this is fyf

Party promoters panic - nobody is responding to Facebook invites anymore.

 

It started a few weeks ago.  Invitations would come from anonymous sources, promising events with free iPads and iPhones and ringtones and downloads.  Then, at some point, I could no longer be bothered.  I stopped looking at invitations sent via Facebook.  And I'm not alone.

One of the key functions of Facebook has been the event invitation.  As a promoter or even a person wanting to get a group together for a day at Spa Castle, it was somewhat perfect.  While not as key as file and link sharing, and certainly not as core as contact management, event management is one of the core pillars of Facebook's success.  

The hacking of accounts though has made the functionality a bother though.  While it was once a "yes", "no", or "maybe", now it's also a matter of "what the fuck" and "who sent this".  Similar account hacks have invaded file sharing and other bits of Facebook, decreasing the site's efficiency while increasing its clutter.

Already some party promoters, cognizant that the invites aren't being read, have switched back to the old e-mail blast manner of promoting their functions.   A quick check of the spam filter confirms this.  Even simple birthday parties are now going back to non-Facebook manners of communication.

Weeks ago, I deleted every post and untagged every picture in Facebook (over several days, mind you).  In doing so, there came a realization that there was a lot of "me" out there.  "Me" from which Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg was profiting, but I was not.

In conversations in many different crowds, the topic has come up.  "You sent it to me on Facebook?  I never check that any more."  Be it an invite, an email, or a video of a cat doing cartwheels, the messages sent through Facebook, once a sure medium, aren't being read.

The challenge for party promoters now is to find the method of communicating their event's awesomeness to the masses.  Facebook is ignored, and email lands you in a spam filter.  The answer may be old-school.  Once upon a time a throng of junior promoters would thrust postcards at you as you left any venue.  Those days may very well be coming back.

Civilization Progress Report: America's major leakage woes

 

This week, we ran to the nearest cliff, cupped our hands around our mouths and screamed, "Why, America, WHY?" And America, bless her Double-Downed heart, shrugged. As she squeezed her flabby, many-rolled midsection into her stars-and-stripes-patterned halter top to get ready for a night out on the town, America said, "I don't know, darling, I don't know why so many people are out to destroy my culture and nature, but it's a long weekend, so let's have a party y'all!" It should be noted that America probably enjoys the variety of upscale nightlife available in the Times Square area. 

• AMERICA'S GREATEST CULTURAL DISASTER Liza Minnelli sings "Single Ladies" in it. Oh, you know what it refers to. In fact, I won't even specify what it is, because it is as wicked and fiendish as that Harry Potter villain whose name is also left un-uttered. [Popjustice]

• AMERICA'S GREATEST NATURAL DISASTER Life really is like Sonic the Hedgehog 2--namely that part where our intrepid hero had to spin-dash his way out of Oil Ocean Zone in pursuit of all the Chaos Emeralds. It's really an apt metaphor for what many Americans are facing with this BP oil spill. [USA Today]

Many non-disasters and the rest of your CPR after the jump!

Civilization Progress Report: Carrie Bradshaw leads four-woman quest to abolish gay rights

 

Today we learn that the Sex & the City franchise's blatant disregard for the world outside of Carrie Bradshaw's bubble can make it just as surreal a polemic on the human condition as Lost. And its alien contempt for contemporary culture could give nations like Russia and Malawi some reason to join Portugal in giving gay men and women the surly side-eye. Also, Madonna only plays a peripheral role, but damn!...she really does look like a splayed frog! Your simultaneously far- and near-sighted Civilization Progress Report:

• Vanity Fair is apparently sourcing Glee recaps straight from the Towleroad comments section these days. [Vanity Fair]


• Excellent! The unedited Sex & the City 2 trailer. [True/Slant]


• And speaking of artificial life...scientists have engineered the first-ever synthetic cell. [BBC]


• Facebook can predict who you will break up with the same way anyone with eyeballs and general sentience can: By trolling through your friends lists and eavesdropping on conversations. Well played, Zuckerberg! [Gawker]


• Are we still talking about this Chely Wright character? The bigger news is that Sam Sparro (see fig. 1) will be performing alongside her at an event that is now 150% more awesome by virtue of Sam Sparro performing at it. [Contactmusic]

(Sam Sparro video...and more CPR, after the jump.)

Keep Facebook's business partners out of your business.

 So.  Facebook is doing shows again.  This time they've announced that the private information that companies get from you when you use an application can now be retained by those companies, which is great for companies wanting to data-mine for what they view as potential clients, but has no benefit to you." If you have a Facebook account, there are some fixes.

1. Go to this page.  This is a list of all the external business partners with access to your information.  
2. Under "Instant Personalization", uncheck the box which has been defaulted to your acceptance.
3. In the future, if a company or "application" requests your information, hit "no, thanks".

 
 

And that's it.  While many will cry victim and foul as if their Facebook page was a church confessional, the more evolved outlook is that Facebook is a business and, well, if you're trusting businesses to act in your interest and not their own?  Well, that's not a good choice.  Facebook is great for invitations, and finding out what happened to that dude you crushed on in high school and, well, very little else.  (In a perhaps hypocritical, we'll be adding a Facebook widget on Friday which allows the reader to "like" something automatically if they have not turned of the personalization feature.  We will not be collecting your information.) 

If you'd like to learn more about me, you can totally go on Facebook, which will provide you a picture, my birthday, the email address that I give to people I don't know, and the fact that I am craving cake right now.  Anything else?  Ask me, because there is virtually nothing you can learn about me there, which is a practice I advise for everyone.