Awesome. A day after I try to get my thoughts out on this subject and I find an article speaking about it... and in Popular Mechanics of all places. Actually, the fact that I found this article is some sort of evidence that what they're saying is true. I set up all sorts of digital filters around my online profile and relevant information flows to me so I don't have to go searching for it any longer. They say it better than I do:
"In fact, as we each carve out our individual niche on the Web, the logic of search may well flip inside out. Since we are essentially meta-tagging ourselves through our social networking memberships, shopping habits and surfing addictions, it’s conceivable that the information could attempt to find us—the old concept of push media, but in a far more refined way. As new content enters the Web, it could tumble through the various filters that you set up around your identity and then show up on your home-page news feed, or in your in box, or pop up on a ticker that follows you around as you browse from page to page."
It's a very good article if you're interested. Here's the link: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4259135.html
Friday, April 18, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
What's the Point Exactly?
Speaking of me being a cyber-stalker, why in the world do I do it?
I like feeling connected... I think of it as networking... but is it? What is the point of knowing what everyone is doing and what they think about current events, etc. if we never actually communicate in any meaningful way? I'm not sure if the internet is evolving or if it's us. Here's sort of a quick and dirty timeline of what I spent most of my time doing on the internet since I first got on it many years ago:
Chatting -> IMing -> Posting on Forums -> Blogging -> Creating a Website -> Status Updates on Facebook
Do you see a trend? I used to talk to people... mainly strangers from all over the world. It was fascinating and I'd stay up all night, praying my parents wouldn't wake up and yell at me to go to bed. I then moved to instant messengers, speaking almost exclusively to people I knew from real life-mostly classmates and friends. Suddenly I found we were never online at the same time due to work and classes, so we created our own forum and posted there on whatever was going on in the world... sharing our thoughts and ideas. It went really well for a year or two and then-bam-it was dead. No one came anymore. Where were they? Posting in their own blogs. I would like to think we all kept up with each other and read each other's blogs regularly, but I think people mostly just kept to their own space and used it as their own outlet. I moved into a website design phase and created some great things... but realized no one would ever come. No one can bother with going to individual websites anymore; we expect all the relevant information to just flow to us. This is why I do almost nothing but update my status on Facebook these days. I post a simple sentence about what's going on in my life and automatically all of my friends see it, just as I see theirs. We know what's going on without having to actually work at it. We don't need to seek out the information and we don't need to (God forbid!) actually speak to each other.
The strange outcome of this process is that I now feel just as connected to the total strangers I keep track of (famous authors, well-known librarians, etc.) as I do my actual friends. The bizarre part being that these strangers don't even know I exist, yet I feel like I know almost everything about them.
So what's the point? Why are we doing this? Are we really so wrapped up in our own lives that simply knowing that Justin's busy writing a paper and Megan is having a crappy day at work equates to friendship these days? Does the fact that I know Laurie is revising her next book and Michael got a cool new toy really help my professional life? Is anyone actually communicating anymore? Does any of this have a point?
I like feeling connected... I think of it as networking... but is it? What is the point of knowing what everyone is doing and what they think about current events, etc. if we never actually communicate in any meaningful way? I'm not sure if the internet is evolving or if it's us. Here's sort of a quick and dirty timeline of what I spent most of my time doing on the internet since I first got on it many years ago:
Chatting -> IMing -> Posting on Forums -> Blogging -> Creating a Website -> Status Updates on Facebook
Do you see a trend? I used to talk to people... mainly strangers from all over the world. It was fascinating and I'd stay up all night, praying my parents wouldn't wake up and yell at me to go to bed. I then moved to instant messengers, speaking almost exclusively to people I knew from real life-mostly classmates and friends. Suddenly I found we were never online at the same time due to work and classes, so we created our own forum and posted there on whatever was going on in the world... sharing our thoughts and ideas. It went really well for a year or two and then-bam-it was dead. No one came anymore. Where were they? Posting in their own blogs. I would like to think we all kept up with each other and read each other's blogs regularly, but I think people mostly just kept to their own space and used it as their own outlet. I moved into a website design phase and created some great things... but realized no one would ever come. No one can bother with going to individual websites anymore; we expect all the relevant information to just flow to us. This is why I do almost nothing but update my status on Facebook these days. I post a simple sentence about what's going on in my life and automatically all of my friends see it, just as I see theirs. We know what's going on without having to actually work at it. We don't need to seek out the information and we don't need to (God forbid!) actually speak to each other.
The strange outcome of this process is that I now feel just as connected to the total strangers I keep track of (famous authors, well-known librarians, etc.) as I do my actual friends. The bizarre part being that these strangers don't even know I exist, yet I feel like I know almost everything about them.
So what's the point? Why are we doing this? Are we really so wrapped up in our own lives that simply knowing that Justin's busy writing a paper and Megan is having a crappy day at work equates to friendship these days? Does the fact that I know Laurie is revising her next book and Michael got a cool new toy really help my professional life? Is anyone actually communicating anymore? Does any of this have a point?
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Back to Blogging
I realized that I constantly stalk people online and read all of my friends' blog posts religiously... but I never write any of my own. So, here I am. I'm back. I have nothing better to do, right?
What's going on right now in SaraLand:
- Selling everything I own on Craig's List
- Freaking out about having enough money to move
- Moving to Las Vegas in less than 3 weeks
- Absolutely despising my (current) job
- Absolutely giddy about my (upcoming) job
That's it for now. I'll post often, and hopefully I'll have interesting things to say.
What's going on right now in SaraLand:
- Selling everything I own on Craig's List
- Freaking out about having enough money to move
- Moving to Las Vegas in less than 3 weeks
- Absolutely despising my (current) job
- Absolutely giddy about my (upcoming) job
That's it for now. I'll post often, and hopefully I'll have interesting things to say.
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