Once Upon A Facebook

Last week was a big week for our Facebook founding-father Mark Zuckerberg. Ol’ Zuckey went public with our beloved Facebook and also managed to squeeze in a top secret wedding with his college sweetheart Priscilla Chan. (It also can be noted that he helped create 850 new millionaires.) Now, Zuckey, I’mma let you finish…but Facebook isn’t what it used to be!

No, I’m not here to rant about Timeline. In fact, I’ve got Timeline since October of last year and love it. I’m here to reminisce about a few of my favorite things from Facebook’s golden age and why I miss them so badly.

SuperPoke:

When I joined Facebook back in 2007 I was in a very mischievous stage of life. Nothing could quench my thirst quite like throwing farm animals at friends or SuperWinking at a cute girl from class. The great application SuperPoke made all this dreams a virtual reality. I remember some days when my home page was splattered with flying farm animals and cute smiley faces. There was nothing better. Now we’re stuck with the stupid regular poke button. Is it just me or are the new notifications for pokes super annoying? Ah, farewell, SuperPoke.

Where are they now? SuperPoke shut down it’s app in late 2011 and SuperPoke pets went down this past March.

Top Friends:

Top Friends was one of the true guilty pleasures of Facebook. Organizing your friends by your favor for them may not have been the most ethically sound decision you’ve made, but boy was it fun. Top Friends was serious business back in the golden days. The app even allowed you to serve drinks to your friends at a virtual bar. “Dude, I came to your party last weekend! I deserve a promotion on Top Friends!” No amigo, you’re still only my 16th favorite friend.

Where are they now? Top Friends was chopped from Slide on March 6th, 2012.

iLike Music:

The iLike music application was probably my favorite of all the old Facebook applications. iLike allowed you to post songs on the sidebar of your profile page for your friends to come by and listen to. Much like other classic apps, it went down when Facebook removed the sidebar feature. The Spotify integration is great, but there was nothing like posting songs straight onto your Facebook page.

Where are they now? iLike closed its doors on  February 7, 2012.

Quizzes:

Anyone remember those old quizzes you could create on Facebook? Another classic application gone too soon.

Where are they now? Heck, even I don’t know what happened to them!

I propose that Mr. Zuckerberg creates a Facebook site where it is always 2008. A time when we could pay a $1 to send virtual gifts to our friends and lovers, everyone spread those stupid viral notes, Facebook chat became cooler than AIM, the sidebar ruled and all the apps of old made Facebook the ultimate playground. Is that too much to ask, Zuckey? We’d call it Facebook 08 and it would be beautiful.

Forever Young

 I know it’s a little late for a New Year post, but for me it always seems to take a week or so for the reality to set it. It has officially hit me now. I’ve wrestled to find the words to truly convey how I’m feeling about it, but haven’t found much success. The new year always gives me a sense of nostalgia, a rush of anticipation and uncertainty. Waking up on New Year’s morning makes me feel much like a child on Christmas morning, the present is a new chapter in my story. A new adventure that awaits.

I’ve never really been a fan of New Year’s resolutions.  English sculptor Henry Moore once said, “I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the year’s.” This idea rings true to me. If we spent more time looking at the smaller things and treating each day like a new beginning, we’d find it much easier to make changes in our lives and the lives of those around us. In a sense, my resolution for the year is to focus more on the importance of each day, to take advantage of every opportunity, and not be afraid to take chances.

After all, missed opportunities are not easily forgotten.

May the best of your todays, be the worst of your tomorrows. – Jay-Z

The Little Things (Like Legos)

I was inspired to shape all the many small lego pieces into a large heart.



This afternoon I decided to take a rainy day retreat to my room. I walked in, spread a sheet on the floor, and poured out a bucket of Legos on the floor. Sitting there munching my Frosted Flakes and listening to Snow Patrol, I proceeded to realize how much more I should cherish the little things in life.  Something as simply as a song that someone wrote, halfway across the world, without any idea that I even exist, can make my day. Blows my mind.

A Match Made In…Neverland.

To whom it may concern and Disney,

This will either make a lot of sense, or it will completely confuse you. I’m not exactly sure where I personally stand at this point. I guess it all started the other day when I got a phone call from my old friend Peter. He’s doing well, I mean, I don’t know how he couldn’t be sense he’s living perpetually as a kid.  Anyway, we all know how kids go through that “young love” phase. He asked me if I’d help him find a date to the middleschool dance, I kinda feel like he’s done that before, but maybe it’s just me.

Yesterday, I called Petey and asked, “what kind of lass are you looking for, young chap?” I didn’t actually say it like that, but that sounds way cooler, so let’s pretend I did. Pete told me he wasn’t sure, so I attempted to consult with his pixie friend to find out the true yearnings of his young heart.  Unfortunately Tinkerbell was out at a Pixies concert and was unable to talk to me.

This morning I was finally able to get a hold of Peter and I hit him with one of the most brilliant ideas I’ve had in quite sometime. I told Pete that he should go to the dance with Alice (aka Alice in Wonderland). I know for some of you this may sound like an absurd proposal, but bear with me. We know that Peter is playful fun-loving guy who lives in a magical land where he’ll never grow old. Then there’s Alice, she’s a girl who followed a talking rabbit into a hole that led to some trippy world, no big deal. Don’t they just sound like the perfect little couple?

As I said, I know there are probably critics of this “arranged-relationship”, but I really think even if the relationship doesn’t last it’d still make one big movie. Neverland and Wonderland in the same movie? Goodness, the special effects for that would put Avatar to shame.

Sincerely,

A lifelong Disney fan

My Words In Magazine Clippings

When I was younger I used to love to cut pictures of magazines and make collages with them. This blog is dedicated to those days and nights like this drinking a tall glass of nostalgia. I can only imagine what I’d do if I could go back to those days and speak to my younger self through the clippings. What kind of things would I say?…

Smile, laugh, and spread love.

There’s more truth to television shows than you may think.

Do what you love and don’t let other people tell you what that is.

Cherish the moment when you ask that girl what she’s doing for the weekend and she tells you she has no plans.

Keep listening to music before you go to bed every night, because those songs are the ones that will stick with your for years to come.

You’ll survive highschool. You can skip class tomorrow.

Don’t give away any of your Pokemon cards, you’ll want them back in a few years.

The world tends to speak in opposites and occasionally spins backwards.

Summer evenings are best spent with family, friends, and laughter.

Don’t be afraid to speak your mind.

Get out to the west coast as soon as possible.

Sometimes things ARE predictable.

Video games are usually a good alternative to other forms of wasting time.

The shower is one of the best places for deep thoughts, decision making, and singing.

One day you’ll write a blog about things that you’d go back and tell yourself and realize that you wouldn’t say a word. I think that’s the joy of it all…

Snapshots of Life: Seeing Beyond The Network

“What’s on your mind?”, for Facebook users this is a question we probably see on a daily basis. In fact, the whole world of Facebook and the universe of social media itself is driven by questions like this.



What’s happening?, where are you?, who are you with?, what information should the rest of the world know?

Through social media these simple questions open a conversation with endless ways to answer, and amounts of answers themselves.

This is a world where yesterday’s news is ancient history and tomorrow’s stories are just a click away.

I am a huge user and promoter of social media and love its incredible power to connect people around the globe. Our shortfall in this social media world is that we tend downplay the true significance of these questions and cheat ourselves into believing that these social media bubbles are all that there is and fail to see larger pictures.

In a recent study at Stanford, “Misery Has More Company Than People Think: Underestimating the Prevalence of Others’ Negative Emotions.” , researchers found that their subjects consistently underestimated the sadness of their Facebook friends, and in turn, would end up feeling depressed about their own lives. An example might be that you see pictures of one of your friends at a party that you were not invited to, this causes you to be upset, but little do you know that your friend actually had a miserable time at the party.

When we answer these social media question we are usually directing the answers at our target audience. We want our story to look as intriguing as possible. In my own experience I have also found the reverse to be true, I have observed patterns of people using social media as an outlet to vent sadness over trivial things in an attempt draw attention to themselves.

By no means am I saying that people don’t post things when they are genuinely happy or sad, but from my own experience and this study we do tend to perceive others’ situations as better than our own. We need to remember that social media is merely telling a story. A story from one person or various people’s views.

When we log on our favorite social media sites and answer these simple questions, we are only sending out tiny snapshots of our life into the massive cloud that is “the network”. When reading other people’s answers we must take these stories for what they are, as merely snapshots, and not try to trade them for the bigger picture. That larger picture is what’s waiting outside your doorstep, a world beyond the network.

Extraordinary Super Bowl Party Guests

It’s that time again. Time to call all of your friends and gather around the television for biggest game of the year. As I’ve been getting prepared for this year’s Super Bowl, I’ve been thinking more and more about the different types of people I’ve met at Super Bowl parties over the years. I’ve decided to compile a list and ask you if you’ve seen any of these characters:

The Fan: This is the lucky person who’s team made it to the big game . The Fan is usually super excited and goes all out! They’ve been known to showcase their vintage sports memorabilia and might even wear their old jersey they purchased 15 years ago when they were 30 pounds lighter. They can be obnoxious at times,  so be sure to leave their party early if it appears their team is about to lose.

The Rival: This person is the exact opposite of The Fan. Their team did not make it, but their rival team did. This person wants to see nothing else than their rival team going down in flames. It’s a dangerous combo if you have a Fan and Rival at the same party, unless you like that kind of tension.

The Sports Lover: Ah, this character is usually a welcome guest at any pigskin party. The Sports Lover is a true lover of the game. They tend to show up at the party with the biggest TV, studies have shown they love 3D TVs nowadays. They’re just looking for a well-played and fun game. Recent history has show that they have been known to secretly have a favorite in the showdown, but don’t usually feel too strongly either way.

The Food & Drink Grubber: The name pretty much says it all. They  ”conveniently”  show up at the party as soon as the food and drinks come out. One upside is that they usually don’t have much of a preference in what they eat, they just like to eat (Is that an upside?). It’s recommended that you bring out rations during the night for them and don’t let them into your kitchen, especially not your fridge.

The Party Animal/Commercial Kid: This person shows up at the party to have a good time. They tend to do so in a variety of different ways during the party. Party Animal/Commercial Kids really love the commercials and quoting them over and over. They can occasionally become annoying, but just remember they mean no harm. They’ve also been known to campaign that the Super Bowl be moved to Saturday night so they don’t have to go to work or school the next day. (I agree.)

It is also very common to find hybrids of these as well as other notable characters including:

• The Halftime Show Watcher: At least they like the music.
• The My Significant Other Dragged Me Here Person: Taking one for the team.
• The Bandwagon Hopper: Who’s winning now?
• The Person Who Shows Up Everywhere…Duh: Just a typical night.

Who else have you run into on Super Bowl Sunday?