November 17, 2011
Jimmy Kimmel is running the 2nd Annual National Unfriend Day. He started last year and has done a bunch of hilarious bits about it. He features some people who have pointless status updates and they wind up with more friends than before, but that’s more of a result of being shown on tv.
Kimmel makes these pointless updaters out to be the bad guys in the social situation. Yes, they are awful, but it is no fault but your own that you are friends with these people. I posted about Defriendicization 3 years ago pointing out the different type of friends that aren’t worth having.
There is no excuse to have these people around. First, why did you friend them? Even if you don’t want to defriend them, at least hide them. I have a bunch people hidden from my News Feed. Luckily I don’t run into them too often since I will be completely out of touch from stalking them.
Go on with your defriending activities today. But everyday should be ‘Don’t Friend Day’ so you consider these people before you friend them. And don’t be shy with the Hide button.
June 1, 2011
Now that Google’s +1 button is available I’ve got 4 buttons at the bottom of every post: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Google. Why? I see the potential of each, I just don’t see any of my friends using them. I’m not just looking at my site here for that proof. I rarely see a friend liking anything on Facebook. I have very few friends even on Twitter, but they at least share links. Tumblr? Maybe I’m hopeful. It’s so easy to use, I think everyone should have one. It allows for the bit of creativity that Facebook lacks.
Now there is +1. Again, I see potential. However, it all lies in how Google ties it in to everything else. Will there be a stream with the +1’s of everyone that I follow? Will it be in my Buzz feed? Maybe the answer is already there, I just haven’t seen it yet.
The most linked that I get shared are via Google Reader. A total of 3 people share things that I get to see. It was my favorite way to share things. It’s quick. It gives you the option to comment. It just pops up in my Google Reader and I have the option to check it out at my leisure. Most of it is Facebook-like. The key differences: anyone can follow and, like I said, it says unread, it doesn’t vanish into the endless FB stream.