OpenSocial vs MS Facebook

This is going to be interesting (or at least I am really hoping that it is). Google's OpenSocial effort is clearly a reaction to the dominance of Facebook and I can say that I am relieved. The idea of one dominant social networking site is frightening. Why?
Social Networking Site Monopoly + MS = very bad tech: just imagine what a cruel hacker could do inside the Facebook world. Why should we expect this to be different. It's not trivial.
Plus, if all the social networking data is accruing at one site kiss your anonymity good bye! You maybe a digital exhibitionist but your mom may not be. By triangulating data with social ties BAM! we know a lot about your very private mother.
Also, I would prefer to keep my professional networks a la LinkedIn and my personal networks within Facebook separate. With one social networking site will you have a choice? Even though Facebook has been improving and increasing the privacy controls for individuals, the problem is that I have ties to people who have different privacy settings. Therefore I am exposed when I have no choice in the matter. For example, I am not a fan of photos of me on the internet. Yet, my friends like label their pictures of me on Facebook. I can do nothing about this. So my employer may have the opportunity to see me in a not so flattering or particularly professional light.
Facebook has no means or no real incentive to tamp down the issues that arise when you leave the atomistic world of individuals on the internet and join a social networked web.
With two players the outcome is a lot less clear. Who will reign? Will it be just one site? Or multiple? Although I know Google's OpenSocial effort is not altruistic, I am glad that it has emerged.
Internet you are nobody's bitch!

My Heros!

Mena Trott and her husband Benjamin are the co-founders of Six Apart (named for the six days between their birthdays). Not because I think blog is cool (it is) but because I think that starting your own business during unemployment with your spouse qualifies you for sainthood.
See I am married to Kiwisi and we have this fantastic idea for app, oh yes we do. But we are having trouble getting it off the ground. Granted being unemployed would give us a lot more time to work on said idea but would put me in a tailspin. This week I am meeting with a entrepreneur coach maybe he will have the secret!
Wish us luck internet.

Free the Social Network Data!

O'Reilly's Rant! Finally someone is saying something.
And I have to say that Tim has a rustic Robert Redford thing going on. Its nice to see he is not a valley cliché.

SNS vs. SNA

I do love my social networking sites, especially when they actually have a purpose a la GoodReads, but I study social networking analysis and I am so tired of people confusing the two. I know this sounds like a petty complaint from academia and it may be but I do think that social network analysis has quite a bit to offer the "real world."
In some instances social network analysis can be scary because a lot can/will be inferred about us given our social ties. On the other hand, well-designed sites based on our networks can help us navigate the web (Google are you listening? cuz I know Yahoo isnt!) It can improve our privacy by limiting access to our information through tie distance. And of course there is the advertising possibilities.
Currently, advertisers now are excited about the prospect of individuals sharing information about themselves on facebook but that my friends is not where the magic is. Oh no! Consumerism is all about social proximity! The phone industry realized this years ago. The power of local persuasion via friends is FAR more powerful than the ads we are bombarded with. The problem was in the past the only data available to advertisers was demographic. Joe Shmoe is a 42 year-old Caucasian male who plays fantasy sports and lives at 444 Boring Ave. But with social networking data we know all the guys in Joe's Fantasy Sports league. If we can identify the influential people close to Joe and offer them incentives to buy things, it will be easy to convince Joe to also buy.
Now this is not revolutionary stuff, I know, but why does it seem that the internet doesn't get it yet? Facebook launches its api and what do they give us Scrabulous. Interactive Scrable? Really? I worked for a whole summer at Yahoo with one of the brightest guys I know. We showed them where the money was but all we got were questioning looks and Mosh.
Well internet you have never failed me, okay there was that one time when you forgot to pick me up for school but I can forget that time, so I wont fail you!
I am meeting with an entrepreneur coach and vc representative next week.
Keep your fingers crossed.

Okay, so I have been really thinking about blogging seriously , especially thanks to nablopomo. It's funny I read all these blogs (122 in fact) but still haven't found the one that I would write. Does that mean that there is a niche out there? Well here is my experiment. I am going to blog for the rest of the month. For what? To see if I can. Pete has started his blog, I Know It When I See It, in earnest. James is prolific in his efforts at The Deseret Spectacle, albeit completely boring by my standards. And I am lame. But I resolve not to be!! One blog a day for a month. How hard could it be?

The question is what do I have to talk about beyond the quotidian details of life? What can I blog about to get the check.

Yoga is one. I could record podcasts but I cant say that I would do anything different than JivaDiva . I listen to her recordings when I want to practice and be lead. If you cant make it to a class but you really need to release the reigns and be guided in your practice. Alanna is definitely your girl!

Alright so onward and upward to finding an blog topic that suits me.
Here is a short list so far:

-Yoga
-Graduate school & Getting your PhD(snore)
-Raising a Bernese Moutain Dog
-Starting Your Own Business
-Buying a home under forclosure
-Things I dig!

See you tomorrow internet!