Tag Archives: friends

Save friendships – hyper target your facebook updates

I sometimes I feel like a semi-professional Facebook updater (mostl of the posts for Holler), sometimes I feel like an amateur. I have been posting things that were relevant to some friends and bordering on spam for others. As an expat I find it even more difficult to judge whether both my social circles can find common ground beyond web memes and global politics. And what language should they be written in? What do a former German school mate and a current Australian colleague have in common? I reckon not a whole lot, except knowing me. I suspect many have already hidden me because of lacking relevance to their lives.

But help exists in the shape of limiting the visibility of updates. I had known about the feature but not used it much. So when I stumbled upon Crystal Castles and wanted to share their tour dates (the band is bypassing Down Under as many international acts do) I chose to hyper-target the update. Written in German and only visible to those Berlin-based friends I considered to be into Crystal Castles style of music.

Crystal Castles facebook update

If you want to be this flexible, the posting procedure gets a bit silly (or maybe I have overlooked a more convenient way). See below the two parallel windows that allow selecting relevant names/friends.

Selective updates

But to keep the value of facebook up, I fear I must not only do selective reading but also practice considered sharing. Or else I might get paid out by friends in Pringles latest social content campaign “Help the Oversharers“.

Omegle: A chat is a chat is a chat

Omegle promises the unthinkable for netizens: “Talk to strangers!” Notice the exclamation mark!!! To top this, it even promises to be “a brand-new service for meeting new friends.” I mean, yes, social networking leads to lots of contacts with friends, even new ones. But it is not like I haven’t entered a chat with a stranger before. And I am sure a MOO or MUD player from the good ol’ days of TelNet will frown upon the proclaimed freshness of this service.

Nevertheless, I felt a slight tingle as I entered the chat window. I don’t really know what I expected, maybe some sort of post-modern text performance. Two savvy players of the game, juggling with conventions and the etiquette of the social web.  And I thought it started rather well.

A chat is a chat is a chat

A chat is a chat is a chat

But alas, the age-old question ‘where are you from?’ threw us both back to the times of CompuServe and AOL.  I quickly hit ‘disconnect’ before he could ask me what I am wearing. Gee, we could have become real friends.

Addition:
Through other blogs I have learnt that Omegle seems to be the brainchild of teenager Leif K-Brooks (what’s with the K- business here?). It would explain the perceived novelty of a chat! with strangers!!
And you can find some mildly amusing examples of other Omegle chats here.

Friends in Digital Advertisements

Just stumbled upon a former colleague, grinning excitedly inside a teaser panel (Western Australia website by NetX/BBDO). I know that “above-the-line” (what line?) agencies occasionally use their own staff in photo shoots either to meet a tight budget or simply stroke their own ego. But it seems like digital executions are still semi-expected to cut cost by using googled web images, ripping off some flickr artist or creating assets from literally nothing.

Western Australia featuring Nick T.

Though that is not to say my mate Nick is not the best possible choice for this execution…

Maybe I’ll open a Flickr or facebook group on “Friends in digital ads”, anyone seen something like it already?