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December 30, 2007
The Facebook Advantage 
I recently chatted with a VC that I'm friendly with regarding some FindMeOn restructuring. We spoke about FMO's issues for about 90minutes, and about the SNS & Advertising markets for another hour. A solid 40 minutes of that time was spent discussing Facebook's market position and how it relates to other SNS. If I recall correctly, we were in agreement with each other on all points - but approached the topic from different viewpoints. I decided to cover some of our analysis below. Because of some recent press coverage regarding FindMeOn & IP claims, I'm shielding his name.
The Userbase
• [VC] Facebook has a captive audience. Some people are willfully captive - they're addicted just like MySpace fans in the past. An increasing number are forcefully captive - where will they go ? So many friends / business / family have adopted FB. Its critical mass has made it the social network of social networks - you can message your MySpace friends or LinkedIn contacts on it -- they're all joining. If you want to leave Facebook, you can't - the people you need to contact have made that their preferred medium.
• [JV] Facebook has a virgin audience, which leads to brand loyalty. For an entire generation of college students, FB is their first social network. For many corporate adults, FB is the first social network too. The brand recognition and familiarity that Facebook offers these people as 'the first' social network means its harder to leave , and they'll likely come back. Think of your first car, favorite soda - its the same marketing allegiance. Early Friendster users still occasionally check their accounts, even though they never use the system. Early MySpace adopters still check religiously, even though they've moved on to Facebook @ college or Bebo with friends.
License to Confuse
• [VC] Facebook's stronghold on their users means that they can use them as guinea pigs. If another Social Network had a fiasco like their privacy stream or Beacon ads, they would be shuttered. Facebook doesn't necessarily need to worry about making mistakes, and can push-the-envelope to experiment on the userbase as a whole. What will people do? Leave Facebook? Not today - there's no better option.
• [JV] Facebook still has a 'young' feel to it. Despite being a highly valued mega-corp, it claims to be young & faltering, continually learning and adapting. The party line of "We're still getting our bearings straight", along with the newness of many members to Social Networking, means that people are quickly forgiving.
Smart Growth
• [JV] Their 'applications' and such allow people to customize their profile... as long as they play by FB's rules. MySpace will probably never redesign profile pages: a cottage industry popped up around profile customization and too many people embraced that; if MySpace were to substantially change their system, most profile pages would likely break - aggravating users and inciting abandonment.
User Appeal
• [?both] More users call it Crackbook than they called MySpace Crackspace
• [?] Friendster was about browsing; MySpace about messaging and commenting. Facebook is about peering into your contacts lives. It addresses the appeal of voyeurism and the want for instant gratification. You don't wait for a message or have to look for interaction of others - its all right there in front of you, in real time.
It's not built very well - and no one cares.
• [?] Servers time-out regularly -- even during non-peak hours.
• [?] Its buggy and patchy in places.
• [?] These aren't scaling issues - its just the basic architecture and protocols/design patterns. They fix & improve continually, but a lot of it seems to be the mentality of "well, it works for now..."
Its been 2 weeks since this sitdown, and I didn't take notes on any of this, so I've omitted about 2/3 of our conversation. As I remember more, I'll update.
Posted by Jonathan at 4:08 PM | Comments (0)
December 17, 2007
Pew Report: Digital Footprints
The "Pew Internet & American Life Project" has released a report Digital Footprints: Online identity management and search in the age of transparency
Facts to ponder:
i.
Internet users are becoming more aware of their digital footprint; 47% have searched for information about themselves online, up from just 22% five years ago.
ii.
Fully 60% of internet users say they are not worried about how much information is available about them online. Similarly, the majority of online adults (61%) do not feel compelled to limit the amount of information that can be found about them online.
iii.
Although the number of internet users who worry about their online information is
similar in size to the segment that takes steps to limit access to personal data, the two
groups do not neatly overlap. For many internet users, concerns about online personal
information do not translate into action. Among internet users who worry about their
personal information, just over half (54%) say they take steps to limit the amount of
personal information that is available about them.
It's a great paper to read though, and serves as a great external validation to a lot of things we're been talking about with FindMeOn for the past few years.
Posted by Jonathan at 11:06 AM | Comments (0)
December 14, 2007
Why I'm For Waterboarding, and you should be too ( or Have you Waterboarded today?)
We know from our government:
i. Waterboarding is safe & like swimming
ii. Waterboarding saves lives
We also know that:
i. In 2004, there were 3,308 unintentional fatal drownings in the United States, averaging nine people per day.
Like swimming? Um, It's better! Waterboarding saves lives! Swimming takes lives!
And how about this:
Doctors oversee waterboarding. Lifeguards oversee swimming. Who do you feel safer around, if you get a sudden heart attack or your life is otherwise threatened? A doctor or a lifeguard?
This is pretty clear: waterboarding is safer than swimming, and more responsible! We need waterboarding in our cities and schools NOW!
Posted by Jonathan at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)
December 13, 2007
Sallie Mae - Evil? Ignorant? I don't know.
Like most people I know, I've had problems paying my student loans.
Not financial hurdles, but physical payment hurdles - loans get bought / sold / transferred , you're deluged with 8 'coupon books' of varying amounts at once, then none, and fight as much as you want - you can never get them to send you an actual bill. Its common knowledge that the Industry isn't very happy with the interest rates they can charge, so they make billpaying as confusing as possible, and rack up late fees, service charges, and default interest.
Sallie Mae has sunk to a new low with me. A few months ago I got a phonecall saying I was past due: I hadn't had a bill in about 2.5 years because I tossed them my entire Holiday Bonus a few years back , and bills had apparently caught up. I never got a bill online or in the mail, so I didn't know I had to pay. Their email is whitelisted on my system , and I get tons of 'refinance' offers in my inbox and regular mailbox all the time -- so they know where I am, and how to contact me. Nevertheless we fight, they promise to send me a bill, and an online payment is made.
Last night I got a phonecall - my account was past due. I replied, AGAIN, that I had no idea I owed money or what I owed. I don't know if these are monthly or quarterly payments or what the amounts are - if you would please SEND ME A BILL, I would know these things and pay. Customer service requests a paper bill be sent, sends me an automatic payments application, and gives me a confirmation number for the payment that brings me up to date.
Things will be over finally... I think.
Except I just got a call from Sallie Mae. My account is past due. WTF? The customer service rep asks "Will you be able to make a payment today?" I counter "Hell no. First off, I want a bill - I didn't pay because you're not billing me. Secondly, I made a payment on the phone yesterday, and I have a confirmation number right here I'd be happy to-"
Customer service replies "Actually Sir, that won't be necessary. I know you made a payment yesterday, because to be honest, I processed that payment myself yesterday." What are the odds of that? He was able to find the information in the system, and claimed that payment just hadn't posted yet, but should tonight.
I don't know what to think of this -- its 2007 and I simply should not have this much trouble trying to get a physical bill or pay one. This is insane.
Posted by Jonathan at 6:41 PM | Comments (0)
Americans For Waterboarding
The Bush Administration has maintained that waterboarding is not torture ; Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) has stated that it is most definitely not torture , and actually like swimming (http://thinkprogress.org/2007/12/12/bond-waterboarding-swimming/).
I'm sold.
So my question is this - if Waterboarding is not torture , why aren't we fully embracing it?
Today I'm starting an organization called "Americans For Waterboarding" - if 1,000 people join, we'll seek non-profit 501(c)3 status.
The mission statement of Americans For Waterboarding is as follows:
1. Waterboarding is clearly not a form of torture, and is most closely related to swimming.
2. The use of waterboarding as an interrogation technique should be extended from military use against non-combatants:
2.a - Waterboarding should be an accepted and promoted form of Police interrogation in all American cities
2.b - Waterboarding should be an accepted and promoted form of Administrative questioning in all American Public Schools
2.c - Waterboarding should be an integral part of Physical Education in American Public Schools - it is not only like swimming, but supervised by doctors and not mere lifeguards
Waterboarding is an effective technique that is as innocuous as swimming -- yet can provide value information while investigating serious crimes or schoolyard fights.
For unknown reasons, Americans are not taking advantage of waterboarding in our cities or schools . Americans for Waterboarding actively promotes education in, and the use of, waterboarding as important an element to the american lifestyle as swimming, freestyle, backstroke.
Please join us online!
MySpace: http://groups.myspace.com/waterboardnow
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6700277991
Posted by Jonathan at 4:00 PM | Comments (0)
December 12, 2007
xkcd @ google, wearing a mochimedia shirt
xkcd @ google, wearing a mochimedia shirt http://youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24
I think I'm Mochi's biggest fan. Bob is not just a close friend, but one of the greatest & smartest guys around.
Posted by Jonathan at 2:33 PM | Comments (0)
December 10, 2007
Large Update to Identity Research Repository
Friends:
In the spirit of the Holiday Season - we have decided to open up a bunch of our research, presentations and select FindMeOn documents, as part of a new repository called Identity Research.
Identity Research is a way of giving the general public a 'behind the scenes' look at some of the innovations our team has made over the past few years. You can visit it here:
http://findmeon.com/IdentityResearch
Here's what you can find on Identity Research:
- Lots of Information on Technology, Identity Theory, Behavioral Psychology and everyone's favorite application of online data: Advertising and Consumer Marketing
- A new series called "Social Mapping" where we analyze the Social Networks and "The Social Graph".
- A collection of Public Presentations from 2006 and 2007 that look-a-whole-lot-like what some multi-million and multi-billion dollar firms have recently started building.
- Research on the History of SNS systems- including an Open Source project from 1996 that could likely invalidate the hotly contested Friendster/SixDegrees patents as Prior Art.
Why start Identity Research?
When FindMeOn launched in August of 2006, the internet was a different place.
Our critics and alleged experts would say silly stuff like:
- Niche networks aren't a real viability, the large networks are the only thing that matters!
- The walls on large Social Networks will never come down!
- Users don't care about online privacy, or realms of friendship!
- There is no advertising/marketing value in Social Media - it has some of the worst advertising performance online!
In just-over-a-year, things have drastically changed:
- Niche networks are hotter than ever.
They're growing at an explosive rate as more people connect online, the barriers to operating a social network are drastically lowering, and people yearn for smaller communities of like-minded people.
- The walls of Social Networks aren't falling, they've fallen.
After we released the OpenSN collection of Open Social Networking protocols, Facebook launched their API, and Google followed with their OpenSocial initiative.
Users have demanded portability, networks don't have a choice.
- Users explicitly care about online privacy and friendship realms. A lot.
Stories of people losing their job because of Facebook, MySpace and Blog activity have become commonplace, and serve as a warning.
The public is starting to become conscious of how their online and offline worlds interact, and starting to think before they click.
- The marketing potential of Social Media is no longer being questioned, it is being realized.
Facebook's social profiling is one of the best Social Network advertising systems, commanding CPMs on par with other publishers;
MySpace's new HyperTargeting system has nearly doubled their advertising performance;
Major brands are turning to whitelabel service providers to foster brand awareness.
It has been simply amazing to watch the market fall into place like this - each of our predictions has proven true, and FindMeOn's core technologies and value-propositions have been fully validated.
As a small startup we have been constantly overshadowed by high profile companies and pundits that re-implemented or clone our services/technologies with PR blitzes larger than our operating budget. Identity Research is a way to start sharing select developments with the general public, and prove how far ahead of the pack we still are. While efforts on the consumer side have been limited by PR and increasing competition, our focus has been on our institutional products and Intellectual Property portfolio -- both of which are stronger than ever.
When you have a moment, I personally invite you to read up on Identity Research and learn more about the intersection of online networking, consumer marketing, and user privacy.
If you have any questions, please be in touch.
Most Importantly
From the entire team @ FindMeOn , we hope you have a happy holiday season and a healthy new year.
No emoticons can express our gratitude for your friendship and support over the years.
Best,
Jonathan Vanasco
FindMeOn.com Founder
w. http://findmeon.com/user/jvanasco
e. jonathan@findmeon.com
Posted by Jonathan at 11:22 AM | Comments (0)
December 8, 2007
Language Wars (part eleventeen)
I'm a man of many languages. Not necessarily human languages ( though I can speak/write French & Swahili ), but computer languages. I've always advocated using the right tool for the right job - and have found myself jumping between Perl and Python nonstop, with occasional work in PHP and recently Erlang.
People always ask why, my answer is simple: some languages are faster to develop or execute on than others. Perl kicks ass at string manipulation; Python is amazing at manipulating numbers and matrices; with PHP you can have simple webpage operational in minutes. Because each one has different frameworks and modules generally available, you can't honestly evaluate them across the board.
Anyways... xkcd has a new comic about leaving Perl for Python. I've come close to doing that myself so many times - but I honestly still love using both.
Or at least I was... I'm starting to hate on Perl's comparison operators lately.
PHP and Python both do automagic comparisons, so you only have "==" as an operator. Perl requires a specific choice in operators - either "==" for numeric or "eq" for string. The canonical rationale is that 1 and 1.00000 are both numerically equivalent, but are different strings.
I'm fine with the concept of multiple comparison operators, I just *hate* how they're implemented. I've been doing a lot of Python lately on the FindMeOn spiders and proxy servers, and prototyped a Facebook App via PHP -- I got too used to using "==" for everything. Transitioning back to Perl for work on the core FindMeOn and RoadSound platforms, I've been experiencing a ton of bugs that have taken forever to fix-- and all of which have been attributable to me using "==" instead of "eq".
The confusing part illustrated:
All:
True: 1 == 1
Python
False: 1 == "1" ( not the same type )
True: "a" == "a"
PHP
True: 1 == "1"
False: 1 === "1" ( same value, not the same type )
True: "a" == "a"
Perl:
True: 1 == "1"
False: "a" == "a"
True : "a" eq "a"
Note how they're all logical - just not consistent.
Personally, I wish Perl would have used == as a comparison that supports autotyping, and corollary functions handled int/string comparison. Maybe that would mean a numeric version of eq, or that eq were replaced with a same type & value operator. Perl is generally called the 'messier' or 'sloppier' language - after spending more and more time in stricter languages like Python, I'm kind of amazed how simple comparisons in Perl are such a PITA.
Posted by Jonathan at 9:45 PM | Comments (0)
December 5, 2007
Facebook Dumping + Flickr Hacking = Worry
There's a troubling story going around right now about
1- A girl who dumped her boyfriend on facebook
2- Publicized it on Digg
3- Had her Flickr account 'hacked'
Everyone is reporting this story, and its flying around faster than 2Girls1Cup - yet no one is asking a simple, important, question - how was her Flickr account hacked?
Was this some sort of password guessing? Was there a man-in-the-middle attack? Or does Flickr/Yahoo have some sort of vulnerability. Flickr is the #2 photo sharing site in English speaking countries ( According to Alexa it is #19, Fotolog is 14), and the #1 photo site in the United States.
This is a pretty high-profile story right now -- why isn't there a security announcement from Flickr/Yahoo saying the user's password was compromised and it wasn't their fault. Or was it?
Posted by Jonathan at 6:12 PM | Comments (0)
Valleywag makes fun of 2 friends in 2 hours
I thought it was weird when Valleywag posted about Bob & Jameson playing poker as 'news'.
This is just weirder - within 2 hours they make fun of 2 friends.
5:42 PM ON TUE DEC 4 2007 ; BY MEGAN MCCARTHY
Charles Forman needs testers for Tetris imitation
I received this email from a friend who was invited to try out New York-based jerky-jerky entrepreneur Charles Forman's new Tetris ripoff, Blockles.
Valleywag and Charles never get along well. Chuck made some 'box art' on Blockles that read "Confidential: Do not post on valleywag, techcrunch, or any other sites run by homos". ( you can see the image here - http://static.iminlikewithyou.com/blocklesboxart.jpg ). Valleywag ran the image for a while, but then stopped - i think they realized it was making fun of them. Ha.
4:12 PM ON TUE DEC 4 2007 ; BY NICHOLAS CARLSON
$25 for anyone who can get this guy a date
Brett Petersel can gather most of the New York tech scene on a whim, organizing events such as October's Lunch 2.0 in Soho and last month's Web 2.0 Social Networking Tech Meetup in Chelsea. But the guy can't can't get a date. So he's decided to pay for one. "I will give $25 (US) to anyone who sets me up on a date, and then another $25 (US) if a second date occurs," Petersel wrote in a Facebook note. Here's the whole ad.So how about it: Can you help a brother geek out?
I wonder if Bett has any ulterior motives ;)
Posted by Jonathan at 1:30 PM | Comments (0)
December 3, 2007
Why the Writers strike matters to the online world
I've only heard Tina Fey bring this line of logic up -- and its a shame , as it's one of the most compelling arguments for the writers.
- Studios , networks and industry associations are suing YouTube and other online sites for *billions* in 'damages' relating to improper licensing / distribution of online content.
- The same groups are telling the writers that there is little / no value in online content.
- Um, you can't claim both lines. They sort of directly contradict each other.
The writers want .04¢ more ( for a total of .08¢ ) on a 19.99 dvd - that's far from unreasonable.
Posted by Jonathan at 11:33 PM | Comments (0)
December 2, 2007
Interview: BlogTalkRadio
I was interviewed by John Haven of BlogTalkRadio regarding online personalities and transparency for an upcoming book. John was referred to me while researching 'online trolls' as an expert on online identities.
You can read about the interview, and even hear it at the following link:
Long story short, Jonathan made a comment near the end of the interview I think is extremely wise and one we should all cleave to asap: "What people need to do more is think...we're in an (online) era where instant gratification is the norm." But (and now I'm paraphrasing his words, and Jon, please correct me in the comment post below if need be), we have to remember our digital footprint survives long after our desire for instant gratification or to make our friends chuckle at something we did over the weekend.In short, being transparent doesn't mean being careless.
Posted by Jonathan at 5:19 PM | Comments (0)