Twitter haters and why they hate

Earlier this year, Twitter CEO Biz Stone told New York magazine that “[Twitter] is about the triumph of the human spirit.”

I want to believe this. I really do. I enjoy tweeting and reading the random and funny musings of friends (for the most part) and the occasional stranger. I’m convinced that tweeting is the closest thing I will ever experience to “celebrity”-dom. It’s your very own virtual paparazzi where a bunch of eyes (somewhere out there) are tracking your every move and thought. (Or at least I hope so or else we’re all just shouting into a deep, black abyss aren’t we?)

At the same time, I know a majority of the material on Twitter is – to put it kindly – unimpressive. It’s not profound, it’s not meaningful, and I really think it’s the furthest thing from a “triumph of the human spirit.” (And if it is – well, I don’t think I need to say we’re all in a whole lot of trouble.)

But hey, I think it’s fine to dabble in the Twitter-verse for personal entertainment periodically throughout the day. Like the old adage goes, “Everything in moderation.”

Even so, amongst the mainstream who sing Twitter’s praises I’ve discovered a rare breed of hardcore Twitter haters out there. And I’m not talking about people who are frustrated when Twitter’s server goes down for the 26th time because of security fails. Nor are they Tweeters who want to voice a few qualms or complaints with the network. Nor are they people who just don’t get it and see no point in it thus don’t sign up to use it. They don’t fall into any of these groupings because at the end of the day – all of the people above still login to their accounts and keep tweeting.

No, I’m referring to Twitter haters who go beyond just thinking “Twitter sucks.” These haters avoid using the social network. They have thought deep, long and hard about Twitter and have all reached the same existential conclusion: Twitter is leading to humanity’s social downfall.

They loathe the cute little blue bird and everything it stands for.

Be popular on Digg

I recently joined Digg and I’ve been perusing the pages of this virtual news source… basically trying to figure out what it takes to make it on the most “popular” list.

There’s such a wide variety of material that receives top diggs – the articles are always interesting and quirky, but determining what kind of stuff gets dugg still boggles me. Or perhaps it’s more a question of, “Hey, I submitted 2 of my blog posts to rub my ego and no one is digging it. (Sad emoticon)” So far my 2 posts have been dugg a grand total of 7 times – and that’s the total all together. It seems I’m doomed to remain on the shelf of “stuff that no one ever sees”… at least on Digg anyways.

Though my ego has suffered minor bruising, I don’t kid myself. In reality I know Digg is also about who you know and how active you are in the community. (There’s got to be a reason why the same familiar faces are always getting their stuff dugg, right? The conspiracy theory side of me believes those articles I read about Digg bias and how it all might be controlled by 200 users or something.)

Nonetheless, I did some online research into ways I could increase my digg count. The ultimate strategy seems to boil down to:

1) Make a ton of friends on Digg… and I mean, A TON. Like around 300+ and was some dude’s minimum recommendation. (Also important to note is that friendship is not a one-way street. The ones that count and work to help you are the “mutual friends.” Otherwise, it just looks kind of sad. Oh, and it helps if your friends are popular, or top diggers.)

2) Digg your butt off. But make sure your diggs are meaningful. Don’t just zip down the list and engage in bulk digging. Eventually (around 15 or so) Digg will catch you and a box will pop up suggesting – with their eyebrow raised – that you perhaps should READ the articles since you seem to be digging at a superhuman rate, and unless you’re a superhero, it would be difficult to read that fast. (Don’t ask me how I know this.)

3) Submit content that could interest the Digg crowd. (Okay yes, I may be bias but I stand firm in my belief that my content is at least decently interesting that people may be persuaded to give it a once-over if afforded the opportunity. Despite the fact that I sometimes ramble or go on tangents.)

I’m currently testing the strategies – progress seems slow thus far but I’ll keep persevering. I’m thinking I’m bound to make a dent soon…

In the meantime, I’ve been enjoying seeing what’s most popular on Digg. It’s kind of interesting to notice the trends of what’s popular recently, versus a day ago, versus even a year ago. Perhaps we can draw conclusions about what Digg users, or our society at large, finds most intriguing. (But maybe that’s too philosophical.) Anyways, results were so interesting/amusing that I decided to take screenshots and share. Maybe this will help all the noob diggers like myself out there break through the invisible barrier and make it to the front page.

Because we love Windows errors

I installed a new webcam on my computer two weeks ago and today I got my 4th BSoD. Yes, for all the Windows users out there that would be our dear friend, the “Blue Screen of Death.”

Oh dear.

I’m currently still using XP since I never made the switch to Vista (which has its ups and downs, but mostly ups) and I never had to deal with the BSoD until recently. Amazingly, my encounters with this problem have been sparing throughout my years using Windows – though I’ve heard the horror stories. Hence, you can understand my utter confusion when my system kept crashing and this pesky error kept popping up all the time, all of a sudden.

Initially I took the easy (or lazy) route and resorted to restarting my computer every time as a temporary fix. A friend mentioned that the problem probably had  something to do with my webcam installation but I was too busy (really too lazy) and didn’t take time to troubleshoot the issue. That is until I was working on a report late one night and my computer crashed. Again. And I saw the BSoD. Again.

And all I thought was: “Oh Dear. I really hope I didn’t save too long ago,”… and… “Microsoft, thou art a heartless friend.”

Do your parents Facebook or Twitter?

I found the following 30-sec Verizon commercial highly amusing:

Parents on Facebook and Twitter – it’s quite a predicament.

When Facebook first launched in 2004, it was an online social network strictly for college students to connect and keep tabs on each other. A private club of sorts for the college crowd. Once it’s popularity sky-rocketed though, that’s when Facebook started opening its doors: First to high schools students in 2005 (which drew protests from users) and then to the general public (which drew bigger, unhappier protests). Nonetheless, this expansion continued and nothing really affected the typical college user’s experience so the Facebook community continued happily on its way.

… That is until friend requests from Moms and Dads started appearing in user accounts.

Then Facebook users everywhere just scratched their heads (or yelled into a pillow) and debated on what to do:

Option A) Accept and give your parents a window into your personal/social life complete with pictures, comments and updates on what you’ve been up to on Saturday nights.

Option B) Decline and face persistent badgering on why you don’t want to be friends with your parents… do you have something to hide? Are they an embarrassment? Why don’t you want to keep in touch while you’re away from home?

Option C) Ignore and face the same consequences as Option B above.

And really, this is not just an issue that plagues college or high school students anymore. Facebook users in their 20s-30s (maybe even 40s) face similar scenarios as the Facebook community demographic begins to expand and include older people interested in exploring these new online fads – aunts, great uncles, grandmas, even your parents’ closest friends start sending you friend requests.

Facebook… the film.

"The Social Network" stars and their real-life counterparts

Variety shared that Columbia Pictures is currently making a film called “The Social Network”… it’s a film about the creation of Facebook by Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and a few of his college buddies. Casting for the film is apparently final with Jesse Eisenberg nabbing the central role of Zuckerberg with a boyish face that oozes geek charm. He’s not too big of a Hollywood household name yet, but most people will recognize Eisenberg from the upcoming horror-comedy “Zombieland.”

Other Hollywood names that have signed on include Andrew Garfield who will play Eduardo Saverin, the Facebook co-founder and Zuckerberg’s former BFF. We anticipate the film will be laden with ample drama and “bro”-mance capturing the disintegration of this friendship and Saverin’s falling out with Zuckerberg. It’s likely this plot will be interwoven with lessons about how greed corrupts or something as Facebook goes from humble beginnings as Harvard’s “Hot-or-Not” equivalent to the global social networking site and financial success it is today.

Even Justin Timberlake is involved since he will be starring as Sean Parker, Facebook’s founding president and the Napster co-founder.

Impressive? Um. So-so, bordering on not really. With two leads that are lesser known, and Timberlake who’s definitely talented and popular, but has yet to prove himself in film – don’t count on me to get too excited. And let’s not forget that at the end of the day, it’s still going to be a film about the creation of Facebook. A story that’s forgettable at best, right?

Twitter spam… yuck.

Spambots on Twitter are really starting to get me down.

I logged in today to find 2 new followers, but my excitement quickly took a dive when I realized they were obviously spam. One was a redhead in what I think was supposed to be a micro-shirtdress and the other was some old guy whose entire page was filled with links to real estate options. And there was also that suggestive “@–” message from “loljasmine” about getting on my webcam and having some “fun.”

This whole porn spamming deal brings back bad memories of MySpace. Remember when MySpace was infiltrated by porn sites and pedophiles? (Actually I think this demographic still overruns the social network…) After the 30th come-on from “susie” and “maria”, I decided it was time to jump ship and give up my MySpace account. It got to be overwhelming to be constantly bombarded by porn spam messages, as well as seeing raunchy pictures pop up as profile pics left and right when searching for friends. I’m in favor of the whole social networking idea, but wading past so much spam to get to the real stuff became exhausting and annoying. It’s plausible to think this is in part why MySpace lost some of its popularity to Facebook converts. Facebook just does a better job making sure their users are real people. It always befuddled me why MySpace didn’t step up and crack down on the amount of porn on their network with NewsCorp as their big-time owner. MySpace lost out on a hefty percentage of advertising revenue since businesses were reluctant to pay for space among porn sites – it’s tacky.

I’m beginning to see a similar trend start on Twitter where porn is being pimped to users.

Yes, Microsoft fanboys exist.

We currently live in a tech age where Microsoft is better known as “Micro$oft”, and Macbook-and-iPhone-toting fans are eager to spread the love around for their darling fruit company. Microsoft is popularly considered to be uncool and evil – the software “man” that everyone wants to stick it to. Any pro-Microsoft dissenting voices are muffled under waves of criticism.

Since the web is brimming with Apple fanboys and fangirls. It makes me wonder about the Microsoft die-hards… do they even exist?

Yes, there have been missteps by Microsoft as I’m sure everyone is well versed in. However, there must still be fans left that are highly devoted to Microsoft’s mission: Creating software that works for anyone who wants to use it. Sometimes it’s important to remember that Microsoft was key in revolutionizing the idea of personal computers and laptops, as well as making strides in the software field. Because of this, Microsoft deserves some kudos.

Here are 5 indicators that Microsoft is appreciated by the company’s fanboys across the web…

1. They campaign to release Windows 7 early: Self-described “BIG Windows fan” Kelly Poe started a movement to collect votes petitioning for Windows 7’s early release. So far 3,003 voters have supported his cause. Check out the site here and show your support.

2. They name their children after Microsoft OS: One of the members of Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professional program (a site where “Microsoft experts [can] use, evangelize, and champion the company’s technologies”), Bill Simser, blogged about how he named his daughter “Vista Avalon Simser”. In addition to being named after Microsoft’s best OS, her middle name derives from the code name for the Windows Presentation Foundation – the graphical subsystem of .Net 3.0. Apparently if Bill, the father of Vista, had a son instead, the boy’s first name would be “Dev” (for developer) and his initials would have been DOS.

Google Chrome is my homeboy

Google Chrome celebrates its one year birthday today, and there seems to be news to herald this happy occasion. Yesterday Computer World shared that in the web browser wars, Google is closing in on Apple’s Safari. While Safari increased its browser market share just a tad, Chrome is climbing rapidly, jumping 0.3 percent to claim 2.9% of the browser market.

At this pace, Chrome is a contender to replace Safari as the #3 browser that people are using within a year’s time. After that, there’s only #1 Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (66.6%), and #2 Mozilla Firefox (23.3%) to defeat – which is by no means a small task since the gap between market browser preferences is still so wide.

Ah Chrome, how I adore thee.

I switched to Chrome as my primary browser a couple months ago from Firefox, my former number 1. I’m impatient and a speed demon online so the most important thing when choosing a web browser for me is the loading time and the browsing speed. That’s why when Firefox started hanging for me, I dropped it like it was hot.