In a controlled experiment, Facebook clandestinely altered the news feeds of 700,000 users. People who received slightly happier news posted positive updates, while people who received sadder news posted sad updates. What does this mean?
Facebook can control your emotional state.
In the 2010 Presidential elections, Facebook divided 61 million Americans into three test groups. Each group was shown a different, nonpartisan get-out-the-vote message, or no message at all. The results showed that certain messages could significantly increase the inclination of someone to vote. What does this mean?
Facebook can control elections.
I’ve not been prescient about much in life. For instance, many years ago, someone in finance told me I should look into buying Google stock. This was not long after the internet bubble exploded. I, like a lot of people, had gotten burned. My exact words to him were:
“Do I look stupid to you? No more internet stocks for me. Ever.”
At that time, Google was $32/share. Google closed on Friday at $593.08/share. I believe it actually split at one point.
In 2008, a friend said that I had a knack for pollinating my emails with short, clever quips. He suggested I sign up for a Twitter account. He said it’d be a excellent venue to to showcase this supposed talent I have. I signed up, posted for about three weeks and quit. “This is stupid and boring,” I thought. “This’ll never go anywhere.”
When it comes to Facebook, I smelled a rat from the start. I couldn’t figure out Facebook’s business model. What do they have to sell? What’s their product? It turns out the thing they have in abundance is personal data. Personal data is power and they can use it any way they wish. It’s in your User Agreement. I also felt there was an addictive quality to it not unlike gambling. And I know all about gambling.
I badly miscalculated Google and Twitter, but I think I was right about Facebook. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. But I’ve heard that I might be able to increase my blog audience with a Facebook page. Is that true? Well, that’s worth considering…
I stumbled across this model shoot while walking through Madison Square Park. Isn’t it weird? They’re just children!
I think they were from South America. Maybe Brazil. It sounded like they were speaking Portuguese. They were consummate professionals, from what I can tell. I can assure you they are wearing clothes that are too expensive for me to buy for my kids. Plus, this stuff is so season-specific, and they grow so fast at that age, that they could probably only wear each outfit a few times until they outgrew them.
I don’t know how I feel about this. I think the parents are exploitative. I mean–what’s the message here? Also, I’m envious that I can’t provide this stuff for my daughters. Not that it matters to them. They couldn’t care less. It’s all in my head. And now, here in my blog.
Birthday bonfire, 2014.
Exile on Pain Street 
About Facebook, and all social media it seems, I get what I pay for. I am trying to break up with FB but that darn chat app is so handy!
Middle outfit looks like what I wore in the 80s, if I had known and kept it your daughters could have it and be “hip”. I’m torn on the child modeling thing; great if the kid wants to, horrible if the parent is living out a dream for fame and fortune through them.
Love the birthday bonfire and animal pics 🙂
I think the chickens are coming home to roost on Facebook. These are the studies we KNOW ABOUT. Can you imagine what’s going on behind our backs?!
When it comes to the modeling, I don’t think a child that young is capable of knowing what they’re getting themselves into. I’m sure they’re just trying to please their parents. Saying they want to simply because that’s what mom and dad want to hear.
Cool pics! This is the first tine I’ve seen you post a pic of yourself – you handsome devil you (what I can see past the bonfire). If that’s birthday wishes, you are one old mother-f**ker.
The animal pics are great as well – the camel looks much like you – is he related?
Ha! As far as facebook is concerned, I agree 100%. I opened an acct with very minimal info, most falsified, so I could view others’ pages, esp since blogs often link or reference Facebook pages. I took some training in data mining at B-school – it is insidious, as you have noticed. It would take a life and death reason for me to make release so much personal info to a company. I won’t even participate at retailers when they do zip code surverys, let alone rewards cards. You can rest assured, they are monetizing that info one way or another at the user’s risk.
Excellet post Mark, and how did you get the picture of me that looks like a lizard? I thought that I had destroyed all those copies.
Wow, my spelling sure wasn’t up to snuff in that comment, was it?
What do you mean? I don’t see any misspellings. Not one!
Looks like Mark has some problems spelling, too: check out the headline on this blog post! Or is this a social media experiment too, to see if we caught that missing letter or not? Oh heck, he’ll probably have it changed before this comment gets approved!
Woops. That was no social experiential, I’m afraid. That was me lacking an editor/ fact checker/ proofer. I could have lied and gone with the social experiment but is rather you accepted me flaws and all.
Hey, Marlin Perkins, that no camel! That’s a giraffe. And I thought I spent too much time in the city!
I don’t post pics of myself often and RARELY of my kids. This isn’t a proprietary environment. It’s open-architecture and I think caution is in order. But I make an exception on my birthday. I’ve done it every year since blogging. I can’t think of a good reason WHY I do this. I just do.
I’m feeling very smart about not having a Facebook page. I also feel really left out.
What, a giraffe? That can’t be, can it? I thought camels had long necks and spots. Ha! Missed that one. Tricky. Giraffes that look like camels.
Camels have humps. And they’re excellent spellers.
“And I thought I spent too much time in the city!”
I was once at the Staten Island Zoo- where they have horses- a kid watched a horse eating grass and cried out, “The horse is eating grass! It’s going to die!”
Perhaps a horse REALLY CAN die from eating Staten Island grass!
Happy birthday!
Facebook has consistently not cared about anyone.
Fuck em.
Thank you! I’m… a… ummm… would you believe 41?
A mere child. I’ve got a couple of years on you.
41 is a bold-faced lie, of course. I believe you are junior to me.
Happy Birthday!
Facebook is a huge time waster. It’s also very annoying,but I do like some of the pages I read. Mainly science and art things. There is probably something on Fbook for most tastes. Yes, even weird stuff.But you are not really missing much. If you want to trawl for more blog traffic I see a “share” button (down there, bottom of page) so any one of us, or all of us could click and share this with others. Perhaps they’ll then pick up your feed. perhaps not.
Enjoy your sane life and lovely family.They’re worth a hell of lot more than corporate shares!
Of course, Facebook isn’t all bad. I don’t want to paint them to be the villain. But they do have a tremendous amount of power, and I feel there’s a potential for abuse.
Google shares can’t hold a candle to those two bright smiles you see up above.
I know.:-)
I don’t Facebook. My blog does, though. Or shall I say, I made a Page for the blog but haven’t yet posted cool pictures or written any earth shattering updates. Hey wait! Isn’t that what a BLOG is for? I am so confused.
That’s redundant! That’s redundant! (See what I did there?) You should massage your Facebook page and see if it draws any new readers. That or close it.
Mark, you complain of not having enough followers on your blog and wonder if, if you created a FB page for it, would it increase your blog’s following. I’m totally in love with “Exile” but it’s disingenuous to ask for more followers……really, I WISH I had as many followers on my blog as you do on yours! Or maybe just half as many! 😉 I’d be thrilled!
Oh, I know all that to be true. But I can’t tamp down my insatiable need for attention. It was there long before I started blogging. I’m surprised I didn’t try my hand at acting, I’m so needy. And no matter how many people read, will there ever be enough? Is there a saturation point? Probably not.
“But I’ve heard that I might be able to increase my blog audience with a Facebook page.”—I’m not so sure about that. For me it seems to be the other way around. People find my blog and then ‘like’ my FB page. Of course, thanks to FB wanting people to pay to promote posts on their public pages, I never get a very big reach with my updates (since I don’t pay to promote them). As for my personal page, I don’t put many personal things on it. I think I have maybe one family photo on it. As your post points out, nothing is really personal. Once it’s out there, it’s out there.
Thanks for the info. Keeping a FB page seems like an incredibly tedious task to me, but I’d do it if it meant more traffic here. This idiot blog eats up enough of my time, anyway. I should be reading the morning headlines but look where I am instead!
The morning headlines are so depressing lately that your blog is the better place to be by a long shot.
And, as always, there’s never a fee.
Mark, that’s the sweetest picture with your girls. I love that. I know what you mean about Facebook. I’m out there, but sometimes I want to flee. I don’t trust anything. I read something about how Facebook provides the biggest mass of photos of anything out there, and it’s just data. And, that bots are keener than humans in recognizing faces. Strange! I was really hesitant to join, and only did because it was a way to share photos when I danced with a group. Now, I don’t know. I do put my blog out there and have a few more readers. 🙂
I wonder how easy it is to erase your presence on FB? Can you? I read a political comic once that claimed FB was actually started by the CIA as a legal way to gather personal data. The experiment is far more successful than their wildest dreams! Funny take on it. Sort of.
I don’t know what happens when you delete your Facebook. Maybe you can erase yourself, but maybe traces of it will still be found on the Internet? I don’t really know. I heard this interesting story that talked about the biggest dilemma of Internet for the future will be the bad bots fighting against the good bots. Ha! Matrix here we come.
If Facebook develops the ability to actually delete parts of your past, not just online but in the real world, then I’m ALL IN. In case Mark Zuckerberg is reading.
Wait. Where were the last two photos taken?
My backyard.
Not really. We visited Six Flags Safari. It’s an animal preserve within an amusement park. You’re driven through in a open-air truck. Up close and personal with all the wild beasts of Africa, Asia and Australia. Most of them are lounging in the sun.
Warren Buffet never invested in internet stocks either and doesn’t regret it or believe he miscalculated. He says didn’t know enough about those companies to invest in them. Important lesson for the investor – know what you don’t know as well as what you know.
I’ve got a hunch that someone could make clothes that look just as good as the ones those children are wearing for one-tenth the price. Maybe in Mexico or Thailand.
That’s probably the only thing Warren Buffet and I have in common. But that’s an interesting factoid, though. I didn’t know.
Aren’t those little girls going to demand to wear those types of clothes and feel bad about themselves if they can’t? Or am I thinking too much?
They are showy clothes for girls who want to be the centre of attention. I don’t think most girls are like that once they reach age 10 or 12.
Oh stop it! Facebook page indeed!!
As for their experiment, I thought about it and considered my obsession with watching the BBC news…. no wonder I get miserable. Maybe if the news was populated with upbeat articles then perhaps we’d all feel a little better.
Sx
Do you want to feel better because you’ve been fed a diet of happy-go-lucky stories or would you rather it happen more organically? I think it’s the manipulation that’s got everyone in a huff. They didn’t mention it to anybody! They just did it!
I have to say, I watch BBC America fairly frequently, and the preponderance of their reportage does seem to be a bit on the dreary world-is-ending side of things.
There’s some sort of exploitation going on somewhere as we breath again, Mark, that’s for sure.
Your happy birthday bonfire picture is tremendous. Congratulations on your awesome family. They do not need those seasonal outfits. They’re obviously happy as is. Bravo on that.
Don’t you wonder what’s going on that we DON’T know about?! I sure do. Paul’s comment above is pretty insightful.
I’m the only idiot in my house who still confuses material comfort for happiness. My daughters are not so afflicted, thank bog.
There’s so much going on that we don’t know about Mark that you should look WAY older that you do. Just saying. But seriously, yes, you are correct. The information availability and thirst and all that goes with it … I don’t think Paul’s steps above can save him any longer. They’ll get his info if they really want it.
I have long talks with my daughters about how fortunate they are to not have any personal info at all on the internet yet. It’s too late for us, unfortunately. We didn’t know! The school systems here teach kids all about internet safety. They didn’t used to need classes like that.
What worries me is that the geniuses change things faster than the rest of us can ever keep up with, and the gap widens every day. Classes today are light years behind what they can do to us already, Mark. There’s more sleep-robbing for you.
Thanks a lot, pal. I’ll queue that up right behind my worry that my daughter will be able to easily circumnavigate any parental firewall I establish by the time she’s 14.
She’s running rings around you now, pal, and knows how to cover her tracks to disguise it. 🙂 My daughter, 24, has been wiser and more wily than me for 20 of those years, conservatively.
That’s very encouraging. Perhaps we should form a support group.
Dads Who Didn’t and Don’t Want to Know
or
Please Let Me Think I’m in Control
or
I Know What Boys His Age or Thinking
Throughout History, words- spoken, written and that expressed though body language, have always held the power to shift how a situation might occur for the listener. Remember that famous speech of Mark Antony after Caesar’s death? Media has been doing this for over a century. So what makes us so surprised at how Facebook holds the power to influence?
Shakti
Hello, Shakti. Welcome! Please wipe your feet.
An excellent point. It reminds me of all the people here in New York who constantly complain about how the City is being ruined by the various trends. You can find articles written in the late 1700’s about how the City isn’t the same as it used to be!
We’re always being manipulated — words and images are purposely chosen, even by the best, diligently objective news agencies. So there’s nothing new here, and I’m not shocked, nor do I feel violated. People need to think for themselves, is the lesson. Unfortunately, most people don’t, myself included too much of the time.
I think of leaving Facebook pretty much every time I’m on it. Remember that angry post you wrote? What people post on FB makes me more angry than pleased most of the time. I actually prefer Twitter these days because I can follow people who have something interesting or smart to say/share and they don’t need to follow me back. There’s no need to pretend they’re my “friend.” It’s a more anonymous water cooler.
Well, you make excellent points, as you are prone to do. I don’t suppose anyone is startled by these revelations, but they still suck. How don you protect yourself if it’s all being done subliminally?! We’re powerless.
I heard Steve Martin is hysterical on twitter and also Stephen Fry. I’ve been tempted to dip my toe in for that alone. Who couldn’t use a laugh in the middle if the day? Insure could.
I am torn between “What angry post! I don’t write or drive angry,” and “Which one of the many are you referring to?”
Specifically: “I’m mad because…” I’ve been thinking about it since I read it and glibly commented, “I try not to get mad.” Yeah, like I don’t get mad… It’s made me track what atually makes me mad. Facebook is one of them. Colleagues forcing SEO bullshit on me is another. Radio stations airing commercials all at the same time (20 after and to the hour) so that no matter where you turn on the dial, they’re selling something (and sometimes CBC/NPR just doesn’t cut it).
Now see what you’ve done!
Mmmm-wa-ha-ha! It’s working!
Do you ever listen to Sirius satellite radio? It’s a strange sensation to not hear any (or many) commercial breaks. Same thing with Pandora. The paradigm is shifting.
I really like Facebook in terms of the personal interactions I can have with old friends and vague acquaintances who I probably wouldn’t be in touch with otherwise – the sharing of photos etc. I don’t use it to promote my blog, only very occasionally do I share a link to one of my blog posts on there, and I keep my statuses mostly as ‘friends only’ rather than public. However, I really don’t like the way Facebook tries to control what we see. Not sure if you know, but there are two options of how to view things on Facebook, one is ‘most recent’, and the other is ‘top stories’. ‘Most recent’ is what I want, and I think what most people want, because it just brings things into your timeline in the order that people post them so that you see them as they are posted. ‘Top stories’ just shows you things that facebook has deemed to be the top stories out of things your friends have posted. The annoying thing is, the Most recent/Top stories thing is a bit small and hidden so that a lot of people don’t even know it exists, plus, every so often, facbook changes your seeting back to ‘top stories’ after you’ve changed it to ‘most recent’! So annoying. Plus if there are some friends’ statuses that you never comment on or like, facebook might suddenly decide not to show you any of their things in your timeline even if you have ‘Most recent’ clicked! Sorry, that was a bit of a rant, but it really annoys me that facebook thinks it knows what I want to see better than I do! Or probably, based on what you’ve posted here, it’s trying to control what it wants me to see!
Nice photos 🙂
Vanessa, I adore it when you get all ranty on me. It’s kind of sexy. Look at the bright side—at least FB gives you the option to toggle between ‘most recent’ and ‘top stories.’ Imagine if they told you to take ‘top stories’ whether you like it or not! Actually, I just read an excellent article that said we should all THANK GOD Facebook released these unauthorized studies. They didn’t have to do it, you know. They don’t stand to benefit at all by telling us. At least they’re trying to be transparent. Now we know what they’re capable of and can do our best to be on-guard. They could have left us in the dark.
Blogs are supposed to have readers? I’ve done my best to eliminate the audience or maybe i’m just so far ahead of my time with my love of run-on sentences and obscure French writers who i openly mimic is not of the current taste, which is fine with me, of course i’m to lazy to play the comment game, i comment on maybe 3? sites, (so take that as a compliment) and can’t be arsed otherwise, i’m not interested in increasing traffic i’m interested in stringing words together… happy birfday by the way… and as for FB, it does keep me informed on the music i like and some other artistic things but once i find them i usually just go straight to the sites themselves… and info is the new, old and always power, Burroughs, Huxley, Orwell they all knew it… now back to painting caves…
You, my friend, are what’s known as ‘liberated.’ I, tragically, am still wrapped up in ego and need. I’m not proud of it and I’m certainly not bragging. A blog is something that can AND SHOULD be loved just for the act itself. What’s this Quixotic task of accumulating readers? Might just as well ask the ocean not to meet the shore. It’s a fool’s errand.
Orwell DID know! Check this out and weep, from 1984:
“There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given time.”
Four weeks and counting down to the Berea Fair. Demo derby chaos.
How do I like Facebook now, you ask? Neither more nor less. I can’t even remember the last time I posted a real status of what I was doing. I think maybe they have a memory zapper like Men In Black. I do remember signing up the first time when they were barely taking off and thinking it was incredibly boring and didn’t go back till long after it was really popular. I went through the addict phase and am now in the apathy phase. I’ll check it once a day to see if family left a message. So my time on there is about 1 minute. I like to imagine there’s some executive thinking, “she is so boring, we can’t do anything with her info.”
The addiction/apathy cycle is one you will enjoy throughout your life. It’s delightful! I don’t know how you were able to sign-up early on. I thought you were quite young. You’d better pick up the slack, missy. You’ll disappoint Herr Zuckerberg.
FB only knows what you tell it. If you don’t tell it much, and stick to entertainment, information, and a li’l bit of community activism? It’s not horrible. As an added bonus, i get to keep tabs on what is going on in the trailer park because my niece isn’t nearly as discriminating regarding her posts – so i know when they’re off farting around and mom has been left with the 19 year old in charge….
Up until not too long ago, I don’t think people realized how invasive FB could be. I think they shared a lot more than they intended. Thankfully, they’re teaching kids to use some discretion. They’re learning to govern a little bit. I’ve been reading my daughters the riot act on over-sharing. Hopefully, it’ll sink in before they dip their toes into that pond.
many folks i know have moved to ditching last names on their profiles, and locking down information as much as possible. Mr. Zuckerberg and friends can still see, and exploit, the information, but at least potential employers have to work harder to find those drunken party pictures!
That’s the other unintended consequence! Who would have thought you could sink your career by posting unflattering pics on your FB page?! Corporations scour the FB pages of potential candidates, which I find a little intrusive and creepy, to be perfectly honest.
It’s too late, I’m in the Facebook Zoo. Although, perhaps not all is lost, the giraffe is looking over the fence and that lizard has a gimlet eye.
Here’s to many more and larger bonfires.
Once Facebook gets its claws into your hide, it’s tough to pull away. That’s what I hear, anyway. I’m afraid of it. Too many old girlfriends lurking about. Like I need that kind of distraction in my life.
Thanks for your good wishes. I’m hung up about my age, so it’s strange that I’d mention it at all. I usually keep my neurosis to myself.
Well Happy Birthday!
Facebook – I post my blog on there and people comment on FB not on my blog! It’s just another time sink.
I don’t feel comfortable seeing young kids posing like that. It’s not their fault but I wonder about the parents. It feels icky and wrong to me. Kids should be kids and not caring about clobber.
Thanks! How old do I look? Actually…never mind. Forget I asked that loaded question. I have prematurely graying hair and you might overshoot the landing strip.
I misread the third paragraph as “I don’t feel comfortable seeing YOUR kids posing like that.” Typically, I never put pics up of them. It’s not really fair to them, is it? At least I’m not putting them up as “models.” A model what?
I don’t pay attention much to what Facebook choses to put in my newsfeed. I’m not on it hardcore like the rest of the world as I have something of a life outside of it. I guess it’s just one more thing for people to jump on Facebook about.
I believe the old adage is in play here: If you don’t like what you see, then change the channel. No one is forcing you to use Facebook.
A lot of people can’t seem to disengage. If you grow up with FB at your disposal, it becomes part of your life. Think of the thing you highly value. Is it music? Newspapers? What does it for you? Now, think of abandoning it. It’s tough!
Facebook hasn’t really expanded my blog exposure, but it has allowed me to connect with other bloggers outside WP and help form friendships I’d otherwise not have.
As for the study, it’s eerie how easily manipulated a lot of people are by Facebook and other online outlets. Too many people don’t question anything they read on the internet. I can’t tell you how many posts I’ve seen on Failbook mocking people who think The Onion is a legitimate news outlet.
There’s also a contingency of conservatives who are unaware that Steven Colbert is mocking them. They think he’s a hero of the cause. I’m serious.
Facebook is certainly a valuable tool but I think we’ve only seen the tip if the iceberg as far as the abuses are concerned.
Well, it seems a lot of conservatives (specifically the ones who don’t realize Colbert is mocking them) are not all that intelligent.
As for Facebook, I’m sure there’s a LOT of abuses we’re unaware of. I have no doubt the NSA can access our profiles at any given moment.
Wow. You’re right. They’re controlling my thoughts. But they WON’T make me play “Candy Crush Saga!” Never!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No, but I’ll bet you didn’t know they were making you look at those cute kitty videos on YouTube.
Goodness knows what value anyone can derive from my Facebook usage… I watch motoracing, football and rugby… and I’ve an unhealthy obsession with guitars… esp British built ones but really it can’t tell anyone anything of any real value surely?
The people who are in trouble are the ones who have an unhealthy obsession with Facebook. My wife has shown me some pretty raw examples of over-sharing of information. Intimate, personal details about family or children. But, if you’re a member of the voting public and you have an income, Facebook might be interested in you.
I don’t have a Facebook account, and never have. I was invited to join by a teacher I had for an online class. At the bottom of his invite, were two suggestions from FB of other people I might be interested in. One was an acquaintance of my husband, the other was for a 16 year old girl. Although I’m acquainted with both parties, how did FB manage to pick those two people? Did some “Bot” access my address book? The address books of their account holders? And why is FB sending invites to non account holders of under age minor children?
Food for thought, but I think I just lost my appetite.
It’s super weird– it somehow access people you’ve emailed from the email you use to sign up and then expands from there to locate “people you may know.” I’d say the safest way to use facebook is to create a facebook-only email just for that login. Creepy.
They have algorithms that worm their way deep into your email account. I have a LinkedIn account and am constantly being asked to connect with people for whom I’ve only emailed once or twice in my life. “Delete” does not exist on the Internet.
Right???? LinkedIn was hella creepy. I activated it and without selecting anyone, it invited soooo many people that I’d maybe interacted with once. So here’s a business man with a serious linkedin profile getting asked to connect with the Hacker.Ninja.Hooker.Spy. Yeah, I’m sure that’s what they all want to see.
LinkedIn is very useful tool. I found a lot of consulting work until a staff job showed up. But the creep factor is still pretty high.
Aussa, I received an invite to connect from you on LinkedIn (which I did). Did you not send that invite?
No! Isn’t that funny?! I’m glad you did though 🙂
That’s so freakin’ weird about facebook. It’s most definitely dodgey and the way their ads are talored to things you’re discussing… just weird. I imagine down the road there will be all sorts of unforeseen consequences to all this personal data we’ve shared.
Child models are very weird. As are pageant children. If you were actively on twitter/stalking my tweets you would know that The Boyfran and I went to a pageant a few weeks ago, just to witness the horror. It was just as awful as you’d imagine.
Facebook and your blog… I’m not sure it helps. I mean, it helps build community and lets you connect with people in another way but I’m not sure it necessarily helps you grow. Facebook is very particular in who and what it shares (as you know) and for links to a blog post, you have to either hit the motherlode of virality or pay them.
Are you going to do a pageant post? Please! You must! With photos.
Do you know what would be even better than Facebook cross-promoting? Concentrating on writing consistently amusing posts and NOT WORRY ABOUT the NUMBERS. The first step is admitting you have a problem.
I love that picture of you with your girls. Love it love it! We’ve had people tell us our girls should be models… because they’re thin. I guess there are so few thin people left that being skinny qualifies you. Eeek. If any of them are interested or qualified I might let them do it as teens, but so far they’re all too nerdy for that sort of thing. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! And yes I despise FB and thankfully never got on the bandwagon. The worst voluntary invasion of privacy I’ve delved into is blogging.
You wouldn’t think so because of this post, but I’m generally against posting pics of myself and ESPECIALLY pics of my children. It’s just not a great idea. But I started a tradition when I began this blog 5+ years ago of posting a full-frontal shot of my and my girls each birthday. The only reason I can come up with for doing this is pure ego. “Look, everyone! It’s my birthday! Don’t you want to wish me a happy birthday?!” So pathetic. So needy.
I’m sure our blogs are being trolled by bots as well but it seems more insidious when Facebook does it. At least we don’t post advertisements.
I also post pics of myself and the kids but sparingly. In fact I was going to do so in an upcoming post. Blogs seem a lot more thoughtful and eloquent than FB and thus far superior!
I know you mean that to be a joke but it’s TRUE. What does it take to throw up a tweet? Or a Facebook post? NOT MUCH. But crafting an interesting blog takes a lot of work. It’s not for the faint or lazy.
Call me old fashioned but I much prefer a warm, loving family photo to one of silly little twits aping fashion models and distorting their bodies at the same time.
F.B. is great – for Scrabble.
Well, then, we’re BOTH old fashioned because I agree with you. What’s with these damn kids?! When *I* was young, if you wanted to talk to someone, you had to go out and look at their faces!
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OOO, I must admit, I’m a bit addicted to Facebook for my blog & my inner chick page and….and… I cannot break up, I’m afraid. Great photos! Love that camel or giraffe or whatever he is!
Welcome, Ms. Chick. Please wipe your feet.
The first step is admitting you’ve got a problem and you’re there! That’s the good news. Now the heavy lifting of detachment begins.
It’s a giraffe and an iguana from close range.
Birthday giraffe! You lucky man. Some of us don’t even rate birthday llamas (which we’ve begged our spouses for many, MANY times)! But I digress…
Happy birthday. And the social media marketing experts keep telling folks at my uni that Facebook is dying, and you’re a fool if you pay them to promote your product. So the next question is, how do you feel about Instagram?
That’s what I hear, too. Facebook is dead. Long live Instagram. Until the next big thing comes along. Funny…I just left a response to your comment on the next post where I name-checked Instagram. I had no idea you mentioned it here. It’s ubiquitous. Better get used to it.
Screw Facebook and people who buy overly-expensive clothes for their kids and then parade them through the park. That’s just ass. By the way, your kids are super cute.
So… what would you do with a larger audience if you had one? Not that I’m debating whether or not you rate a larger audience, because I think you do, but then what? Spend more time responding to comments? It’s a weird cycle.