So I've received an invitation over Facebook entitled the "UNCOMMON PROTEST." For a little background on this event, the College at the University of Chicago has a notorious (yet amusing) admissions application called the "Uncommon Application." It was meant to be a quirky way for an applicant to get to the know the university. The long essay questions are not the boring ones as seen in the Common Application, but it asks for responses to weird questions such as "What do you think of Wednesday?" or "If you had a party and you can invite anyone you want, describe what would happen and who would be invited?". As weird as these essay questions are, the answers are fun to write if you have a great (yet sarcastic) sense of humor. It's also a way for you, as an applicant, to let the college get to know you through your writing style and sense of being.
Recently, the newly inaugurated College President wanted to make a move to have the University of Chicago be on the Common Application and add the quirky essay questions to the supplemental part of the application starting next year. This caused an outrage among the college community, as many students felt that the application is what makes the University of Chicago unique.
As mentioned in an earlier post, there was a facebook group created to protest the move to the Common application and discussion board abounds filled with comments. Some feel that the move to the Common application will increase the applicant pool, and give the College an opportunity to admit a more diverse student body. Others feel that the UnCommon application is now a U of C institution that cannot be removed.
This now comes to the Facebook event that advertises the actual physical protest which will take place this Friday at noon in front of the administration building. There are only 27 confirmed guests as far which is miniscule to the 5000+ college student population on campus.
Is Facebook the best way to generate advertising to the college body? As far as I know, I know a lot of people who graduated last year that don't even check out Facebook anymore. In addition, it seems like people don't really use Facebook that much.
I guess we'll see what sort of reaction comes up this Friday. It seems like the decision is final.
The irony of securing your ID
Fall semester (or quarter in my case) is a big time for seniors in college who are looking for full-time employment or applying for grants and grad schools. With the rise of social networking sites and increased sharing of personal information, some employers and/or admissions committee members are checking out the profiles of their candidates to get a closer glimpse or another view that is not represented in their applications or resumes. They are getting more than they bargain for as they see antics of drunken craziness or plain bigotry that is listed in their candidates' profiles. Many of my friends who were going through the recruiting process have even deleted or taken down parts of their profiles because they were afraid that prospective employers may see things that my friends don't want to share. It's pretty ironic that we college students are so worried about security even though we pour our hearts out into these social networking sites and blogs.
ClaimID.com apparently is the panacea to our security woes. This site lets you "track, verify, classify, annotize, prioritize, and share information that is about you online." What the hell does that mean? Upon closer examination, the concept is that using this service you can claim, or tag, the information that is about you online. The information is then associated with your name. If people google your name, that is the information or link that will be most relevant. Basically, you have some influence on what links will come up at the top if anyone (i.e. prospective employer) decides to search your name on the internet.
The service is not verified identity. ClaimID does not require Social Security numbers or a fingerprint. It just enables you to collect the information that is about you online in a personal cache. ClaimID supports microformats, has an expanding API, and easily integrates into your blog or website. The service does not claim any of your information as its own and put Creative Commons licenses on all data feeds.
The service is free for all who join during the public beta phase. It's a novel concept. Not that I'm stupid to put things online that I don't want others to see, but I can see many of my friends who would have loved to have this service during the campus recruitment phase.
funny note that I noticed while on facebook
Entitled "How to Write a Paper in College"
1. Sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a well lit place in front of your computer. 2. Log onto MSN and AIM (be sure to go on 'away' or 'busy'!). Check your email. 3. Read over the assignment carefully, to make certain you understand it. 4. Walk down to the vending machines and buy some chocolate to help you concentrate. 5.
Check facebook. 6. Call up a friend and ask if he/she wants to go to the caf and grab a hot chocolate. Just to get settled down and ready to work. 7. When you get back to your room, sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a clean, well lit place. 7a. If your room is not clean, take out the garbage and vacuum first. 8. Read over the assignment again to make absolutely certain you understand it. 9.
Check facebook. 10. You know, you haven't written to that kid you met at camp since fourth grade. You'd better write that letter now and get it out of the way so you can concentrate. 11. Look at your teeth in the bathroom mirror. 12. Grab some mp3z off of kazaa. 13.
Check facebook. 14. AIM chat with one of your friends about the future (ie summer plans). 15.
Check facebook. 16. Listen to your new mp3z and download some more. 17. Phone your friend on the other floor and ask if she's started writing yet. Exchange derogatory remarks about your prof, the the college, the world at large. 18. Walk to the store and buy a pack of gum. You've probably run out. 19. While you've got the gum you may as well buy a magazine and read it. 20.
Check facebook. 21. Check the newspaper listings to make sureyou aren't missing something truly worthwhile on TV. 22. Play some solitare. 23. Check out bored.com. 24. Wash your hands. 25. Call up a friend to see how much they have done, probably haven't started either. 26. Look through your housemate's book of pictures from home. Ask who everyone is. 27. Sit down and do some serious thinking aboutyour plans for the future. 28. Check to see if bored.com has been updated yet. 29. Check your email and listen to your new mp3s 30. You should be rebooting by now, assuming that windows is crashing on schedule. 31. Read over the assignment one more time,just for the heck of it. 32. Scoot your chair across the room to the window and watch the sunrise. 33. Lie face down on the floor and moan. 34. Punch the wall and break something. 35.
Check facebook. 36. Mumble obscenties. 37. 5am - start hacking on the paper without stopping. 6am -paper is finished. 38. Complain to everyone that you didn't getany sleep because you had to write that stupid paper. 39. Go to class, hand in paper, and leave right away so you can take a nap
Notice how "Check Facebook" came up 6 times. Facebook is seriously a necessary evil in the college world.
thanksgiving aftermath
It's funny to see what people post in their facebook or myspace profiles before, during, and after the holidays. My local friends have been inviting friends who come from far away to their houses for Thanksgiving meals through Facebook's "create event" feature. Others have posted about their exotic vacations (Bermuda and Paris to a name a few). Many have also posted photos of their travels during Thanksgiving holiday, so that people can feel connected to their friends online through photos of Toronto, New York City, Los Angeles, and many other cities throughout the United States.
I've noticed some people even documented their Thanksgiving holidays from start to finish. Everything from their wanderings through the airports and their crazy antics upon return to home. Some have even posted their links to their YouTube sites to share videos from their Thanksgiving holidays. Many of my UChicago friends also made the valiant attempts to do schoolwork as the horror of finals looms over everyone after the holiday. (That includes me as well.)
one feature that is lacking in many social networking sites
I won't be surprised if Facebook or any other social networking site puts up this feature on Black Friday, but I realized (as I was talking to some of my friends on campus) that there is no way to put up your wishlist for the coming holidays and birthdays. I definitely recall way too many times when I was absolutely clueless on what kind of gift that I should get for my parents, siblings, boyfriends, BFFs, old friends, grandma, colleagues, and/or many other people. Although I still do most of my holiday shopping in real life on the shops of Michigan Avenue and Lincoln Park, there are some gifts (mostly movies, video games, books, and consumer electronics) that I buy online.
Now wouldn't this be a great scheme. If every profile has a seasonal feature that allows one to list their top 10 (or more if you are connected to lots of people) most-wanted items for the upcoming holidays and/or their birthdays, then anyone with access to this user's profile can browse through the list and get some ideas for gifts. Another great marketing tool would be to link all of the most-wanted items to third-party retail sites such as Amazon.com, and allow users (or the social networking site) to make commission.
I know many of my friends already put up their wishlists in their "about me" sections anyway. However, as much as I'm not afraid of asking my family and friends bluntly on "What do they want for the holidays?", I always get the most vague answers or I have no idea what to get them after I ask them.
staying connected with old friends
So despite all the rumors that social networking sites such as MySpace, Friendster, and (gasp!) Facebook are facing declining popularity and use by its members.
Of course, one great thing that these social networking sites have to retain its members' participation is their ability to maintain friendships over long distances. As I was browsing through my old high school friends' profiles just to see what they are up to, I've noticed that they all began to join groups reminiscent of high school days.
For example, a group of students started an a cappella group while I was in high school. This a cappella group turned out to be very good and eventually had opportunities to perform all over the United States. Upon graduation, many members went on to join college a cappella groups and still maintained close contact with each other. It turns out that there is now a Facebook group dedicated to this high school a cappella group. Current members, alums, and fans can join this group and communicate with each other on future events and past memories.
There are other groups as well. Some memorializing old friends, and other groups are devoted to high school sports (Brighton Barons) and music groups. Even if social networking sites get untrendy among college campuses, they are still very useful to see what old high school friends are up to without having to make a phone call or write hundreds of emails. (In my case, I had so many friends in high school as I was involved in too many activities and sports teams.) As much as Facebook is the ultimate procrastinator tool of choice, I still enjoy the fact that I can see many photos of my buddies from high school.
i'm confused
Read
this.
So this is an interesting case. A company has announced an unlimited mobile internet service charged a subscription fee. So imagine I have a phone.. but without a line. Instead, I use my internet connection for phone calls (i.e. Skype) and can communicate at the same time.
I'm intrigued.. Too bad I don't live in the UK when this will launch in December.
Dogpile for video searching
I like saving time especially when it comes to searching for some video clips. As much as YouTube nearly has 99% of what I'm looking for, it is always hard to find that 1% on other sites.
A new search engine dubbed VDoogle! solves this problem by allowing one to search for videos across many different video sites. VDoogle uses the Google search engine and searches through the websites such as but not limited to Daily Motion, Google Video, MySpace videos, YouTube, AOL videos, and iFilm.
This is definitely worth bookmarking just because I like consolidation.
Online video + social networking = Lycos's desperation to gain foothold in web 2.0
Lycos has recently launched the site, "
Lycos Cinema," to allow people to connect with friends while watching online video. Although this site has similar features with the immensely popular YouTube, the nice add-on for Lycos Cinema is that it enables users to chat with each other real-time while watching the video. Many of these videos are full length features (often at least an hour or two long), so it's almost watching a movie with your friends only virtually.
This site is still in beta stages, but Lycos may be on to something here.
Social networking sites as forum for political and social issues
Ranging from small campus issues such as rumors of the discontinued late van service to larger political and social issues such as Darfur and Breast Cancer Awareness month, many social networking sites seem to be the focal point of raising awareness on a wide variety of social, political, and economic issues. It does not come to surprise me. Popular social networking websites such as MySpace and Facebook get millions of page views every day. Social networking sites are rising to be a marketing dream as more people spend a majority of their time online rather than watching TV.
Here are some notable issues that have used Facebook as an engine to raise awareness and donations for good causes.
"Join to Support Breast Cancer Awareness Month"
This group was started last month. At the end of October, there were more than 800,000 members which raised about $114,000 in pledges. Even Google partnered up with this site to create the "lookpink" search engine devoted to breast cancer awareness month and 50% of search ad revenue goes to funding breast cancer resesarch.
"For Every 1,000 that joins this group I will donate $1 to Darfur"
Started by Marek Grodzicki from NYU, he has pledged $1 of his own money for every 1000 people who join this group. By January 1, 2007, he will tally the number of members in this group to come up with the final count. So far, there are more than 450,000 members in this group. He is currently taking matching requests from other facebook members and looking for corporate sponsors as well.
My love/hate relationship with Facebook
I know that I had to stay away from personal things while writing this social networking blog, but something personal came up last night that solidified the fact that I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook.
As much as I value Facebook's ability to keep me in touch with old friends from high school, there are points where sometimes I would rather find out about some things from a person rather than a social networking site. As much the site is a great social tool to get friends together for fun gatherings, parties, and events, the last thing I wanted to find out from Facebook is that an old friend from high school passed away from Hodgkin's disease.
I remember seeing photos of him randomly last year. Despite the pale skin and bones, he still had that radiant smile that melt anyone's heart. Honestly, he was one of the nicest people I have ever met and had the pleasure to know. I still remember our short days with the Brighton track team, and our get-togethers in student council meetings. All the times we made fun of each other during the annual homecoming on whose float/mural/school spirit is better.
All I know is that he would not want anyone to dwell on his past memory but to continue to live on. Whenever I think of him, I'll definitely smile in hopes that he is in a better place.
the evolution of music sharing
So I wanted to say how much I love
last.fm. This is by far the best site I've ever used to share my music with friends and get recommendations on music that I would never have known to exist. When I first downloaded the software onto my computer some time ago, I didn't know what to expect. I knew it was a social tagging software for music, but that was about it.
Last.fm records all the songs that I have listened to then presents recommendations based on your tastes. These recommendations includes users who share similar music tastes, artists you may like, personalized radio streams, and top 10 charts to name a few. There is no cost to sign up and use the software, but you do need to contribute a small amount if you want to use the extra goodies.
With all these funny names such as scrobbling and shoutbox, there are tons of social things to do on this site. You can attempt to be a top fan for your favorite artist or band. You can customize your own radio station with your most played tracks or your favorite all-time tracks. You can read and write on the wiki pages of your favorite artists and bands. You can tag as many tracks as you want. You can also create and manage groups to support your favorite artists and bands.
By the way, iLike is a similar program but it's a plug-in for iTunes. I'm just waiting for Mac to make a similar plug-in and make iLike obsolete.
Let the pinging begin (occasionally)!
So I always appreciate when a reader of my blog emails me with positive comments and makes suggestions of other applications I should check out. Honestly, I love feedback, and if you have any applications that should be noted or checked out... Definitely leave a comment or email me.
Anyway, a reader kindly emailed me about a mobile messaging application called Pinger. It's a pretty interesting application and a novel idea. Pinger is instant voice messaging for your mobile phone. There are no rings, no greetings, no lengthly prompts, and no keypad typing. You can send messages by dialing the pinger number... or on the web. You can import contacts from a wide variety of sources like Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Palm desktop, Thunderbird, AOL, Hotmail, MySpace, and Entourage.
How do you send a message? As I said before, there are two ways. First way is to use your computer. As long as your computer has computer speakers with microphone capabilities, you can use this application. It is a little strange talking to a computer. You can also review your message if you think your voice sounds a little too weird and creepy. The second way is to use your mobile phone like you use your voicemail. The good thing is that you skip through the long prompts and can go straight to your messages.
You can also forward and reply to your pinger messages via phone and computer. You can also broadcast your pinger message to a group or as many people as you want.
Now what is the practicality behind this? Well, it is quite a novel concept except I can't seem to place its position in my arsenal of communication methods. First, the beauty of texting is that it is discreet. I can do it anywhere without attracting attention (especially during class or at work). With Pinger, it's great that I don't have to disturb my friends when they are sleeping or in class; however, I may as well text them to begin with.
Then there is the argument that Pinger is easy because you don't have to type out the text on a keypad. Well, that is what the predictive text option is for on your mobile phone. In addition, heavy texters also have the option of getting phones with QWERTY keypads or touchscreens.
I can see Pinger as a cool alternative to sending email especially to my friends abroad. (I can save a lot of money by not calling them.) Then again, VOIP applications such as Skype is making that dirt cheap too.
My verdict: Pinger is a great novelty, but it does not serve much useful purpose unless your friends prefer your voice to a text.
Stumbled on an interesting plug-in
"StumbleUpon" lets you channel-surf the best internet sites on the web. It is a social tagging tool for browsing, reviewing, and sharing great sites with people who have similar interests. Signing up is relatively easy. Just download the plug-in (works for Firefox and IE), and click on the Stumble! icon.
When you click on the Stumble! icon on your toolbar, StumbleUpon will send you sites and pages based on the topics you choose. Stumble! as much as you want as there are millions on sites on the database submitted and recommended by fellow Stumblers. You can rate the pages sent to you with a thumbs up or thumbs down. When you thumb the page, you can also submit a review and/or read reviews by fellow Stumblers.
You can also communicate with other Stumblers. Once you have chosen a photo to represent you, you can talk to other Stumblers or block them if they annoyed you. You can also make friends because you like their pages. Once you make friends, you can regularly look at your network page and see your fellow Stumblers' information. Other social networking features on this application includes making groups, discussing on forums, sending/receiving messages, and making/sharing your own pages.
I've wasted A LOT of time with this feature. Almost as much as browsing through Wikipedia. I've discovered some really cool sites using this application because I'm just too lazy to wade through all search results Google and Yahoo! give me.
Chase +1
So I've been coming across some interesting groups. It really looks like that companies ranging from banks to retailers are using facebook as a marketing tool.
For example, I ran across a group called "Chase +1" where students are encouraged to apply for the Chase +1 credit card. Then, they join the Chase +1 facebook group to get a free limited edition facebook t-shirt and linke their Chase +1 credit card to their Facebook accounts. As a new member, one gets a promo gift certificate from Amazon once approved for their card. Also, there are many features including Facebook wallet, "Guess Whose Statement?", and earn and/or share Karma points to redeem at the online store. The group currently has more than 29,000 members. You can also donate karma points (1 Karma point = $1) to various charitable organizations.
I'm deciding whether to apply for this credit card. In the meantime, I'll just explore what this group has to offer. There aren't that many items in the karma store yet (besides t-shirt and facebook wallet), but I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of items Chase will put to entice the college student.
while in philly
So... I took the mylo to the City of Brotherly Love. Alas, it was pretty disappointing. Although the hotel claims to be wireless, I can only get access in the lobby. So my plans for domination in a committee were thwarted as I did not have access to the information that I needed online on my Mylo. Set-up in different locations is pretty easy, as the device picks up any wi-fi access point. Too bad Philadelphia is not entirely wireless yet.
Nonetheless, I did get a lot of "Oohs" and "Ahs" from the team. The design for this device received thumbs up, as it was a very cute device. One of my techie guy friends comments, "This device is for girls. My fingers are too big. Not only that, you need nails to hit the keys." Then I realized that this was true as I typed much better and more accurately with my long fingernails than with my fingers.
Otherwise, it seems like that I was better off with a phone with the same capabilities and would be much better with an AOL instant messenger client. I searched for a way to install an AIM client on this device but failed miserably. I wish I had friends with Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk because it would be so cool to actually make full use of the What's Up application.
This brings me to another point. Some companies are coming out with this really cool phones that are dual sliders (i.e. LG SH100, Nokia N95). One side slides out a QWERTY keyboard, and another side is for music buttons or actual phone keypad. There are rumors that Helio will come out with a dual slider very soon.
Verdict with Mylo... It needs phone capabilities. I can't deal with not being connected 100% of the time because the signal dies. (At most I was connected 60% while I was on campus.)
Also, I hate reauthenticating myself on campus when the device puts the signal on standby to save battery.. Also, it's nearly useless when you travel (besides watching video and music). Even with that, loading up content is kinda tedious.
