Social Mediums and Your Palms

There are many brands of online social media, but what is becoming of sites such as Facebook and Tumblr are the users who exploit them, and their intentions. Any enthusiastic Tumblr user can recognize the nature of the social environment, just as observant Facebook playas. This stands to reason and is in effect with all OSMWs (Online Social Media Websites). While this may appear obvious, it is not necessarily their mission.

Why don’t I list a few, with what I see as their purpose:

Facebook: Your Life, as Presented by You
LinkedIn: Professionals Connected, Sort of
Tumblr: Fandom and Fandumber
DeviantArt: Scratch “Art”

Others such as MySpace have fallen out of media attention, but merit a little phrase: “Too small to matter.” While every individual matters, social media distills the individual into a voice that can serve so called News Media a very valuable purpose: Meta Opinion. Remember the old gag about percentages? 83% of you have heard the joke while the other 17% knew it originated sometime in the 1950s. There’s a 60% chance that is a gross over-generalization.

Facebook serves a valuable connectivity purpose but fails to pay for it, though they’re scrambling for the ball now. Don’t get the link? Policy discussion about Facebook removed from the hands of the users, who don’t appear to care anyway, ensures they’ll be able to use any means necessary to generate profit. I’m not against profit, but I am against thinly veiled threats of personal information loss weighed against total control of anything you post on their network.

And I quote: “You’re kidding. You’re kidding, right?”

Myself, mostly. I’m paying attention, but apparently only 30% of Facebook’s users even bothered to say anything. Hey, don’t feel too bad, FB, that was a better turn out than the current US Presidential Election, if News Media is to be believed. With that said, back to the grinder.

Am I wrong or is LinkedIn just a Job Club for the … I dunno, unemployable employable? Just down the street from where I live a Zellers is slamming its doors shut, hawking every piece of stock right down to racks and various store-owned equipment. Not since Starbucks have I felt sick inside of a retail space like that. Never have I seen the decades old department store empty, and even rarer have they not provided for my own needs – when they arose. It’s no coincidence, as across the bridge a Wal-Mart has opened its doors.

As critical and aware as I am, I didn’t see this one coming. Oh, I had my suspicions, but this was abrupt and unpleasant. It’s also a shame, and I’ll miss it. Wal-Mart won’t be getting my business, either as I am ethically opposed to the company’s existence, and yes I know what that means. Oh, hey, have you heard that Apple is going to be manufacturing computers in the US for the first time in … probably twenty years? I say that because I’m not entire sure when they shipped the process overseas.

That was a hint. You’re welcome.

Tumblr is the easiest way to blog I’ve seen so far. Correction. It’s the easiest way to reblog seemingly random fandom hamdom userdumbs. Perhaps it was intended as a better-than-instagram-pinterest-wordpress replacement. Well, here I am. I became irritated with my own laziness and the level of intelligence apparently required to appeal to anywhere between eight to ten followers. I’m not even sure why they’re following me. I’m pretty buy cipro online inconsistent about what I post. Whatever comes to mind… I even have a Minecraft server blog there.

In my opinion Tumblr doesn’t make a good writers blog, but it sure has fueled the rebirth of the Animated GIF. There seems no better way to spread your particular interest, whether it be schoolgirls in tights or Harry Potter at night. Being a Brony, there was this whole attitude of “Tolerance and Love”, which to me requires that I care about the subject of tolerance.

Tolerance is important, but needs fuel. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, for instance, isn’t getting its necessary dose of Lauren Faust and is suffering accordingly. DHS Studios has talented people, but one individual made the difference, and now removed from the formula, here we are with the third season halved in total episodes and no word on the future, if any. What else do you need to know, fellas? The fans are doing a better job of supporting the show than Hasbro is, and by that token, it’s been fun, but the game is over.

So why mention tolerance? Because thanks to Tumblr anything goes. The joke is “everything I learned about Supernatural and Sex I learned on Tumblr”, simply because they don’t enact content filters. Adult content warnings do not a child prevent, not correct make, you lazy twits. Yes, we agreed to your terms of service… and so what? Tell that to the kid who stumblrs in and sees things they shouldn’t – ever – be seeing. 4Chan doesn’t pretend to be a family friendly website. Tumblr doesn’t appear to care.

There’s no presentation of intent, so no harm, right? How’s Tumblr doing for finances? We don’t know, but I’m certain like Bing they’re burning cash. The morality may be debatable, though not to me, the finances aren’t. Someone has to pay for the outfit and its mission. Let’s re-examine this in the storefront paradigm. When was the last time you accidentally walked into the history section of your local library? That’s pretty subtle. How about accidentally walking into Pier One? A little less.

Try this. Walking accidentally into a construction site.

There we go.

Liken a construction site to Tumblr, and your chance of getting hurt is high as you don’t know what’s what, or what’s likely to bite a finger off or impale you if you fall five feet from a steel beam. Harm done is harm done. We’re talking about protecting those in the interest of being protected. Having said that, DeviantArt makes a good argument for policing where none exists.

I’ve said it before: Art is Communication. Judging by that, try to imagine dA as a top level domain manager. Not so bad? First imagine the community taking every imaginable idea and giving it the same level of importance. I see what they’re trying to do: Allow the users to determine what is successful and popular. I remember the days when dA got its start as a fanart site, and after enough users jumped on board, professional artists took notice of the publicity and fan activity. Now everyone who submits a “deviation” is lauded an artist, certainly by implication.

The reality of this social media scheme is that each site is ruled by the social attitudes and habits of its participants, however closely this matches the plans of its owners.

That’s the rub of depending on your users to inform the experience.

  • December 11, 2012