“Pimp My Ride” was a former MTV show hosted by rapper Xzibit. In each episode, Xzibit takes a lucky contestant’s beat-up clunker and completely rebuilds it — or “pimps” it. The finished product was then adorned with every gadget and upgrade possible. Whenever the car was re-introduced to its owner, Xzibit would slip a phrase that went something like: “Yo, dawg, I heard you like (fill in the blank), so I got you (fill in the blank with said like but in excessive quantities).”
I found a comic with a picture of Xzibit with a caption over it reading “Yo, dawg, I heard you like Facebook, so we put a Facebook in the upper right of yo’ Facebook so you can Facebook while you Facebook.” So funny. So true.
This Internet meme — a popular concept spread on the web — was calling attention to the ever-evolving applications of the social network. Creator Mark Zuckerburg has recently released a video letting us know what to expect with the coming changes so we’re not all flipping tables in rage and confusion. I plan on doing it regardless because I am set in my Facebooking ways.
In his presentation, Zuckerburg explains what the new “ticker” and “timeline” features are and how to use them.
The ticker will be a continuously updated mini-feed in the corner of your regular feed — refer to above joke — so you can choose what specific activities you want to see of your friends and family members and those you would prefer to not. The ticker provides even more status updates, confirmed friendships and breakup notifications.
The timeline will be the newest model of the default profile and will be Facebook’s most extreme alteration. The page will be divided down the middle in a “this-to-that” fashion. There will be one status activity, life update or picture or video assigned to each side and will refresh as the owner of the profile adds anything.
Facebook will automatically begin posting information already in your profile by using an algorithm determining the degree of relevance to choose the order. To put it in more of a scrapbook form, members are encouraged to add other events from their lives and information not previously included in their profiles. The timeline does allow you to regulate who can see what but the prodding to include more information seems a bit intrusive.
I believe the motivation behind the prompting is so Facebook can gather more information for advertising companies from whom they profit by selling ad space, or creating a “subscribe” or “like” page. They can update these perpetual commercials causing new ads to appear in your newsfeed on a whim.
Despite its sleazy-yet-valid business move, Facebook’s attempt to broaden social interaction could be hazardous. There have been multiple murders in Mexico just this month because people were using social media to warn about certain drug cartel lords.
Facebook and other means of social media can be useful tools for networking, business, personal relationships, etc., but users make themselves vulnerable by not understanding how many other people they are exposing themselves to. There was little privacy on Facebook to begin with, but its new applications are taking it all away. I hope this is the last remodeling, but we know it won’t be. (Flips table).
Comments