Nerding Out

Most other social media outlets have experienced success partly because of their ability to be linked to Facebook. Twitter, Tumblr, Yelp, even that Instagram thing I think. Well, at least that's what I assume, because I see 'em on my Newsfeed. Well, why would FB help, in a way, other types of social media? I'm no expert, but I think it's because those other outlets are only part of FB's social media game. FB provides a full social network. Not just statuses. Not just pictures.

There is no doubt that Fb is king of social networking. At least for now. But I hate those stupid games - like, seriously. Wthell is Farmville about? Really?

It started out as this cool exclusive thing, all about connecting people. But then they started adding bumper stickers, and silly games, and other invitations that I choose to ignore. It's not really why I joined FB.

Some people don't like Facebook. Sometimes I think it's too much. Like, I don't care and don't always need to know exactly where and what you're eating. (I also hate that it's called the "Newsfeed". (1) The word "news" is beginning to lose it's meaning because of it. It's a joke. And it makes us look like idiots because (2) it is hardly news.) But the pros outweigh the cons.

It's a great tool, and doesn't replace a friendly phone call, or a lunch date, but it helps to stay in touch and keep up with old friends. (Of course, it also helps really immature and nosy people stir up a lot of unnecessary drama, but you win some, you lose some. And it'd happen either way. So don't blame FB.) It's just another way to tell my friends that I love 'em and I miss 'em. And really, what's wrong with showin' a little Fb love?

On another side note, and to their credit, they did manage to create virtual flirting, with the "poke". Hilarious. But totally okay. It was created by college kids, afterall. And what's life if it ain't a little fun, yanno? Can't take it too seriously.
(If you haven't seen Social Network you should. I don't care if you hate fb. Like it or not, it's changed life as we know it. And is a huge part of our whole generations "thing".)

A couple other inadequacies? The new picture viewing thing is a little annoying. And the quality isn't great, but you just learn to not print from Fb, and understand that it's just for sharing purposes. Fb chat isn't reliable and it's messages are a bit messy. But also not too big a deal, bc I just use gchat and gmail. Both much more accessible on my phone.

But that's the point I'm getting to. Overall, Fb does the trick. Sure there are a couple of things that are little.. ehhhh, but only annoying at worst. It gets the job done. And does exactly what it was built to do.

But now, with Google+.. Well, we already know Google owns everything. Most people have Gmail accounts. I love Gchat. It's what I use when I wanna get away from the Fb chats. Google is already linked to my phone and is Android friendly. It's less cluttered, but then again, once upon a time so was Fb. It owns Picasa, so pictures are supposed to be of higher quality. It's a bit more user friendly when it comes to organizing your friend groups. They decided to go with "Stream" rather than "Newsfeed." And it doesn't have just video chat. Group chat. (Ciao Skype and Oovoo.) Google even owns this blog.

So basically, it is a Fb upgrade.

For Facebook's sake, I hope it can keep up. I'm sure they regret (the rumored?) smear campaign but ya gotta give credit where credit's due.

They were just a bunch of college kids who didn't know they were creating social media/networking as we know it - defining our generation as one that is constantly connected.

Makes you feel for them, a little, yanno. They created the monster that is Facebook, but how do you compete with Google?

I'm all for underdogs. And I really like the idea that these guys could've been people I went to school with. But I also really like convenience.

I find this way toooo interesting. I'm such a geek.