This week I cheated in my social media relationship. I just had to tell Facebook, "I'm seeing someone else." We talked, we yelled, we cried, I explained it just happened, Google Plus is younger, has new trendy circles and all my friends love hanging out with her. I was also worried that Facebook was following me around when I wasn't with her, keeping tabs on me so she new what to get me for Christmas and could sell things to my friends. This freaked me out a little, talk about putting the "IT" in “Rabbit cooker.”
It is a big decision to move social media provider, a lot like moving house across the city to another suburb. You first of all want to check that some of your friends live out that way and that you won't be completely isolated, so you jump on the new site and see which friends are part of the early adopter, bleeding edge uptake initiators. It is usually the type A personality friends, with a dash of ADD who, when you say have found this great bar in the city," will always comment how they used to go there last year when it opened and was trendy.
In any new suburb, you are going to want to check out the restaurants, sports facilities and public transport. With a social media site, it is all about the applications, usability, and interoperability with hand held devices. On this front I rate the Google Plus application very highly, however when it comes to activity and people logged in and adding content, I give it a big fat Google minus. It may have circles, but definitely doesn't run rings around anything at all.
After trialling Google Plus I have come to the conclusion that it is like moving to a trendy new one-bedroom apartment with no furniture and no address. The old Facebook from back in the day may stalk us when we leave her, may track our location. It may send a banner add barrage of target marketing at me depending on my profile, status, likes, and check-ins, but all my friends are there and it is always has activity and updates. It has reached a level of critical mass, which will not easily be challenged or toppled. Somehow I have more friends on Facebook then friends IRL (in real life)
Switching networks did provide a good opportunity to trim the friendship fat and reinvent myself without having to D-Friend people. "What comes after ABC Friend? Yes, de-friend, the cyber equivalent of throwing a hissy fit or e-tanty.
Facebook is a great way to set up a shrine to self, a narcissistic temple to let the world know "I spilt Champagne on my Rolex watch in the members area at the Races, lucky its water resistant to 1000m." Keeping up with the Joneses used to be confined to the same street, now the Joneses all have smart phones and are constantly posting pictures of their X6 Diesel towing Jet Skis…bastards!
So I am breaking up with Google minus and going back to old faithful Facebook. She may track me on the web, but what can I say, you and 20 million others “Like” Facebook.
Jonathan is an MX reader who may have D-friended you already
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Honest Applications
Charles Manson, Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler all probably lived in shared houses at some stage. I’ll bet they were quiet, kept to themselves. Maybe they were bouncing ideas off their pet mouse Pinkie for plans to take over the world, but at least they didn’t eat other people’s food from the fridge.
Finding a flatmate is a very difficult task. People hide behind the mask of best behaviour, layering assurances of being trustworthy, clean and fiscally responsible. We tend to seek the perfect person, when really if they are not a psycho killer - ques que c’est, don’t pee on the toilet floor, and steal your things.
Honesty is the best policy. “In vino veritas” or “in wine there is truth,” and by that logic, all interviews of potential housemates should take place and the pub with four sheets to the wind, hopefully realising who needs to walk the plank early in the piece.
When letting people know that you are looking for a place, why not be completely out there and truthful,
“Room Wanted: Twenty-three year old male mental teenager with pitiful material goods apart from a bike (which I will leave in the hall) seeks, preferably female share housemates. I am unable to use an ATM, washing machine, dishwasher, microwave or dishcloth, but can drink for an entire day straight. I will shamelessly try to bed all your friends, scratch your vinyl, step on your cat Lionel, drink the orange juice out of the bottle, drink that special shiraz magnum you put away. I will leave freaky amounts of curly hairs on your lavender soap your sister gave you as a present, I will be late with everything including rent, appointments, coughing up for bills, in fact I will only ever be early when it is awkward and you’re making out with a new date on the couch.”
There is a flip side to the coin if you are advertising a room for rent in a shared house there is a reality that should be conveyed. Let’s call it a residential disclosure. If you are trying to rent out a cupboard under the stairs to get some extra finances to pay for the meth lab ingredients so you can cook ice in the messy house with the long grass where the stereo is never off and the fridge contains three unidentifiable fury things on plates on each of the shelves. If this is the case the advertisement should read “Cupboard under stairs for rent in trainspotting house. Recent tetanus shot advised but not essential.” It should not however read,
“Lively, social and upbeat inner city apartment with a liberal, musical, university group seeks a flatmate to share the fun, chemistry majors preferred.”
I guess a majority of problems in a shared house come from people being in a different space. One studying for exams while the other wants to party. I guess the solution is not to advertise, but to find someone in the same course or within the group of friends. At least this way you can be somewhat assured you won’t find them watching you sleep, it’s less likely they will shag your sister, and there is a slightly diminished chance of them selling your flat screen at Cash Converters to buy armour in World of Warcraft.
Finding a flatmate is a very difficult task. People hide behind the mask of best behaviour, layering assurances of being trustworthy, clean and fiscally responsible. We tend to seek the perfect person, when really if they are not a psycho killer - ques que c’est, don’t pee on the toilet floor, and steal your things.
Honesty is the best policy. “In vino veritas” or “in wine there is truth,” and by that logic, all interviews of potential housemates should take place and the pub with four sheets to the wind, hopefully realising who needs to walk the plank early in the piece.
When letting people know that you are looking for a place, why not be completely out there and truthful,
“Room Wanted: Twenty-three year old male mental teenager with pitiful material goods apart from a bike (which I will leave in the hall) seeks, preferably female share housemates. I am unable to use an ATM, washing machine, dishwasher, microwave or dishcloth, but can drink for an entire day straight. I will shamelessly try to bed all your friends, scratch your vinyl, step on your cat Lionel, drink the orange juice out of the bottle, drink that special shiraz magnum you put away. I will leave freaky amounts of curly hairs on your lavender soap your sister gave you as a present, I will be late with everything including rent, appointments, coughing up for bills, in fact I will only ever be early when it is awkward and you’re making out with a new date on the couch.”
There is a flip side to the coin if you are advertising a room for rent in a shared house there is a reality that should be conveyed. Let’s call it a residential disclosure. If you are trying to rent out a cupboard under the stairs to get some extra finances to pay for the meth lab ingredients so you can cook ice in the messy house with the long grass where the stereo is never off and the fridge contains three unidentifiable fury things on plates on each of the shelves. If this is the case the advertisement should read “Cupboard under stairs for rent in trainspotting house. Recent tetanus shot advised but not essential.” It should not however read,
“Lively, social and upbeat inner city apartment with a liberal, musical, university group seeks a flatmate to share the fun, chemistry majors preferred.”
I guess a majority of problems in a shared house come from people being in a different space. One studying for exams while the other wants to party. I guess the solution is not to advertise, but to find someone in the same course or within the group of friends. At least this way you can be somewhat assured you won’t find them watching you sleep, it’s less likely they will shag your sister, and there is a slightly diminished chance of them selling your flat screen at Cash Converters to buy armour in World of Warcraft.
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