Facebook Code of Honor

As a follow-up to my last post, I discovered a post about Facebook Ethics on Urban Dictionary. It reads:

Facebook Ethics is a major branch of philosophy, encompassing right conduct and good life over the electronic medium Facebook. The guiding principle of Facebook ethics is that of exercising sound judgement and morality when establishing relationships, networking, or simply keeping in touch with old friends.

Examples of breaching Facebook ethics include:

• Posting inappropriate pictures of either yourself or friends engaged in raucous behavior, binge drinking, or doing illegal drugs.
• Posting nasty comments about ex boyfriends new girlfriends at an attempt to invoke jealousy, cause pain, insult the other party
• Incessantly posting on people's walls thereby shielding other people's comments and creating a monopoly on said person's wall
• Discussing insensitive topics that could be read by other people- examples include religion, politics, and racism/sexism
• Tagging friends in pictures that are less than flattering.

This is in fact a layman's reiteration of Facebook's code of conduct:

While we believe users should be able to express themselves and their point of view, certain kinds of speech simply do not belong in a community like Facebook. Therefore, you may not post or share Content that:

• is obscene, pornographic or sexually explicit
• depicts graphic or gratuitous violence
• makes threats of any kind or that intimidates, harasses, or bullies anyone
• is derogatory, demeaning, malicious, defamatory, abusive, offensive or hateful

Although most teens don't seem to be abiding by these common sensical rules, it makes this old fart feel better to know that a code of conduct does in fact exist. I'm concerned about how it's being enforced though. I'm sure there are a lot more pictures of underage drinking than Facebook employees are able to police.

And while I don't necessarily have a problem with underage drinking, I do have a problem with a lack of discretion. Growing up watching nothing but reality television has encouraged a generation of exhibitionists. Part of the fun of behaving badly is the that it's secretive and private. By exposing this behavior, you're in a sense opening yourself up to scrutiny that could have repercussions into adulthood (i.e. college admissions, job placement, etc.). This is especially true if Facebook has its way under its proposed Terms of Service and is able to own your content even after you close your account. A word of advice to all the kids out there- Keep your shit private!

Return on Investment? It's About Time!

According to today's article in Ad Age, marketers have achieved the impossible. They have finally managed to measure the return on investment of social networking and have therefore validated it as an effective form of advertising.

The debate around this issue is one I've been following with some interest. While there's no doubt that social networking leads to conversation the question is whether this conversation ever leads to sales. But according to research performed jointly by ComScore, MySpace and Dunnhumby, a 28% ROI was able to be measured for an unnamed package-goods brand's $1 million social media campaign.

Marketers were able to accomplish this astonishing feet by combining an internet usage database with customer loyalty panels. According to Ad Age, this single-source database allowed for a "definitive look at how internet ads affect offline purchases." I'm not quite sure I buy it but as advertisers feel more comfortable spending online, this may be just the financial boost Facebook has been hunting for.

'Getting to Work' on Facebook

I've decided to take a (small) break from my anti-social media rhetoric and tout some of the more positive aspects of social networking. In this tough economy, a new Facebook group has come together to provide some much needed shelter from the financial storm. Getting to Work is uniting the collective expertise of freelance, independent contractors, underemployed and unemployed New Yorkers. Through pro bono projects with non-profits, Getting to Work members are attempting to give back to their community while also building professional experience that will hopefully lead to full time employment.

Just goes to show that social networks can be more than an utter waste of time. They can also sometimes (albeit rarely) be a great tool to help empower people to make a difference in their community as well as in their professional lives. The group, which was founded by fellow Strat Commer, Cheryl Metzger, is currently working with several non-profits including a new organization using classical music to promote international dialogue.

If you have an organization that is in need of some pro-bono communications consultancy from Columbia students or if you are interested in participating, sign up today. You'll be glad you did.

Facebook Attracts Octogenarians and Dies

Today's article in the NY Times is more proof that Facebook is dying a slow, painful death as more and more baby boomers (aka old people- sorry mom and dad) are joining. According to the article, the fastest-growing user group is women 55 and over, up more than 175 percent since last fall. Men 55 and over are right behind, having increased almost 138 percent during the same time period. Oy Gevalt!

How much longer will kids want to hang out in the same virtual space as their parents? Yuck! The article, obviously written by a boomer, attempted to tackle this sticky issue:

"Of course some young Facebookers are annoyed by the older generation’s encroachment on their territory. My colleague joined a while ago, put in friend requests to her teenage daughters and was promptly rejected. Facebook is not for people her age, they informed her."

One of my friend's mothers recently friended her on Facebook. My friend was horrified but wasn't rude enough to "ignore" the request so now her mother has access to her sordid online life and she is now being forced to censor herself.

But some boomers are choosing to create their own online community like the three South Floridians who were tired of the youth-dominated social networking sites and decided to create Genkvetch. In this case a picture is worth a thousand words:
Looks about as fun as play time at Shady Pines. The tag line on the homepage reads:

"Out of place at Facebook, MySpace, and Friendster? Then this is your space!"

And while I don't agree with social networking in principle, at least these old foggies had the foresight to realize they don't belong on Facebook.

Roadside Facebook Memorials

There's nothing sadder than a roadside memorial. It reminds you not only of someone's tragic death but also of your own mortality. It could have been you on the way to the local grocery store when all of a sudden a drunk driver slams into you head on. But the other thing that has always disturbed me about roadside memorials is how they age. The friends and family of the deceased have gone to all the trouble of adding plastic flowers, cards and other memorabilia but nature has a way of aging these mementos. Who is responsible for eventually removing the disintegrated memories?

There was a kid my sister when to high school with who recently passed away suddenly and tragically. She told me how his Facebook wall became somewhat of a roadside memorial. I'm sure at first this kind of memorial provided some comfort to the young man's family. But what about five years from now? Won't it simply serve as a tarnished reminder of the son/friend/brother they once knew? Who is responsible for eventually updating or taking down his page?

Enter Legacy Locker, a new online service that allows people to securely store usernames, passwords and other access information for all their digital assets — from Facebook and MySpace accounts to Gmail and PayPal — and pass that information along to beneficiaries in the event of their death. “It’s the online equivalent of a safety deposit box,” said Jeremy Toeman, co-founder of Legacy Locker. Upon the death of a Legacy Locker member, family members simply call or email Legacy Locker and supply the death certificate, along with other verification criteria. Once that’s done, Legacy Locker sends the information onto the designated beneficiaries of the deceased.

While this in theory sounds like a good idea, who of Facebook's young demographic is thinking and planning for their inevitable demise? A bit ill conceived, don't you think? Plus, isn't this similar to a computer's cookies? Couldn't the family member of the deceased simply logon to the account provided that their computer's cookies have been enabled? But perhaps this service will appeal to Facebook's older, more mature demo although somehow I doubt it.

Otto on Dogbook!

Oh, it's times like this that I wish I had a Facebook account! I just learned that there is a Dogbook application that lets you connect with other dog owners and their pups! Problem is you have to have a Facebook account in order to access the application :(

As you can see from the above, I have the world's cutest Boston Terrier named Otto. And since I can't put Otto on Dogbook due to my own biases towards it's mother organization, Facebook, I've hijacked my boyfriend's account and have created the following page for Otto!!!!

Listen to the Pope!

Pope Benedict the 16th recently warned his congregation via YouTube (yes, the Vatican has its own YouTube channel- see below if you don't believe me!) against what he called "obsessive" use of electronic communication. The Pope even went as far as to suggest they attempt to go without texting or social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook.

And in keeping with the Pope's advice, many Catholics are giving up social networking for Lent. A modern take on the traditional Christian practice of giving up something to represent the 40 days that Jesus fasted in the desert. There's a reason why some refer to Facebook as "crackbook" due to its addictive nature.

In my brief time on Facebook, that obsessive need to constantly check my page and my friends' pages was too much for me to handle. I already have 4 e-mail accounts- 2 for work, 1 for school and 1 personal- plus this blog not to mention the blogs that I'm a loyal reader of. That alone is enough to keep me occupied without having to continually update a Facebook/MySpace page or Twitter tweets. I can understand teens and stay-at-home moms who use this technology, but how does the rest of the social networking community have time?? Lent offers a nice reprieve from the burden imposed by such technologies. Go Pope!

Happy F*ckin' Birthday Facebook!

Facebook turned the big FIVE this past Wednesday. To mark its birthday celebration, Facebook created a virtual "thank-you" gift for readers through its Facebook Gift Shop. To a social networking site, 5-years-old is like the equivalent of 90 people years. Does that mean it will die soon? Let's hope so!

Everyone wants to know what the next big thing will be and I have a feeling Google will take the reigns on this too. I've been hearing a lot of buzz about orkat. According to Wikipedia orkut is the most visited website in Brazil and second most visited site in India. In 2008, more than 23 million of Brazilians had an account on orkut.

This intrigues me because orkat it has the potential to truly be a global social networking site. People may eventually use this amazing technology to reach beyond there comfort zone instead of befriending all the people they already know. But seeing how most people (including myself) use facebook to stalk ex's, I may just being idealistic.