The Disturbing Death of Social Media

The Peculiar and Disturbing Death of Social Media

In which we witness a long-awaited and not-so-pretty demise of a bullshit idea.

I'm pretty damned tired of Facebook and G+ and whateverthefuckissocialmedia.com. I have a closed loop of friends that I like to check in on and post snarky comments and I jump at the chance to post a cool zombie movie clip. Other than that, there really is no value in this enterprise.

Do I Know You? Do I Need To?

What the fuck do you sell?

Bespoke Post isn't interested in dealing with you if you don't give them your email.

I was a little curious in a conspicuous-consumption type of way about, as they tout it "choice goods, themed boxes, and stories from around the world." That open-ended curiosity ended pretty quickly. I couldn't even see what they were selling without identifying myself. Themed boxes and stories? Huh? So you're a bookstore?

Not Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality is a SHAM

SIX (6) Levels of internet access from Time Warner in Los Angeles. Fir Realz. 

I love that this has the subtitle of "At a Glance."

Yes, exactly, this is what your future looks like, AT A GLANCE (meaning no thought or deep introspection). Just GLANCE at shit that affects you:

Are you fucking kidding me?

Big Bad Data & You

Intangible things are in danger.

Big Data (aka: the pestilence) has erased nuance and care in how we communicate, work, exist and interact.

I'm pretty sure the "sharing economy" is dead. Actually stillborn since it never was a fully developed idea. We're seeing an impressive resilience to the data-benefit trade off.

Privacy Disclosed

Privacy is Yours for the Asking

I wrote earlier about privacy, Big Data and you.

It was a depressing little bit of expressionism with a call to action at the end. I requested the data that was stored on my loyalty card at my supermarket/conglomerate Ralphs. Turns out this is a very complicated thing:

Anal Probing. Or Marketing. Whatever.

The privacy and data ownership issues raised by the documentary Terms and Conditions May Apply are horrifying. 

Stunning information, really, in the sense that we've all agreed to this and blithely walked down a path without knowing the consequences. I'm gently tapping you on the shoulder now.

Untruth-itude

Statistics Can Be Bothersome

When ecommerce marketing details get in your way, ignore them.

Every once in a while we're afforded a nonchalant gaze behind a commercial curtain. "Certainly," popular opinion dictates, "these billion dollar ecommerce companies must know what they're doing!"

They don't.