...]
