Idol Winner

Well, the idol finale is approaching fast and we're left with 2 contestants to choose from. Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox have edged out in front of the pack and stand win a lucrative recording contract - win or loose.

Personally I think Cyrstal is a better singer overall, but I suspect that Lee DeWyze will actually win the contest. As in previous years, the candidate most likely to win has taken second place but still ended up doing better in the music charts than the actual winner. Last years Adam Lambert is a prime example of this phenomenon.

I have already seen the judges using their considerable influence to prop up Lee prior to voting and also have toned down their reviews of Cyrstal in turn. They did the same thing to Casey. You could tell that they didn't want Casey to win with the song selection chosen for him by the judges. "Daughters" was not a bad song, but it didn't have any moments for the singer to shine with. It had moving lyrics but didn't have anything that the singer could really use to showcase his voice with. In comparison, "Maybe I'm Amazed" and "Hallelujah" had plenty of room for the singers to get creative with, and as a result they both had those "stand out" moments. This in turn allowed the judges to heap praise on Cyrstal and Lee but only a so/so positive critique for Casey, and we all know what happened to Casey on the next episode.

Now that voting has closed, idol judge - Simon Cowell - has been very vocal with his prediction of Lee DeWyze as the victor. I strongly suspect that his prophecy will be proven true and we'll have 2 great singers with new albums to pick from after the competition is closed.

A great singer like Cyrstal, who has an incredible fan base already, will do well on her own merrits and will not likely need the marketing machine that they put behind the winner. If Lee were to take second place, that is likely the last we'll hear of the guy unless he's really self motivated to run with his opportunity. If he takes first place, then the publicity he will get from his win will naturally carry him up the charts and the idol producers will have not one, but two big money makers from this season.

I won't go so far as to say the vote is fixed at this point, but the judges weild an enormous amount of power when it comes to voter influence. Using it as they do may have some negative consequences for the show in the future, especially if viewers start to believe they've been 'managed' when it comes to picking their winner. If that happens, I'm sure interest in the show will wane considerably. Afterall who wants to watch a show where the "fix is in" ??

Still, it may not matter a single bit. After Simon leaves the show it may just fade off into obscurity anyway. Idol just isn't the same without Paula and Simon in my opinion. ;o)

My Breakup with Facebook

Since my last post on Facebook and my recent blog entry (How Facebook taught me to keep a secret), friends and family have been coming out of the woodwork to express concern, and to inquire why I'm about to leave the giant Social Networking site. Hopefully this note will help to illuminate things.

Just to be sure, I want to clarify that my reasons for leaving are not intended to be *your* reasons for leaving. I'm not here to convince anyone that my path is the right one for you. If you wish to leave Facebook as a result of my intentions and rationalizations for doing so, then you're more than welcome to come with me. I post this note so that the curious people out there, will perhaps understand my reasons for departure even if they don't agree with them.

You can probably categorize my reasons into 2 basics groups.

1. I no longer trust facebook with my info

2. I am no longer addicted to Facebook and as such it has lost it's lustre

Trust

As you can imagine, Facebook didn't loose my trust overnight. It has been an ongoing process over the last 3 or 4 years. Slowly but surely Facebook has been taking away my privacy, and has been constantly forcing me to "opt out" if I want to maintain some of that control. It started out fine and Facebook promised that only the information I wanted to share would be made available to those interested in looking at it. I signed up for Facebook and I was pretty happy with the way things were going. Slowly but surely, that ability to control my information has eroded away. Now, almost 4 years later, the privacy that facebook promised me, is no longer the same. In my last post I referred to it as a classic "bait-n-switch" tactic. Wouldn't you know it, I'm not the only one who feels this way. Check out this article by Dan Tynan who talks about this exact thing, but puts words to it better than I.

http://bit.ly/cAjVQt

It's been pointed out to me by my cousin Angie, that perhaps my misgivings are a result of being from Generation X. Anyone born before 1981 might not feel the same way as I do and they probably don't care about their privacy in the same way either. Their attitudes are cavalier towards their personal information and those who can access it. Certainly I can see evidence of this by the rampant propensity of teens to try their hand at Sexting. If they can reveal that much about themselves and not worry about who gets their hands on it, why would they care if some corporate non-entity found out their email address or knows that they live in Wetaskawin. That kind of information is peanuts compare to what they share in a sex text with their friends.

Of course I'm generalizing here and I realize that not all teens participate in sexting and certainly not all teens are unfazed by having an open account on Facebook. There are tons of teens that have sexted and have since come to learn the folly of doing so. Ironically it has been Facebook that has shown some of them what it means to be so 'exposed'. In fact there have been at least 1 or 2 suicides that have resulted from kids realizing that they have shared too much of themselves when pictures have found their way to facebook. Some have even been the victim of online bullying through Facebook especially since it's so easy to voice an opinion online and be criticized for it as a result. Again I generalize, but I think many teens are realizing that they need to have an inner monologue and that saying things online can really get you into trouble at school. Yes many people that have come after my generation do not see privacy as a big deal, but I think I can chalk some of that up to lack of life experience.

A friend of mine who recently commited 'Facebook Suicide' and deleted her account, has told me that her own teenage son has killed his Facebook account of his own volition. Certainly observing his mom's concern for her privacy (and Facebooks lack of concern for it) was a catalyst, but she assures me the decision was his own. He might be one example, but I have to believe that there are more like him that are catching on to the need for privacy. So it makes me think that perhaps once the next generation realizes what is at stake here, they might be more inclined to shelter their data. I think once you get burned a couple of times, then you become more likely to want to protect yourself. I haven't been severely burned by facebook yet, but I've around the block often enough to realize that I don't have to put my hand in fire to know that it burns.

Over the months I've read articles that have started to peek under the rug at Facebook and these articles are starting to show what is underneath. These next couple of articles don't seem to have any concrete proof to back them up but if they are true, then it really reveals what corporate culture at Facebook might actually be like. In the first article, the author claims to have a snippet of a text conversation between Zuckerberg and college friend of his. Wow is all I can say.

http://bit.ly/aoTdLJ

The second one is an article that claims to have captured part of an interview between an anonymous Facebook employee and a Facebook user. There's nothing to substaniate this one either, but if true, it is a very telling conversation. Are these the kind of people you want to trust with your data?

http://bit.ly/bt95Kq

This last link actually seems to have some data behind it. It shows a graph that indicates how much of your data was private in 2006. If you click on the years in the right hand side of the graph, you can see the gradual progression of what has been opened up to the public and how much of your data is still protected.

http://bit.ly/9dZDNK

Sure, Facebook is free to it's users, but our voice is really small when it comes to having a say in what gets shared with the public. I no longer have enough protection and control over what I share on Facebook. I guess that means if I don't like it, then it's time for me to walk out the door. Which is what I'm planning on doing.

Addiction

If it wasn't for the fact that I am finally loosing my addiction to facebook, the privacy concerns would have had a tough time pushing me over the edge. I admit that I used to be constantly checking my facebook account. It would be open all the time and I would be constantly refreshing to see if anyone had posted anything new for me to read or comment on. With over 200+ friends on Facebook, there would literally be something going on all the time for me to interact with. That's when I realized that it was the interaction with people that I was craving. It wasn't facebook. I just loved being able to have cool and interesting conversations with people. Facebook just provided me with a convenient medium to do that. Friends and family would fuel my need by letting me know they "liked" what I posted. Sometimes they didn't like it and I would find myself in a good discussion about why I was wrong about something (further fueling my need to prove that I was actually right - and thus contributing more to the topic at hand). It's funny how often I'm wrong. lol If my family and friends were not around then there were tons of special interest groups that I could join and chat with people on topics that I had some affinity for.

I also found that it was fun catching up with people I hadn't talked to in 20 or more years. Our 20 year highschool reunion was organized by people on facebook. It has been a great way to connect with long lost friends, old coworkers and even former flames. Renewing friendships has been great!

I have come to the conclusion though, that many of these people were drifting away from me in my past for a reason. With the thrill of finding out what someone has been doing for the last 20 years, comes the realization that we have almost nothing in common. We are best left to being acquaintences - even on Facebook. There have been 2 or 3 people from the past that I have been genuinely happy to rebuild a friendship with, but for the most part the effort has just not been there (on mine *or* their part). Some people have made connections with me (asking me to friend them) and have never once interacted with me. Never said hi, and not once have bothered to find out how I'm doing - beyond what they can discover on their own I guess. That has been rather disillusioning for me.

Truly there are only about a handfull of people that interact with me on a regular basis. Out of 200+ friends on Facebook, there are probably less than 20 people that chat with me on a daily basis. Of those 20, I'd say 80% live nearby. Ironically I can go and visit them in person and not spend more than about 30 mins getting to their place. There are others that tend to be a once per month kind of interaction and some are longer than that. At least we make the effort with each other and I'd still like to stay in touch with them too.

Yes Facebook gives me a handy way to keep tabs on distant relatives and friends. Especially friends that I would like to spend more time with but can't because they live too far away. I'll miss that. Family photo's and the quick update on their health, jobs, and activities all are fun things to do on Facebook. It's like having access to an updated Christmas Card all year round. Still there are other ways to stay in contact. Email is still handy, and I have a blog to update, plus I drift in and out of Twitter which provides some of the same perks. I'll miss facebook, but there are other ways to stay in touch with those that really want to stay in touch with me too. :o)

Lastly the add-ins and extras of Facebook lost their appeal many, many months ago. I no longer play any of the games that facebook has to offer and I am constantly clicking ignore on requests to join them. I am constantly clicking hide on activities (like mafia wars, farmville and others) that keeping cluttering my news feed and I rarely post albums of photo's for people to look at or comment on. I don't seem to have that paternal instinct so despite being happy for new parents, I really don't get excited about baby pictures they post. It's then that I realize most people probably feel the same way about the pictures I post of my bathroom renno's or deck. lol

My friend, Mary, recently tagged me in a link to a video that parodies "Facebook in Real Life". I found the youtube version if you want to watch it. It really sums up how inane Facebook can be! There's a second vid someone else put together that does the same thing but from a different perspecitve.

http://bit.ly/aBDpqT

http://bit.ly/97HzeN

It's not easy to leave Facebook, that is for sure. It's like breaking up with someone. There's a few reasons to hang on but for the most part you know you'll be better off if you just made a clean break. I'm sure there will be other Social networking sites that will replace Facebook and being the geek that I am, I may just check them out. I'll be a little less reluctant to let people look behind the curtain though so maybe the next one will be a better experience overall.

An example of a very beta/alpha start up is:

http://www.whsper.com/

One that I read about this morning looks like it has more promise is:

http://www.joindiasporacom

Diaspora looks like it could be a real winner. :o)

Just as people left myspace for facebook, I'm sure there will be a replacement to facebook soon.

Goodbye Facebook, I'm breaking up with you. Shhh shhh shh - don't cry.... it'll be ok. You'll get over me and find someone new to deceive. Calling me names won't change a thing. Please, you're making a scene. No don't call me. I'll be back to get a few of my things and that's it. You're on your own now....

How Facebook taught me to keep a secret

It's become almost routine for Facebook to change their End User License Agreement so that a little more of your privacy is taken away each time. Of course they want to capitalize on your thoughts, preferences and personal experiences for the benefit of their advertisers. With this kind of information their partners can then target their adverstisments towards you hoping that you'll click on whatever it is they're trying to sell at the moment. Without insight into who you are they fall short of their target audience. As such, Facebook needs to make this information available to their partners. As users become more internet savvy, the cry of foul play rings out louder each time your information is made available, and each time Facebook apologizes for not asking you if it's ok first.

The thing that we tend to forget however, is that we as Facebook users are not the client. The business partners that target their advertising towards you are the real clients of Facebook. Afterall, they are the ones that bring in the revenue and as such their needs come before yours or mine. So until that changes, don't expect the apologies to start sounding sincere any time soon. Facebook is going to continue to do what's in the best interests of their real clients.

You're upset by that statement, I can tell, but what did you expect? You pay nothing to be a Facebook user. You capitalize on the free online hosting that Facebook offers you with narry a thought towards paying for it. They host your photo albums, offer you free entertainment in the way of games like farmville, and they provide a medium for you to catch up with old friends, high school classmates, and long lost lovers. They give you an opportunity to network with new people so that you can make new friends and even futre business contacts. People trade products and services, buy and sell goods and all through the free service that is Facebook. All of this in one convenient place! As soon as you start paying for some of those services then I think Facebook will start listening to your concerns. Then their apologies about not meaning to give away your personal information, will start being sincere.

Ok, I can see you're riled up. Truthfully I am on your side. I think it's not right that Facebook can entice us in with a free product only to use us for their nefarious plans. They get us to set up shop, where we are so deeply entrenched, that it becomes difficult to leave or even find a replacement service. Then they go and pull the carpet from under us. It's the old 'bait and switch' model. It's not a very honorable thing for a company to do, if you ask me. If you say that our information is private, then stand behind what you claim and leave it that way. Don't start modifying it inch by inch until you've taken the farm away from us (it's just a figure of speech Farmville users - don't panic, they're not taking away your farm yet!).

I understand that some of the responsibility to protect my data is on my own shoulders. Facebook has started producing updates to let us know that they are making changes in advance of their dasterdly deeds. The fact that it is in a language that I cannot understand (curse you lawyers!) does not make it any less of a warning. I need to be responsible to keep up to date on the changes, prepare for them and make the adjustments accordingly. Once upon a time Facebook used to open up your information without even giving you a way to say "Hey wait a second, I don't want that to be public". At least now when they make it public, you can go and switch it back if you want, as long as you've been reading the notices and updates and have a clue about where to go to make these changes.

Failing the cumbersome task of learning Lawyer-speak and reading through volumes of notices and updates, what are my options? Pay for the service and have a bigger say? Not likely. Even if I did pay for the service, these sort of underhanded machinations by Facebook would likely continue. I suppose that really leaves me with two options.

1. Learn how to keep a secret. That's right. If Facebook insists on sharing everything I tell them (via posting it into my profile), then I will stop telling them things! No more photo's posted, no more status updates, and no more favorites or preferences. I won't list the jobs I have or have had. I won't list the city I'm from, and I won't list anything that gives away who or what I am about. Let them try to share stuff they don't have! Ha that will show them! :o) Of course that just defeats the purpose of using Facebook entirely. If I don't post that stuff, then I can't share it with my friends and family either. They will no longer be able to keep up with what's going on in my life if I don't share it with them. It means I'll have to call them (on the phone god forbid!) and talk to them in person. I can see my friends list shrinking from 200+ to about 3 or 4 people if that happens. It also means that if all my friends and family do the same thing, I won't be able to catch up on what they're doing either. No more instant status message updates on what they ate for supper, what color they dyed their hair, or how destroyed they got at the bachelor party. *sigh* That's no fun.

So that really means if I want to still enjoy a social interaction site without the grief of constantly being vigilant with my information, I will have to find some place else do this stuff from. So that brings me to the 2nd option.

2. I can leave Facebook and find a suitable alternative. *face palm* (wait... what does that mean?). Yes. I can pull up stakes and leave Dodge. I can cash in all my chips and leave the bank with nothing. Yup. Quit Facebook and go somewhere else.

A little dramatic you say? Well, maybe, but it's the principle of the thing isn't it? When Facebook starts loosing membership in record numbers.... they won't have anyone to use for their business model anymore. Their business partners will realize that Facebook is a lost cause and they'll go hunt in more abundant waters (notice the shark reference there). I wonder if Facebook will finally realize then, that we are truly their clients. Without us, there is no Facebook. Hmmmm there's a thought.

In the meantime... I have my twitter account. see you there! @smudged

PS: no - i haven't deleted my Facebook account yet. I have to put my affairs in order so to speak, before I can just walk out on it. Stay tuned though. ;o)