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As I write this it is roughly 3:50 pm on Thursday, September 23, 2010… And I am not happy. Not happy at all. My beloved social networking site, Facebook, is down for the count and I feel a deep void. Okay maybe not a “deep” void but I am a little bit agitated with the fact that I can’t update my wall with this awesome 90’s music video  that Kristi Schwartz and I just rediscovered while avoiding doing our Quantitative homework for tonight’s class.

“Here’s a shovel. Can you dig it fool?” --- That would have been my wall update, but nope. Can’t update my status because the FB IS DOWN!

I am trying to imagine what the Facebook headquarters is looking like at this very moment. I picture everyone running around the office screaming, phones ringing off the hook, babies crying, smoke coming out of computers, sirens going off… pure and utter chaos.

I am starting to feel a bit ashamed of myself actually. How can one website have this must effect on my mood? Well… end of that thought. It just does. Social media has become such a stable in my life that with out it I feel like I have forgotten something very important at home after leaving for a month on a long vacation, and all you can really do is be annoyed. Some people need coffee and CNN every day to feel whole. Me, I prefer Diet Coke and stalking random people on Facebook to feel complete. So sue me.
 

While driving to work this morning I was listening to the radio, (which I rarely do… I really need to get some new music on my ipod) and the DJ was talking about the five things that a person should never post on their Facebook. Of course my ears perked up right away when I heard this as I am a FFacebook junkie, so instead of zoning out and thinking about how much better my day would be if I wasn’t going to work, I tuned in.

The information given was from Yahoo Finance.

The list is as follows.

1.       Birth date and place

2.       Vacation plans

3.       Your home address

4.       Confessions

5.       Password hints

I found this list to be a little, eh, generic. I try to keep what I post on Facebook to be limited so I don’t need everyone knowing what I am up to all the time, but why have a social media site if you are not going to say anything? I have my birthday on Facebook and that I am from Appleton, I also tell people if I am on vacation or not, but would I put my phone number or home address on there? No. Also, if you are going to play hookie from school or work you should know better than to talk about the great day you had shopping or sleeping in on your status. If you get caught for that you are just stupid if you ask me.

I do see how putting that information up could lead to being robbed or identity theft. Both which would be awful to have happen. But do I really think I will take my birthday off Facebook but I may not let everyone know that I am in the Bahamas drinking a fruity adult beverage, you know the kind with the little umbrellas, until I return home.  That way I can share the experience and still not increase the chance of my home being robbed.

I do think it is good advice. There can be some real creepers out there. But I guess that is why you do not friend people you do not know either by yourself personally or through other people. Maybe if the amount of friends people accepted were limited these types of problems wouldn’t happen as frequently. But then again, with any new form of media you will be facing problems with people abusing it or not knowing the risks inherent in using it.

So I say, Facebook at your own risk.


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I have been thinking all weekend about what my blog topic for this week should be. I decided to expand on an article from Wired Magazine entitled “The Web is Dead: Long Live the Internet.” (The article is broken down into two sections, “The Web is Dead, Who is to Blame: Us” by Chris Anderson and “The Web is Dead, Who is to Blame: Them” by Michael Wolff. Pretty cool having back to back views on by whom the Internet is being corrupted and how social media sites like Facebook are taking over the Internet as a whole.

I found the underlying basis of this article to be validated by events and observations I made last night.


I had about 20-25 people over at my home to enjoy each others company before school became more demanding and the holidays start creeping up on us. The group was composed of a mixture of my friends from the law firm where I work, riding, grad school, and the other random friends I have met while living in Milwaukee… this was a random group of people with not a lot in common with one another other than some how they knew me and enjoy pizza and beer. The one thing that did make us all similar was that each of us had our cell phones on us at all times. Any time a question was asked about which actor was in “that one movie with that buff guy” that came out many years ago, or who won the last pre season football game the words “lets Google it” came out of someone’s mouth. Google has now become a verb and no longer a noun. 

But it wasn’t only Google that was being used to find this information but a series of apps for blackberries and iphones that allow people to gain information, check their e-mail, or visit social media sites without having to search for the information through a search engine first. All this information is coming straight from an app and taking the organic structure of the Net out of the picture for many users. Phones are becoming so full of apps that actually needing to go to a regular computer for information is no longer considered a necessity.

Chris Anderson, the author of WIRED’s “The Web is Dead, Who is to Blame: Us” commented on the growing use of cell phones over PC’s :

“And the shift is only accelerating. Within five years, Morgan Stanley projects, the number of users accessing the Net from mobile devices will surpass the number who access it from PCs. Because the screens are smaller, such mobile traffic tends to be driven by specialty software, mostly apps, designed for a single purpose. For the sake of the optimized experience on mobile devices, users forgo the general-purpose browser. They use the Net, but not the Web. Fast beats flexible.”

I found this to be very insightful and a bit alarming. Will I really only need to use my laptop for writing papers? And when I am done with school in May and will no longer be writing long papers from home, do I even need a computer? Or is my cell phone enough to maintain my social media habit? I wonder how the ever growing number of apps has affected PC sales… I also find it scary that apps require us to trust and take information from one source. If we decide to make no effort taken into finding the information for ourselves and we have taken Web laziness to a new level. 

Second author Michael Wolff in his “The Web is Dead, Who is to Blame: Them” discusses how Facebook has turned from being a social media website to becoming the biggest website of all time and should not even be considered a web site at all, there should be another name created to describe how big it is. I remember reading in the Journal Sentinel a few weeks back that the population of Facebook, in terms of country populations would be the third largest in the world. I know that I am an active member of the Facebook community, and I may even consider myself a Facebook junkie. Of which I am not completely proud.The Facebook app on my blackberry is used dozens of times a day and I have even downloaded the Google maps app and the weather eye app. By having these apps I guess I am helping contribute to the death of the Web. 

RIP Web, hello new awesome apps!
 
I just updated my Facebook status with the following, “Seriously needs to get into school mode but is really struggling with that. Is it May yet? I want my Masters now, thanks.” And the first comment I received on that thought was from Linda, my Comm Professor at MU with her response being, “post it in your blog!” I use to write all the time in my xanga in high school and the beginning of college and really enjoyed it, so this blog is for me and not about anything other than venting. So here I go! 

 It’s official. I am ready to be done with school. More than ready. I am totally over school. If grad school were my boyfriend we would have the talk that starts with “It’s not you, really, its me… I just don’t feel the same any more.” And everyone knows how that ends up. 

I love Marquette, really, I LOVE MARQUETTE. I have had the best years of my life here (personally I think I am having more fun in grad school than I did in under grad, but regardless it was and is a good time) but I am ready for the next step. I always want to be a student in some sense and keep up on the latest social media and marketing trends but sitting down at my desk and knowing that I am going to easily be writing over 100 pages of assigned papers this semester and I am going to have pretty much zero time to ride with work and school doesn’t get me excited.

I think it has something to do with the fact that I am getting older. I will be 24 in a few weeks, and I know to many people that doesn’t sound old but I am ready to get my life going and have a rock star job that I can love and make legit money in. But I guess in order to have that killer job you first need to know what you want to do… and that I don’t have figured out yet either. Awesome…

I am taking the LSAT in October and I know my family wants me to go to law school, even if they say “do what makes you happy.” Yea, don’t lie to me I know you want me to do it just because the whole Franzoi side is in law. And I really feel like if I don’t go I will be letting my family down, and I hate that. The only way I would want to do it is if I could move to NYC, my favorite place ever, and represent bands. Plus, if I am over grad school the thought of being in school for another three years and being almost 30 when I am done with my education does not really appeal to me. I just don’t really like law that much. The idea of making good money and wearing awesome Prada suits to work every day is pretty appealing but eh, I am luke warm on the whole thing. And I never want to do something half assed. I mean I work at a law firm now as a file clerk and I hate my job, well maybe not hate because I really like the people with whom I work, but it is def not my first choice but the money is good and I know I should just be thankful I have a job… but I really want to work in marketing.

I really just want a job that I like and that I can make enough to support my horse habit. I love my boys, Sparky and Rudolf are my saving grace and I really do not know who I would be or what I would do with out my horses. I don’t think people really understand what that is like unless they have owned a horse. Its is not like having a dog or cat at all… It’s a grand passion that takes a person over. If someone were to ask me what my “drug of choice” was… its horses 100%. That’s why no matter what I am always going to work very hard at whatever I do so I will always be able to ride, and if I am lucky keep showing. Maintaining the lifestyle I have is good motivation to work hard, even if I don't especially enjoy job (aka law firm).

 

Hence, why finishing my masters is a good idea. More education can never hurt. Okay, I feel a bit better now. Thank you, weebly.


 
 
 
This past Labor Day weekend I spent cruising around the streets of Chicago. Being from Wisconsin I have only been to Chicago a handful of times which may seem odd to many. Personally I am much more of a New Yorker (its a love affair really); my family traveled there just about every other month from the time I was in pre-school and still travel there regularly. My older brother and I were very lucky that my parents always let us tag along on their trips to NYC and anywhere else they were going....  Needless to say there is not much need for Chicago when you have NYC in reach. .


Getting to the topic of social and emerging media, on which this class focuses, I noticed how popular this cell phone app is, and with the ability to be linked through your Facebook account, Foursquare flourishes in larger metro areas. My two close girlfriends who live in Chicago both use it regularly, as being a part of this social media not only offers free advertising and publicity to the pubs, restaurants, and other popular attractions but offers the consumer discounted or free items for checking in at sponsored locations. The more you check into a particular location the better.  Participants are able to earn badges for visiting a cite a certain amount of times and if you frequent the location more than anyone else you have the ability to become the “mayor” of the location which then grants you more rewards in the form of free food or drink items or larger discounts.

I had heard of Foursquare or rather saw it being used by my friends on my Facebook status updates and just assumed it was one of those stupid Farmville type applications and dismissed it. It also seemed rather creepy that not only can people get a hold of me at any time because my blackberry is pretty much a part of my body, but now they can know where I am too. Not totally sure how I feel about that. Seems like a stalkers wet dream to be honest... The discounts and free stuff are pretty awesome though. No lie. And in a big city like Chicago or when I go back to NYC next, the perks of using Foursquare are pretty big.

For those of you that kind of knew what Foursquare was but were not completely sure its function here is the run down according to the Foursquare fan website (http://www.foursquaregame.com/

"... it's much more, foursquare is a location based social networking mobile app. Foursquare will help you meet up with your friends. Add to this, a fun game element featuring badges for achievements and accomplishments! It's an App for your iPhone, Blackberry, Android or mobile device. As the official foursquare fan says, this app is 50% a friend finder, 30% social city guide, and 20% nightlife game. It's a fun mobile social media game that makes exploring and visiting your own city lots of fun and new! If you are good at the game you can even achieve "The Mayor" status at certain locations in your city."

As far as I go. I am going to download it. I am not completely sure if it is something I will get into or not, but I am at least going to try it. If worse comes to worse it will end up like my twitter (ForestAnn is my name, FYI) and it will only get updated when facebook bores me.
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