“This captured image posted on June 25 on social networking site Facebook shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s grandson Kim Han-sol with his girlfriend.”
Off to prom dressed like Dear Leader Pee Wee Herman.
His girlfriend’s cute.
(h/t Rohrlich)
"In talking to some younger relatives, all applying to or recently enrolled in medical school, I learned that the common practice today is for applicants to disguise their Facebook identities before applying through a variety of techniques (by using middle names, permutation of real names, nicknames, etc.) to ward off unwelcome visits by medical school admissions people. I assume applicants to undergrad or other grad schools are doing the same. Those putting on these disguises are the first generation of Facebook users — those who were most comfortable with putting their lives online — who have years of status updates, photos, and other things who now must navigate a world of non-Facebook generation gatekeepers. It will interesting to see how this perceived need to disguise oneself evolves over time: do users switch back to their identities after they get into the schools or does the caution carry over; will this even be necessary when the Facebook generation also are the gatekeepers, etc."
— Medical School, Facebook, and the Future of “Real Names” « takingpitches (via fred-wilson)
(via mlherold)
Lyons, via newsweek:
“Losing a few people won’t hurt Facebook, which has more than 400 million registered members, most of them oblivious to the debate over privacy. In fact, I suspect Facebook will end up being to this decade what Microsoft was to the 1990s—an ever-more-powerful company with tentacles that reach into everything. I also suspect that whatever Facebook has done so far to invade our privacy, it’s only the beginning. Which is why I’m considering deactivating my account. Facebook is a handy site, but I’m freaked by the idea that my information is in the hands of people I don’t trust. That is too high a price to pay.”
Seconding the first half. But! I’m decidedly not freaked by Zuck. He and his website seem pretty benign, despite a few bad and quickly aborted ideas and a lot of (mostly oldsters’) outcry. It’s easy enough to only share with FB info that you don’t mind being public.
You’re not J.D. Salinger — why should you give a shit if your ex-roomie, your aunt, the NSA or General Electric peep any of the purchases or GoodReads ratings that are accessible to the three-to-four-figure number of people you list as ‘friends?’
This isn’t complicated:
- Make a list of people you trust on FB; call it ‘realfriends.’ Only share personal stuff with that list. (How? Easy: click the little lock that’s all over the site.)
- If you want to share something and you don’t care who sees it, go ahead and toggle the lock to ‘Friends.’ Or even, if you want to be REALLY bold and allow strangers to comment, friends of friends (dun dun DUNNN)
- Relax and enjoy the targeted ads. (Nerds, set down ‘No Exit’ and suck it up. Would you really rather see varicose veins and protruding folds of human fat? Yes, it’s gonna look like that George Saunders story about Times Square in the future. But it’s just facebook, not your college football stadium or your charming downtown or your tumblr.
- If that’s still scary, you’re either too old for Facebook or, like Brian Wilson, just wasn’t made for these times.
Also: If you’re chronologically or mindset-wise too old for FB, that’s OK! There are millions of you. LinkedIn or diasporastar (joindiaspora.com) or a Rolodex and postcards might be more to your liking, depending where you are on the geek-to-Luddite spectrum. If you’re new to this, start simple. Facebook can be tricky if you’re not a fifth-year user by now.
Summers, writing on Tech Shifts:
On Oct. 1, The Social Network, an Aaron Sorkin–penned movie about the site’s controversial founding, hits theaters. A draft screenplay circulating now is a brutal read. Based on Ben Mezrich’s 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires, it portrays Zuckerberg as a borderline autistic, entirely ruthless conniver. Nothing sways public opinion like a movie—and this scorcher could counteract the entire body of good press Facebook has received till now.
Ha, right. Facebook addicts are gonna quit because Zuck is a dick. Just like how hipsters ditched American Apparel and cigs over sexual harassment + cancer.
