Writing It Down for You

Here is what I had to deal with everyday when I was living in Brooklyn. Enjoy, it’s hilarious.

I remember when it all started with Friendster. It became the new Match.com that was free. Everyone raced to open a profile and collect as many friends as they could for their network. Eventually users became frustrated with Friendster. There was no way to personalize your profile with colors, background images, and music. There was such a social network that gave you all those options and that network was Myspace. However the golden age of Myspace is passing. Myspace users have over done it with big background pictures hiding the profile’s text, to many pictures, movies, and music, each profile becoming a magnet for junk to the point of insanity, causing your browser to crash every time you load your friend’s profile page. Their was a cry for something new and Facebook was born. Facebook is what you would get if the conservative Friendster had sex with trashy hoe Myspace and had a baby.

Both Myspace and Facebook are surviving the social network scene and they both have their pros and cons. I like how Myspace, as ugly as it is, allowed me to build a complete unique profile. This was only possible because I was a web programmer and know how to hack their system. I was able to make a profile like no other. Though not everyone on Myspace is a web programmer. For some reason putting a distracting image behind your does not make your profile unreadable when its common sense not to. It seems they don’t care as long as they have friends on their profile. If you’re not careful, all the customization can turn into a con but when the profile is just for me, the loose rules on customization makes it a pro.

Facebook gives you some customization options but limits and controls a majority of it. This does give a pro that Myspace can not have. Myspace’s loose control on customization allows for more content on a profile. This and the fact that Myspace’s clucky interface is built with obsolete HTML coding causes for slow page loads and frequent error messages. Facebook remedy all that with cleaner code and AJAX usability which cause fewer page loads. You can click through the site faster with fewer errors which is very refreshing after experiencing Myspace. This feature comes at the cost of full personalizing of your profile. Facebook does try to make it some what fun by allowing users and companies to create little applications that can sit on your profile page. I had the most fun with this option. Within a few clicks I had my Flickr feed, info about current games I am playing, and a map widget marked with places I have visited, all on my profile. Pretty cool but everyone can get those and my page is till blue and white. Not that much different from anyone else’s profile on Facebook.

Also the two networks handle your personal information differently. Both hide personal information like email addresses from other users but they but Facebook asks for a lot more info than Myspace. For example the first thing Facebook asks for is your email address and the password to the inbox so they can: “find your friends for you.” Facebook asks for your phone number, full addresses, and even credit card information. Myspace just wants a B-day, zip code, and an email address. Of coaurse all this is optional but why do they need it. So they can sell it to the people that want that info, like corporations.

Ease of use for both networks is just awful. Since Facebook controls so much you can’t just start browsing profiles right away like Myspace. First you have to setup an account and then join a network. You can only join one city network so if you were born in Arizona but live in New York, like I do, you have to choose one. So far I have yet to se what another’s profile looks like. Mysapce on the other hand will let you view profiles without an account if you can survive the really long page loads.

Lastly the scene for both social networks are like night and day. Myspace has an older crowd and the young annoying crowd. You know the future generation that can only follow fads and do what reality TV tells them. I have yet to see these younger kids on Facebook but instead and older mature college crowd.

EDIT
So in conclusion I think they both are stupid. You just have to choose whichever appeals more to you. I only have accounts because my job requires it. Social networking, to me, is just a fad (hmm, I smell another blog post.). If you haven’t noticed the trend everyone keeps moving to a new network every time it gets old. I have a Frienster, Myspace, and Facebook account. I just wish it would end and we can go back to meeting people on the street like we use to.

Three months ago I began redesigning this blog. Once I started, it got shoved to the bottom of the to-do pile. Here’s what was at the top of that pile.

Recently I have been looking back on my life. I realized I have the street smarts but no book smarts. I read a ton but my personal college program is not taking me far very fast so I decided to go to school. My next goal in life is to get a degree in something and that something is Philosophy. How I chose this major was kind of interesting, it was staring me in the face but I did not see it. As you all know I am a designer and thats all I know I am good at. I crossed out all the majors I wanted but would never be able to get: genetics, engineering, architecture. Then I discovered philosophy after I realized that I like to write and complain. So we will see. In my mind is the desire for a doctorate however I will decide that after I get my undergraduate, even my masters. Though if I were Dr. Justin more people will actually read my blog.

Obviously you are asking why not get a degree in art. I dislike art school, I dislike art teachers and the cost of a four year degree cost as much as a it would if I wanted to be a doctor. So why bother?

The next priority assignment was my job. In the past few months I have launched two new websites: VideoThang.com and OffZHook.com. VideoThang is an application Sharpe Partners has developed to be a simple video editor for those who dont want to pay for the hard professional stuff. I recommend taking a look. The other site was Off Z Hook, pun intended, was designed to feature Fujifilm’s new Z10 camera. The camera is loaded with features for that younger tech savvy crowd. The site itself has tons of promos and contests.

Third, I took a break. I went to San Francisco. Not much to say there. Pictures can be found in the footer of the blog.

The last assignment is one that I loath just as much as any other New Yorker; we hate moving. The decision to go to school is around the time Amy will so we decided to find a bigger and cheaper apartment for the unknown future. The idea for Staten Island was thrown out. We looked. We found. We signed. We regretted it. There is more to this, which you will hear more of later, but mainly we will miss Brooklyn. Staten Island is the quiet and spread out part of the the city which clashes with or need for high energy that can only be quenched in the core of the city. Alas sacrifices must be made.