Tag Archives: facebook

June 28, 2011 · 12:48 am

Time to Cry Tuesday – Old Friend on YouTube

There I was, winding down the night with a last perusal of Facebook when I stumbled upon a post from one of my craziest friends from college. (keep in mind I went to art school). He had linked to a video of an audition he had done for Discovery Channel.

Although I think this would make a great show, what struck me was not its TV-worthy value. It was more that I got to visit with him in his natural habitat, just as I remember him. This is the guy that was always doing things on a grand scale. A visit to his house could involve fire, blades, welding tools, heavy machinery, mud… anything extreme. If I recall, he bartered his rent for house renovations on an old farmhouse the last two years of college.

Never bored at Scott’s house.

And the best part? He has not changed one single bit. (although he has perfected the art of hammer juggling). 

Time and circumstance sometimes have a way of causing you to lose touch with those you loved the most. Friendships sometimes fade, not because you want them to… just because. In defense of social media – people can ebb and flow right back into your life. There is nothing better than the gift of seeing someone again.

Just as you remember them.

Watch this and I dare you  to tell me you are not jealous that I have a friend like this? And check out his work; he is wildly talented.

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June 6, 2011 · 11:14 pm

Time to Cry Tuesday – Help Find Lauren Spierer – Missing from Indiana University

UPDATE 6.9.11

There is now a $145,000 reward



This is every parents’ unthinkable nightmare. It is with deep sadness that I am posting this information about an Indiana University student who is missing. I urge everyone who sees this to help spread the word. Here are links you can share. Please post and RT as often as you can.

June 9 UPDATE: This page has been added as the official family page in reaction to false information and irrelevant comments on other pages. They are verifying info and request that there be no comments on the page.

Facebook group Missing: Lauren Spierer

Facebook event: Please help spread the word about Lauren Spierer’s disappearance!

Facebook profile page: Lauren Spierer missing

Facebook community page: Help find Lauren Spierer – Missing from Indiana Universtity

Website for information and to volunteer.

Follow the effort on twitter.

Follow hashtags #LaurenSpierer, #FindLauren

Bloomington Police Tip Hotline: 1-812-339-4477

America’s Most Wanted: 1-800-CRIMETV


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March 19, 2011 · 1:00 am

The Dalai Lama is on facebook?!

Yeh, he really is. And thanks to my friend Gail who liked his page I know that because it came up in my recommend section. I clicked on the page and found out that 8 more of my friends liked it too (you know who you are).

So how do we feel about his? I mean, why not, right? 600 million people can’t be wrong and 1,387,251 of them have actively liked his page.

Imagine how many like him off facebook.

I love that his location is listed as Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I don’t know, I just never thought of him as having an office.

The whole thing seemed sort of odd to me at first but then when I thought about it, isn’t social media fully aligned with his teachings. And hey, where else can you connect with so many with such little effort.

And I thought being followed by Jesus and Moses on twitter was a big deal!

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December 14, 2010 · 12:07 am

Time To Cry Tuesday – Is facebook like gum on your shoe?

I had this conversation with Dr. Jimmy the other day. We were talking about people who had become facebook friends and how they fit into our lives. I don’t think that when Zuckerberg thought this whole thing up he had any idea how it would effect those of us who actually have a past.

This was created for people who basically had only a present – young people. People with barely any history. When they first came on they were looking to connect. Many were looking to acquire more or deeper relationships, but they were surely not looking for kids they knew in preschool!

Then we old school types came along and we were looking to REconnect with people from our past. And sure, people from our present too; but I think the lure for most people ‘of a certain age’ was to get back in touch with those that time and distance had squeezed out of our lives.

ish.

In the process we started to get ‘friend’ requests from people who had organically slipped out of our lives. And we were either not unhappy about it or at the very least… indifferent. I always say, if I did not connect with you in High School, why would I want to reconnect with you now?

Now we are subjected to the constant stream of intimate details of the lives of those that we really never knew all that well in real life. We don’t want to be rude and ‘unfriend’. Sometimes we cannot stand either the monotony of what they post or the cryptic crises that people feel the need to spout in status updates. (what is that by they way?)

Don’t get me wrong, I love the upside of facebook and the friends that I have found again and share with. But the others…

Yep, facebook can sometimes turn people from your past into gum on your shoe.

(oh great, now all my old friends are going to worry that I am talking about them… c’mon you guys, don’t get all insecure, you know I love you!)

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October 11, 2010 · 7:52 pm

Time to Cry Tuesday – MY Mom is NOT on Facebook

With all the attention on facebook these days, what with the movie and this week’s hysterical SNL skit about Mom’s being on facebook; I thought now would be a good time to talk about what my mom and I discovered this weekend.

Mom had never seen facebook and was curious. I took her through the basics and then drifted down the path of not so basics. You know, the ins and outs of semi-not-really-but-if-you-are-being-honest-with-yourself… stalking. Photo albums of friends of friends. Searching for people from your past that maybe have no clue that facebook actually has privacy settings. You know, some innocent stuff like that.

I must say, she was rather appalled. Both at how easy it was to view these things and what people will actually post about themselves. Being a very social, but equally private person, my mom could not fathom this place we call social networking.

When you put it that way, neither can I. Being one to pick and choose the digital footprint I leave,  I am very sensitive to that.

But the real revelation that came out of this exercise was not about privacy, it was more about why people of her generation – for the most part – don’t feel all that compelled to join in. Sure part of it is the technology piece. Some who are more technically savvy try it out to keep up with the grandkids but soon find that is ‘so not OK, mom!’, to quote a certain college student I know. But I think more than that, it is the fact that their lives ran deep but not as wide.

Unlike my generation – where friends moved all over the country, and my kid’s generation – where they will most probably move all over the world; they lived most of their lives in the New York area. Except for a stint when dad was stationed in Panama and she joined him, they have been New Yorkers. They still have their dearest childhood friends in their lives. They went to college locally. Their friends all moved to the suburbs, mostly our side of the city. Their parents were local. They raised their kids here and stayed in my childhood home. Their real-life communities were, and still are, stronger than any online community could be for them.

The only shift has been that they all migrated either full or part time to the east coast of Florida. For some, they have reconnected down there with people from their past much like facebook. Would that be called reality imitating virtual? Hmmmm, think about it. Floridian closed-gate communities are like the facebook of the older generation.

But the most compelling reason my mom had for lack of interest in engaging in this space was this, “I want to remember the people from my past that I did not choose to keep in touch with the way they were. I want to keep them in my mind’s eye as we were then. And frankly, if I did not really connect enough with them to keep in touch in real life, why would I want to reconnect?”

Good point.

And THAT is why MY mom is NOT on facebook, and does not feel like she is missing one blessed thing by not being there. (thanks for the insight mom).

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September 1, 2010 · 11:20 pm

Foursquare Check-in for STD Testing – too ‘social’?

In a nutshell, MTV is teaming up with foursquare to encourage STD testing. That is a good thing, right? I mean, anything that encourages people to get tested is OK in my book. But a badge that shouts to your network that you’ve been tested? Is this TMI? Will my friends be more likely to get tested because I have and bragged about it? Ok, maybe my friends are not the demographic, but you get what I mean.

Is this simply an overshare?

What next? Will EPT be the next to partner with foursquare giving out the ‘INPIWOAS’ (I’m Not Pregnant, It Was Only A Scare) badge. Or maybe what my friend Jessica Smith suggested when I posted this on facebook, perhaps FiberCon could come up with  the IFMAD (I Finally Made a Doody) badge. Ok, she just inferred the badge name by suggesting FiberCon. I don’t want to put words in her mouth, she is very sophisticated.

What do you think? Is this a good share or an overshare?

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April 27, 2010 · 9:18 pm

My fibroid history and targeted advertising

Arghh! You are saying. (exactly how do you pronounce arghh?) Do we really need to know about her friggin’ fibroid history? Do we really care about the dirty little details of her aging reproductive tract?

Actually, no you don’t. But apparently facebook did because they saw it fit to target me with this ad for a fibroid clinical trial.

Do I have fibroids? Not anymore because I had those babies yanked out about 4 years ago with my uterus if you really must know. (oh jeez, is there no end to this level of discomfort?) Good news: I can wear white pants whenever I want. I digress.

The question is, did facebook’s magic algorithm figure to target me with a fibroid trial because of my age, or because fibroids have been mentioned more than once on this very blog? (this blog is listed in networked blogs on facebook)

One will never really know the answer to that or the other mind-boggling questions of the universe. But it is safe to say either one or both of those could have gotten that ad on my page.

The reason I have chosen to share all this with you now is that it comes at such a timely juncture in our online lives; in a week where facebook’s ‘invasion’ of our privacy has been questioned ad nauseum. Users are in an uproar about how much of their profile information will be shared.

Well, the reality is kiddies, the info is out there for the taking. Not just on facebook, but all over the web. This article by Micheal Bush in Ad Age illustrates quite well how a digital profile can be gathered without much effort. Public information, as they say. Creepy, on some level but really who cares?

What are we afraid of? Well, me? I am not afraid of a whole hell of a lot. I don’t want to have my identity stolen and I don’t want to be stalked by creeps in real life. I agree with Micheal Bush, I don’t think that is the goal of marketers. Their goal is to reach their target market; the very people that are most likely to be their customers. To me, that’s not so terrible. Because if I had a facebook ad for string bikinis on my page I would only become depressed that my fibroid/uterus free body has no business squeezing into one. Or if you would be more mundane, I would not like to see ads for diapers.

I am both too old and thankfully too young to be buying any kind of diapers real soon.

Do you get where I am going with this? Does the fact that I have been in the business of marketing brands for the past (never mind how many) years taint my opinion? Maybe. Does my love (read obsession) for social media further color my feeling about this? Hell yeh.

Personally, I sort of think it is worth it to give up a little false sense of privacy to have the access to this kind of information. On a serious note, when I was trying to decide what to do about those damn fibroids, I would have welcomed the information that ad was offering me. (instead of torturing poor Dr. Judy for weeks about what I should do. Thanks again Jude, I will never forget your patience, I owe you a drink)

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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February 1, 2010 · 10:58 pm

Time to Cry Tuesday – It truly is a small world

We often take for granted how small the world has become. Our kids consider the technology that enables constant communication to be a given. Ichat, videochat, skype, texting, IM, bbm, facebook, twitter; these all make email seem like snail mail to them. They lose their ability to disappear but I think the trade-off seems worth it to them.

Access. All the time. Sometimes good, sometimes bad.

This post is about the good. Ok, so if you read me regularly you are not surprised that I would focus on the positive aspect of technology. But as a parent in the year 2010, with a daughter situated quite comfortably in Spain, technology is the greatest friggin’ thing on this earth.

Last night we had our first video chat with Jana since she left almost 2 weeks ago. You might imagine that this would have been about really important stuff. Well it was, sort of. For instance, we got to see the way her bathroom light turns on ‘all freaky’. And then she whispered ‘the boy’ into the computer screen as her spanish roommate came by and asked her a question. We got to wave hello to her other roommates and get a tour of her apartment. We talked about everything and nothing with her. Better than IM or texting, this was my kid with all her subtleties and nuances; her humor and expressions. The essence of who she is.

On the laptop screen.

On the dining room table.

As if she was there.

Now I know this is no big revelation. For the past few years this has become commonplace. But damn! I am a mom with a kid on the other side(ish) of the world and I can sit in the dining room and bullshit with her as if she were right here.

And it’s free!

C’mon, how cool is that?

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog.For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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January 7, 2010 · 8:55 pm

When Twitter is Down

So it happened tonight. To the dismay of those of us who use it as drug of choice/best time suck of all time the world’s most sophisticated social media types, twitter was so down that we were not even getting that cute little fail whale graphic. How did I find out? On Facebook, of course. The other place where online junkies get their fix favorite network of choice.

My guess was that since the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is going on right now all the geekiest of geeks most sophisticated technology types were jamming twitter and causing it to sporadically fail.

I did a quick Google search to find out what was up and came across my new favorite site. It is called whentwitterisdown.com and every time you refresh the screen you get a new message. It is kind of like web 2.0s version of the magic 8 ball with an attitude.

Here are some of my faves:

I love the last one. And for the record, I don’t have a cat!

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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December 25, 2009 · 12:45 pm

Confirmed Sibling

I received this message on facebook this morning. I have to say I am quite relieved. I guess our contract was almost up and I can be a bit of a pain in the ass, so the confirmation is comforting. Hey, Kei, is this like renewing your vows when you are married. Every 50 years you confirm your siblingship?

All kidding aside, I am thrilled and honored to have my big bro ‘confirm me as his Sister’. Without him my life would be much different. Short of turning this into an USTTCT (unscheduled time to cry tuesday) let’s just say there is no one out there like my big brother. And if you think I am out of my mind, I am mild compared to him.

Now, if there are any other family members out there that feel the need to confirm our relationship, bring it on.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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