When did this blog go from a wide swath of technology-related stories to “Today's Facebook news is…” 
But Facebook is booming – I'm finding and being found by old college friends, work colleagues and more. My mom's not on (yet) but I expect that add request any day.
The strangest? I was looking at the profile page for a librarian here in Regina and one name on his “Other Friends” list sounded familiar. I e-mailed the friend (via Facebook of course) and it turns out it was a guy who had gone to the same elementary school as me for one year when we were eight then moved away. Honestly, I thought there'd be a lot more of those “six degrees of separation” connections happening for me on Facebook but that hasn't been the case.
So anyhow, here are a few Facebook related stories I came across recently that I thought I'd pass along…
Face Off Extension for Firefox
– if you're not a fan of the new applications for Facebook, this Firefox extension allows you to turn them off. I haven't installed it yet but the idea has some appeal – how many invites to join “horoscopes” does one person need? How many different “This Is What I'm Reading” apps are out there?
Facebook Deja Vu
– an analysis of the impact of Facebook on various groups – from teens to venture capitalists. “No less a personage than Marc Andreessen has declared Facebook a seminal milestone in the on-going history of the internet.” (Andreessen is credited with investing the first graphical web browser – Mosaic – if you didn't know.)
Facebook Is The New AOL
Touching on some points in the last article but in a more critical manner, blog pioneer Jason Kottke, points out the similarities between America Online in 1994 and Facebook is 2007.
“As it happens, we already have a platform on which anyone can
communicate and collaborate with anyone else, individuals and companies
can develop applications which can interoperate with one another
through open and freely available tools, protocols, and interfaces.
It's called the internet and it's more compelling than AOL was in 1994
and Facebook in 2007.”
Warning: You Too Could Be Addicted to Facebook
The one word people use when describing Facebook is “addictive”. A college journalist takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the phenomena.
“Even while writing this article, I found myself distracted by
the Facebook. Intending (for the most part) to do research and
gather information, I often found myself updating my profile,
checking out new messages, and even joining groups – all
while I was supposed to be thinking about how to stop doing exactly
that.”
“How Facebook Ended My Marriage”
A technology journalist decides that listing himself as “engaged” on Facebook is giving out a bit too much personal information so he changes this setting without realising this will send a message to all of his friends that “Thomas is no longer engaged.”
“Within minutes an email arrived from a friend in San Francisco
asking if I was doing ok and a friend in France posted the news on his Twitter feed (photo above), which has nearly 800 readers. Colleagues discussed the situation without me knowing about it.
Suddenly I found myself explaining to people spanning nine timezones
that we are, in fact, still getting married. Don’t always believe what
Facebook tells you.”
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