If you think the primary use for Twitter is to tell people what you’re doing, you really do not “get it”. It’s okay, neither did I for a very long time. :)

@brentdanley's tweet frequency

The “point” of Twitter is communication. It’s active and viral.

For example, let’s suppose I find a cool website/blog post/article and tweet it. Then, several of my followers like the tweet and decide to re-tweet it to their followers. The dissemination can be exponential. Anybody can follow me and I choose who I want to follow. It’s like being at a cocktail party with the world and being able to participate in any of the innumerable conversations.

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microblogging · social · social networking · tool · tweet · tweetup · twitter

Hellhole
Atul Gawande, The New Yorker, March 30, 2009

Human beings are social creatures. We are social not just in the trivial sense that we like company, and not just in the obvious sense that we each depend on others. We are social in a more elemental way: simply to exist as a normal human being requires interaction with other people.

I have long argued that incarceration should not be used to punish criminals. The goals should be rehabilitation and separation. Prison officials should have a mandate to treat inmates with respect and provide them with a decent quality of life. Solitary confinement should never be used to punish inmates or to keep them safe. It is a cruel practice that has no place in an industrialized, first-world, enlightened society. (more…)

incarceration · isolation · prison · social · solitary confinement · the new yorker · torture

I really like Facebook. And Twitter. And Google Talk. And LinkedIn. And Tumblr. And, to a much lesser extent, MySpace.

The problem is that they all have statuses that require updating. I certainly don’t have the time or patience to constantly update the status at each site. I’ve also been unable to update my Facebook status with my mobile phone because Facebook and my wireless carrier, T-Mobile, don’t play well together.

Today I discovered Ping.fm. Problems solved.

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facebook · myspace · network · ping.fm · social · status · twitter · web 3.0

Facebook friends share ’25 Things’ with the world
Mike Snider, USA Today, February 5, 2009

Facebook is great for sharing and keeping in touch with friends and family. As I’ve said in another post, I enjoy it very much. Some of the “chain-lists”, though, are yawn-inducing time-wasting drivel. I usually abstain. But when I was “tagged” by no less than six-people on “25 Random Things About Me” notes, I thought perhaps I should make an exception to my rule. It’s fun to learn things about people you think you know or whom you would like to know better.

Coming up with 25 things was not easy and required a long trip down Memory Lane. However, now that I’ve posted my own note I wish I could amend other random bits to my list.

I was hanging out with Kirsten this morning reading newspapers and came across an article in USA Today by Mike Snider. He gives an overview of the “25 Things” phenomenon and offers some good advice…

Should you choose to join in the 25 Random Things craze, media consultant Shelly Palmer recommends that “you shouldn’t put anything online that you would not want to see on the front of the newspaper or that you would not want a potential client or your boss to see,” says Palmer, whose book Get Digital: Reinventing Yourself and Your Career for the 21st Century Economy is due this spring.

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facebook · list · note · social

I love Facebook! It is, as you must already know, a social web site where members can find old friend, make new ones, share photos, blog, join causes, play games and many other activities. This is all made possible by a powerful API, clean interface and sensible privacy policy.

Yesterday I reconnected with Inger Wicks, one of the hottest girls from when I attended Palmer Junior and Senior High Schools in Palmer, Alaska. It has been fun to talk about old friends and to see the directions our lives have taken the past twenty years. I even dug up some old photos which I scanned and posted to my profile.

I also reconnected with several missionary companions from my years serving in the Massachusetts Boston Mission. There’s even a group for that. :)

I’ve also added family members who live far away and with whom I’ve lost contact.

This morning a girl from college, with whom I was madly in love, added me as a friend. She has four kids!

Facebook is a wonderful way to keep in touch with the people we care about, past and present. I’ve long felt happiness is all about relationships. Facebook allows us to bridge time and space to stay in touch with family and friends. I love it.

facebook · family · friends · internet · social · web2.0

Facebook broke my heart
Johnny Diaz, The Boston Globe, November 25, 2008

Kristin O’Neill blames Facebook for her recent breakup. O’Neill, a financial worker from Quincy, created an account on Facebook.com this year after hearing about the social networking site’s popularity from her boyfriend and friends. What she found on the site was the stuff of a bad Lifetime channel movie: Her guy had created two separate profiles. He posted salacious comments on other women’s photos, and he claimed he was in an open relationship. With printouts of his photo comments, O’Neill confronted her boyfriend of two years. He confessed. She dumped him.

Kristin, an obviously emotionally vulnerable young woman, claims that Facebook is “just awful.” Really? Facebook helped her discover she was in a relationship with a loser and she’s upset with Facebook? Perhaps a more mature person would blame the boyfriend instead of scapegoating a web site.

For some people, learning that a partner is chatting with former love interests is too close for comfort.

Like, get over it. (more…)

facebook · relationship · social · web 2.0

This is a sweet project. I’m not sure what the still photographers are hoping to capture.

experiment · grand central · nyc · project · social

Last week, while searching the internet for like-minded people here in southern Maine, I discovered a new and wonderful website. Meetup.com is a place where anyone can plan events for people who share a common interest. It’s fantastic! Group members can share photos, messages, files, and are able to comment on and rate each meetup. When a meetup is announced users are able to RSVP so everyone knows how many people will attend (or not attend).

So far I belong to Meetup groups in Portland for skeptics, adventurers, Ruby developers, and people who like to play park games. Kirsten met interesting people this past Tuesday evening and enjoyed the conversation at a Skeptics Group meetup.

Meetup.com is especially great for Kirsten and I since we’ve recently moved here “from away” and don’t have many friends. We’re excited to meet many fun and interesting people in the area!

“Virtual World, I’d like to introduce you to the Real World.”

You can view my Meetup.com profile here. Now go. Join a group or start your own. Life was not meant to be lived staring into a computer monitor alone.

activity · adventure · friend · fun · internet · maine · portland · social · web