There’s a road sign that you should avoid in all your relationships.. the “One Way” sign. It’s rarely a clean cut “I’m getting nothing in return,” or “I’m not giving nothing,” but after awhile, and as I get older and hopefully a bit wiser, I learn that the best relationships are two-way. This is why stuff like Twitter and Facebook are great - it can create great, two-way relationships very quickly in business, among friends or reinforce amongst family. Lining up behind a common cause can, too. The “two way” can come in different forms, and everyone looks for and gets different things out of the relationships they have. However, it’s smart to once in awhile stop, especially if you’re unhappy, and ask, “Is it worth it?” Earlier this week I tweeted out an essay called “Better,” and although it’s not new it made me think about what ARE the valuable things? What about respect? What about the times in my life I’ve been in situations where I’ve given and given.. and gotten little to nothing back? And of course, as we’re all human, the times I may have done the same and didn’t even realize it at the time. That lack of cognizance - or mindfulness - is a plague that scourges us all at one time or another. Those imbalances - whether cosmic, karmic, or monetary - have consequences if you leave them unchecked that are directly corollary to the area they are in. So today, I ask you to think. With all of these social tools, are you making relationships that are two way? Are you possibly not being as aware as you could be about others?
Of course Facebook wants to monetize you more. It’s expected that Facebook will have 600m users and $1 billion in revenue at the end of the year.
Back-of-napkin math says that means they’re getting about $1.67 for you per year. Think about that.
All of the “value” the site provides, and they can’t even get $2 per year from advertisers for your account right now (averaged). Of course they’re turning off the privacy and turning up the sharing - there’s little way the current model is sustainable on the long term when they’ve raised $716 million in funding since most Venture Capital folks are looking for a major multiple (5x or 10x) payout.
Some people wonder, “Why do you say anything about Facebook privacy?” “You work in Social Media, is it appropriate for you to question?”
To be honest, most of our community has regrettably been stone silent on the issue. There’s a few reasons why I speak.
1) It’s the right thing to do
2) The actions of Facebook has the serious potential, after listening to experts I trust and merging that with my experience, to put the brakes on all kinds of social media long-term if people (or users) aren’t respected.
3) Allowing FB to get away with this and own the ecosystem hurts the whole concept of the open web and limits the potential of what social media can actually do.
As someone who loves blank canvasses (I can’t help it, my dad was an artist) one of the things he taught me was impose some sort of constraint to make it less intimidating.
Not on the obvious, constraint, however. For instance, although many in “art” say that one should paint in oil, or acrylic or watercolor, my dad would paint in whatever was good for the effect, many times mixing mediums. I’m sure it’s because he originally was trained in plaster and murals.
I remember as a kid he’d get down with me and grab some dirt I was playing with and he took it and stuck it into a mix. Why? It added texture. After all, new mediums would never be created unless you experimented with new methods when people think you’re crazy.
The constraints he’d put on would be time. Or do something with perspective. In short, he’d put a place to start. In short, he’d make himself an easy-tear corner of his creative sticker.
How can you make an easy-tear corner for the blank canvases in your life?
Awesomesauce. (via axian)
I’m very close to turning off a lot of media. Why? Because of the comments. The amount of negativity that we in our own region put out there is astounding and we need to stop. The link above will show you something of what I mean in their 127 comments, but I provide it for information and in some ways hope you DON’T read.
There’s a commonly racist or finger-pointing overtone in the comment section of these publications (I’m looking at you too, Free Press and News) when there’s anything to do with crime or problems. It doesn’t matter which side, it always seems that it’s “THEIR” fault, whomever “THEY” are. It’s ALL of ours’ fault. We’ve been sticking our head in the sand too long.
I don’t care what you do - volunteer, pick up your yard, pick up your neighbors’ yard, but do something. If a lot more of us DID something to make a change in whatever community we live in in this region, the whole place would do a lot better.
I challenge every one of the people who’s ever written a wholesale, write-off negative comment or a racist one or anything that isn’t real discussion or debate on things in this region to do something - or else, frankly, you and your negative energy IS part of the problem.
What’s even worse? Our outlets don’t do a thing to stop this. They sit there and think it’s all right because of their never-ending desire for the pageview, which might equal a few bucks in revenue. Obviously, the Tribune doesn’t care because they’ve let 127 comments of mostly vitriol just go on their site. Nice work. You’re REALLY helping the region by fostering a useless discussion of hate and anger.
I think @baratunde has authenticity down. It’s a scary proposition for most, but if you want real online success for yourself, take the packaging off. People want to know other people online. Go read this post that goes with it.
