Life On the Wicked Stage: Act 2

Man Arrested for Not Using Twitter

OK, I guess the worm is turning, or shriveling up, or something. Police asked a record label exec to Twitter a message to unruly waiting fans that a concert had been called off at the last minute. The guy didn't and the cops arrested him.

Police arrested a senior vice president from Bieber’s label, Island Def Jam Records, James A. Roppo, 44, of Hoboken, N.J., saying he hindered their crowd-control efforts by not cooperating.

He was in custody Friday night, pending charges that could include criminal nuisance, endangering the welfare of a minor and obstructing government administration, Smith said.
“We asked for his help in getting the crowd to go away by sending out a Twitter message,” Smith said. “By not cooperating with us we feel he put lives in danger and the public at risk.”

Crazy.

Via All Things Digital

Twitter’s Decline Begins with the Advent of Advertising

Twitter is starting to monetize by letting users get paid for advertising in their tweets. It is the beginning of the end. Oh, the end won’t come soon, and it won’t even look like an end.  There will be an upswing. Twitter and people will make money and things will blossom. Then things will plateau. Then Twitter will become just like every other communications and entertainment medium. It will still exist, it may remain profitable, but it will lose its soul and everything it promised in the beginning will become a faded, jaded memory.

The above prophecy of Twitter isn’t hard to predict. It is the same path that every other entertainment medium has followed since the dawn of advertising. Yes, advertising is the way to make money, because apparently we’re all foolish enough to keep wanting to be manipulated. But like radio, broadcast TV, films, YouTube, DVD/Blueray discs, blogs, the Internet in general, newspapers, and your local church bulletin, everything that started out as a way to communicate and then looked at advertising as a way to monetize, the message gets lost in the money at some point.

Sunday Morning Reading

Some Sunday morning reading to share.

Twitter is going to do ads, and in some cases already is. Folks are making money from this. I’ll put up another post about my thoughts on this, but the sum is, end of an era. Robert Scoble chimes in here with a good post on the subject.

The Senate passes a procedural vote to allow debate on health care reform. All this means is that we’ll be subjected to more of the same nonsense as they do everything but debate, until other votes are taken. The circus continues. I love this headline: Bruising Debate Awaits Health Bill in the Senate. We won’t hear much new. There won’t be anything resembling debate, (more like infomercials full of bunk from both sides) and the only bruises will be the ones on our foreheads from slapping ourselves for voting for these idiots on all sides.

So, Sarah Palin’s book is out. The tour is on. Frank Rich has a good piece on the hullabaloo. Now, it appears that phenomenon has created another small controversy. The AP, you know the folks who don’t believe in Fair Use, got hold of her book, ripped it from its spine and scanned it so it could be searchable for its reporters. Hey, it’s fair use for us. Not for you.

Hands on winner for dumbest Apple Tablet rumor post of the year goes to PCWorld for this.

Speaking of Fair Use hypocrisy. Rupert Murdoch doesn’t believe in it either, especially when it comes to Google and the internet. That doesn’t stop his papers from ripping of entire blog posts and publishing them. Ask Edgar Wright. Hey, it’s fair use for us. Not for you.

Roger Ebert on how he gave Oprah her start.

So, a cop tases a 10 year-old girl who is throwing a tantrum at home. Sounds bad right? Well, the idiot mother asked them to do it. Yowsa.

Twitter Lists, Discovery, Sharing, Who's on First, and Top of the Pops

Twitter just rolled out its list feature en masse a few days ago and of course that means everyone is talking twittering about it. Of course those who like to follow follower counts (the real game behind social media) are starting to see how many lists they are on, and some are already bragging about it. I'm sure the lobbying to get on lists will start soon. The whining that will occur when someone gets removed will be loud as well.

Others are starting to wonder what the point is on a couple of levels. I agree with those that believe we won't know what lists mean until the various Twitter clients pick them up as a feature. That race is apparently already on and the who got there first and who does it better stakes will be a fun spectator sport in the near future.

I don't agree with those who question the value of lists that no one is following or will follow. Seems to me the value of a list is in the eye of the list creator and not how many lists are followed, shared, mashed up, spewed out, etc... Yeah, I'm sure those who see Twitter as a tool for something beyond personal use will disagree, but then, what else is new.

But then things are still in their infancy with lists and like when Twitter first entered the scene, no one knows what it all will mean a few months from now.

Sunday Morning Reading

Eating candy cursed by demons, here’s some Sunday morning reading to share.

Doc Searls on Towards post-Journalism journalism. An excellent read.

With all the talk of Health Care Reform, which has turned into a game of who is the best at repeating tired old arguments, this is an interesting read. Check out the IRS Rules For Medical Deductions are Sickening.

Following the Somali pirates and their escapades makes me wonder. What’s the difference between a Somali pirate and the folks (of all persuasions) who got us into this economic mess?

Om Malik has three failures in a row with Apple notebooks. He wonders if he is unlucky or the start of a larger trend. I argue the latter.

The Numa Numa Guy directs the MSU band at a half time show and they do some of his shtick. Fun.

Pat Phelan sums up some of my feelings about Twitter’s lists.

Manu Ginobli knocks down a bat that butted into an NBA game. Great hands.

It's Just Business

After Facebook acquired Friendfeed today, some Friendfeed users are bemoaning the fact, some are excited about what the acquisition means, and some are angry. Par for the course I guess when something like this happens. As far as I’m concerned, what Friendfeed turns into or if it just gets shut down isn’t really a concern. Anyone banking on any of these services to be around for a long period of time should be banking on something else. That said, I do enjoy Friendfeed as a service and will miss it if it disappears, which I think is more than likely. Who knows what will happen here and while emotions are flaring, it is too early to know what will come of this.

But that’s not what this post is about. Good friend, Newsganger, and ace blogger, Francine Hardaway made this comment in a Friendfeed post about those who were upset by the deal.

Sunday Morning Reading

Some Sunday morning reading to share.

Take it for what it’s worth. Frank Schaeffer helped weave the Christian Right into our political life, then had a Lee Atwater-like change of heart once things got out of control. Here he talks about how we are damaging our political and social fabric.

American Express and Discover are ditching over limit fees. They’ll make up for it in other ways.

This story is recycling again after it came up during the last administration. Politicians and scientists may debate whether or not climate change is real, but the military is preparing for climate change as a threat to national security.

The man who made a bundle by destroying the media, Rupert Murdoch continues his myopic ways. Now, he wants the names of those who subscribe to the WSJ on the Kindle or he’ll take his publications of it. I say take his publications off the Kindle.

Our Marines can’t use Twitter, Facebook, etc.. but the British are encouraging their troops to do so.

Apple goofs again. And again. And again. Sorry. Broken record there. This one is about Boobs. No dictionaries this time. Just boobs. Apple has reached a tipping point where they fortunes are starting to decline. This happens to boobs. It’s called gravity.

Andy Borowitz on Twitter and the Taliban.

Loren Heiny thinks the Apple Tablet will boost Tablet PC sales. I’d prefer we stop calling these rumored devices Tablets.

Sunday Morning Reading

It has been awhile, but here is some Sunday morning reading to share.

David Olive of the Star.com takes on the great journalism debate and says the problem with newspapers and newsrooms is that today’s journalism is boring. I couldn’t agree more. As everyone focuses on the Internet’s impact, I think it might have some value to focus a bit on all of the consultants that called in who basically succeeded in making everything the same. What was it Sarah Palin said? Only dead fish go with the flow? Worth a read.

A group of leading clerics in Iran question the ruler’s decisions and the election. This is probably big news in the middle of that still fomenting struggle. We’ll hear more about it after Michael Jackson is finally buried.

Twitter, Facebook, (and other social media) and organized religion. Good thing? Bad thing? Or is it just another facet of the complexity that already exists within the makeup of a religious community.

Sarah Palin decides to step down with a bizarre speech. Is there another shoe to drop? Is she positioning herself for the big run in 2012? Is it family issues out of control? There is a lot of focus on trying to analyze what I think defies analysis. Maybe someone should analyze the throngs that still worship at her feet. Just as hard to do, but in the end scarier than she could ever be.

Trouble on the iPhone 3GS front with battery life? What else is knew except that the article makes huge mistakes like the size is different between the 3G and the 3GS. And what were we saying about dead fish?

Watch Out! There are Mobs on the Internet

Yes, there are mobs on the Internet. Watch out. They cause pain. They can occasionally exhibit humor in doing so, and they pile on. Why should the Internet be any different than any other facet of life on this planet that humans engage in? Some folks are examining their own behavior in the context of mobs (or trolls, or whatever) and (kudos to them) looking for their own ways to try and stem the behavior of others.

I find their efforts noble and well meaning, hope they will makes some difference, but have my doubts. Humans historically screw up everything they touch and create. Some do it under the self delusion that they know better. Some do it to score points in some game they perceive we are all playing. Some do it simply because it is fun. It is always easier to tear down something than it is to build it, even when you don’t realize that’s what you are doing. Robert Scoble suggests we have two choices in our Internet lives. Hurt or help. He’s right as far as that goes. But the history of all of this (and it goes back long before the Internet) is that those who are intelligent and empathetic enough to make the better choice, leave the playing field as the mob shows signs of taking over. 

The still young Internet already has a graveyard as littered with the victims of mob-like behavior as any other form of human endeavor.  Mike Arrington sees a similar fate for Friendfeed. He needn’t have limited it to Friendfeed. Without using the same language, but expressing similar concerns, those that are debating this issue have themselves said similar things recently about Twitter once the celebrities and spammers found it. The list of services spoiled by mobs and trolls include forums, newsgroups, blog commenting systems, and services that started as exciting and crucial new forms of communication and then faded away as the trolls, spammers, and malcontents came. Arrington points out that Friendfeed comes close to erasing the anonymity factor that allowed Internet bullying and mobs to propagate in other venues. But does it really? While some (not all) use their real names or identifiable identities, they still get to hide in the comfort of a crowd, only that comfort (cold as it may be) comes from the glow of a monitor and the click of a keyboard.

Arrington suggests that the system is breaking under its own weight and is not sustainable, and although he has bigger aims than just the danger he senses with Friendfeed, he stops short of where the real problem lies, our own failings as human beings. It would be a great thing if the Internet, or any facet of it, could change that within us, but I just don’t see that, even as some try to alter their own behavior to try.

Web Site Story: Yet Another Internet Musical

I love it when two of the worlds I fly through, Theatre and the Internet collide. Check out College Humor’s Web Site Story. Yep, its all about the Internet a la West Side Story. Poor Leonard Bernstein.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Via Neatorama