Recently the wizards at Facebook rolled out a new feature: See Less. It allows you, allegedly, to mark certain of your friends so that fewer of their posts show up in your feed. Intended as a polite way of dialing back your exposure to overparticipaters and people that, for whatever reason, you just aren’t as interested in as others. Great
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What a fucking day. Item: Congress has tentatively agreed on a bill that will keep the government from shutting down. Now, there’s a lot wrong with it, starting with the fact that the Republicans are insisting on a huge payoff to Wall Street, basically holding the best interests of the people hostage to the best interests of the insanely rich. The smart money
Read moreA friend of mine has been using Facebook to solicit contributions for his son’s school fundraiser. He’s not alone – I’ve seen more and more of this lately, and perhaps you have, too. Last night he exploded – apparently despite all his pleas, he got no response. As in, zero. He went off on his FB friends in ways that
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Our social media activities would benefit from a dose of critical thinking. A lie can run round the world before the truth has got its boots on. – Terry Pratchett I had an exchange with my sister earlier about something she had shared on Facebook. If you haven’t seen it, it’s the one alleging that 11 US states now have
Read moreI have a Klout account. If you don’t know about Klout, it’s basically a new, high-tech way of stroking your ego and keeping track of how important you are. And I am all about that. Problem is, I can’t figure out how it works. Oh, I get the basic concept: the more people like and follow and share your stuff on
Read moreToday’s LA Times asks a good question: Is Mark Zuckerberg in over his hoodie as Facebook CEO? Business writers Walter Hamilton and Jessica Guynn dig into an issue that I suspect some of us have seen before, and it’s remarkable that the clamor over Zuck specifically hasn’t been louder for some time. Should Mark Zuckerberg, the social media visionary but neophyte corporate
Read moreIt’s an interesting time to be Facebook. You know, as in the old Chinese curse “may you live in interesting times.” They’ve been the target of freedom and privacy advocates for some time. All the way back in 2008 I was talking about the company’s anti-privacy tendencies and arguing that things were only going to get worse for the citizenry. More recently, I
Read moreIf you are not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold.” Did you know you have a Facebook email address? Maybe you did and maybe you didn’t. But if you have a Facebook account you have a Facebook email. And that email is now your default email on FB. WTF? You didn’t do that. NOBODY
Read moreFacebook reminded me of an important lesson this morning. When I was young, I was an idiot. A well-intentioned idiot, to be sure. And in my defense, it must be said that I was probably less of an idiot than most kids my age. But still, I look back on the things I did, the things I believed, the insecurities
Read moreScholars & Rogues wishes a very special Happy 2010 to our fans – all 164 of them. Hey, it’s about quality, not quantity, right? We know there are more than 164 really smart people on Facebook, though, so if you aren’t already following us you can do so here or by clicking on the Facebook icon you see in the
Read moreEver since the Internet began gaining popular awareness in the mid-1990s, the topic of how businesses can productively use various new media technologies has been a subject of ongoing interest. Along the way we’ve had a series of innovations to consider: first it was the Net, and the current tool of the moment is Twitter. In between we had, in
Read moreOnce upon a time the business world was dominated by hierarchical organizations that derived both their structures and mechanistic management philosophies from military thinking that traces its lineage through Frederic the Great all the way back, literally, to the Roman legions. And by “once upon a time,” of course, I mean “at this very minute.” The truth is that way
Read moreAt the request of Lara Amber, the most bright young lady you see in our better comment threads from time to time, we have established a new Scholars & Rogues Facebook page. If you’re a Facebooker – and really, who isn’t? – drop by, join, and carry on in whatever way seems appropriate.
Read moreItem: Citizens are concerned about online privacy and security. According to a new report from USC’s Center for the Digital Future, “Sixty-one percent of adult Americans said they were very or extremely concerned about the privacy of personal information when buying online, an increase from 47 percent in 2006. Before last year, that figure had largely been dropping since 2001.”
Read moreHave you ever noticed how social networks don’t do a very good job of representing how our personal networks actually function? Sure, places like Facebook and MySpace and LinkedIn have their utility, but their flatness is a problem. Think about your Facebook, for instance. If it’s like mine, you have friends there who run the gamut from “real life best
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lullaby pit 