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Profiles.MyTriSTate.us
One day, they were there. Who knows where they came from? Profile sites and social networks were suddenly the rage, and it just won't go away. Essentially, a profile is a very simple personal website found within a community, or social network of other personal websites. This doesn't always work out; school teachers have often found themselves the victim of fraudulent profiles posted of themselves by their students, but let MyTriState.us warn you: if you're thinking that sounds like a great idea, understand that these profile websites are not stupid. They will trace and record your IP address or any other way you think you can hide, they'll find you eventually and you will get caught or at least blocked. But it's essentially harmless fun or yet another really annoying way for spammers to harass you on the net. If you're thinking about setting up or checking out a profile, we'll talk about some sites you might want to consider.
And speaking of profiles and social networks, check us out on Facebook or follow us on Twitter
Social networking trends
A recent NY Times article on start up companies' willingness to challenge Facebook brought to mind the trends (or perhaps more accurately labeled fads) of social networking and connecting online. In the beginning, there was AOL and AOL Instant Messenger, and this is where it was at, and still remains a power house today. Sure, you can IM through Facebook or use Google Chat, but AOL IM was the king, and it probably still is, although you imagine facebook is creeping up there. But back in the day, AOL IM is all we had, and it was king. Even folks without AOL as their ISP had an application version that ran AOL IM by itself, while AOL users flaunted that their IM username was also their @aol.com email address. As time moved on, the internet changed and the high speed era came to light. Websites became more complex and were able to display more complicated content, so the social networking sites started to pop up. There was Friendster, which was beaten to death by MySpace. People presumably left Friendster because MySpace had a much larger network and the site was a lot more customizable. But as MySpace grew, the site suffered from server slowness, and they added more features and more junk - even today, the insane amount of movie advertisements that has come to be the hallmark of the homepage in the News Corp ownership era continues to bog the site down. It was also hard to stay with MySpace after the corporate buyout not only because additional ads and features made the site a lot slower, but News Corp has a way of doing business that leaves a bad taste in some people's moths. Facebook seemed to be the anti MySpace - it only allowed students to join their service, and the site was very plain and white, and easy to read, for the most part. Now, as Facebook has become an internet behemoth and opened its doors to the world, they are monetizing their user group and allegations of privacy misuse have sent some users running for the door. This is a bit confusing... if privacy is important to you, a Facebook account is probably not on your lists of things to do.
As the challengers, like Pip.io and others, emerge, it remains to be seen if Facebook, like its predecessors, will begin to fade.
Facebook Settings
Over time, Facebook has updated their setting and privacy policies. If you haven't checked it out in a while, you really need to do so. The NYTimes had a decent article about it found here, but it leaves a lot to be desired. The most powerful tool that you probably don't realize exists is that you can turn off people's game notifications without turning them off. just click on the 'hide' button of their Farmville nonsense (or what have you) and you'll get a pop up that'll help guide the way. The problem is, you have to do this for every single application your friends use to annoy you, like Marfia Wars and other crap like that. But its better than no options at all.
Facebook Note: Facebook is coming under fire for the large amount of power their data farm is using. They're trying to be green in terms of their electricity consumption, but its a juggling act. Facebook requires a lot of servers, after all.
Spam in Facebook's Name
These spam mails pretending to be Facebook resetting your password are coming hot and heavy, but they are SPAM and not real, so ignore them. Whatever you do, DO NOT OPEN THE ATTACHMENT! Here is an example of a spam mail that is sent to look like it's from Facebook. The attachment called 'McAfee_EmailScanReport.txt' is an old tactic, but its just not going away. Scammers and Spammers must be getting lazy; they could at least rename the file to be in the same vain as the body of their email, but whatever.
Subject: Facebook Password Reset Confirmation. Your Support.
Attachment: McAfee_EmailScanReport.txt
Hey holiday ,
Because of the measures taken to provide safety to our clients, your password has been changed.
You can find your new password in attached document.
Thanks,
Your Facebook.
Flagging Photos on Facebook
Say that 3 times fast. If you've ever decided to pass judgment on a Facebook user's photo and flag it, you just created some work for a Facebook staffer. Someone at Facebook has to review every flagged photo manually and make a judgment. They're probably not making a decision based on personal values - Facebook has over 800 employees and over 100 folks who decide what flagged photos stay and go, so they seem to have some guidelines set. For example, we understand it's OK to show someone's thong clad rear end, but if a lady lets a nipple make an appearance, that's gone.
The idea that someone has to deal with each photo manually is impressive and yet painful for their staff. We like the idea that a personal touch is involved, yet we've never been so glad to not have that sort of functionality here at MyTriState.us... on the other hand, it'd be nice to have their user base and money! Also, it's probably difficult to automate an image screening process - although its not impossible. The Chinese government has internet filtering software that blocks images with too much skin. This, apparently, includes images of Garfield, the animated cat. Seriously - look it up!
There is a bunch of info on Facebook operations at this Newsweek article.
Twitter.com
Twitter, we understand, skews a bit older demographic than other social network profile sites. We understand members of congress were 'tweeting' during President Obama's address in February 2009.
Facebook.com
Initially set up just for students, we understand anyone can create a facebook profile now. Facebook holds the reigns much tighter than MySpace and keeps their site free from clutter.
MySpace.com
Pre Fox corporate buy out and Facebook explosion, this was the place to be. It pretty much still is. Setting your profile to private is a must, or face the wrath of intercontinental spam.
Friendster
A lot like MySpace, but a lot less popular.