Thursday July 29, 2010 4:12 PM By By Sheila Anne Feeney
Users of the iPad are just a little too iProud of themselves, a new study finds. In fact, they’re a bunch of “selfish elitists.”
A technology firm grilled 20,000 Facebook users and found that iPad owners are more likely to be business-obsessed snobs who lack altruism and compassion.
These iSnobs were six times more likely to own an iPad than the average 13- to 49-year-old Internet user, according to MyType, the Web application firm behind the survey.
Critics of the iPad, however, think differently.
They are more likely to be tech-savvy “independent geeks” who think Apple is a behemoth.
These “are not the people you would expect” to knock Apple, said Tim Koelkebeck, founder of MyType.
The study found that people making more than $200,000 a year were four times more likely than the average Joe to have one.
Robert Thompson, popculture expert at Syracuse University, is suspicious of the findings.
“If you took a survey of the first users of cell phones, you’d get a totally different profile than if you took it now, which would be a profile of everyone in the country,” he said.
Maya Dunlap, 42, of the Bronx, however, thinks the iSnob rap is right on the money.
“I don’t know if they think it’s a status symbol, but I think it’s obnoxious,” she said.
But one iPad convert sees a particular utility: big type.
“I’m 48 and wearing bifocals now. I love its ability to magnify anything and to increase the size of the type,” said Elizabeth Lawley, director of the Labs for Social Computing program at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Among the rich and powerful, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is famously fond of his iPad.
Koelkebeck conceded he knew little about the mayor, but mused, “He’s probably considered one of the elites.”
Joe Kolman, a financial writer and iPad owner from Jackson Heights, used the elitist tag to poke fun at himself.
“Elitist? I only use my iPad because it came free with my Learjet,” Kolman said.
Katherine Lieb contributed
Tags: iPad, survey, Facebook
Wednesday May 12, 2010 9:37 PM By Emily Ngo
When it comes to privacy, the world’s most popular social networking site may be putting its worst face forward.
Facebook’s increasingly lax privacy settings are irking many of the website’s 400 million members, sparking calls to log off for good.
“They’re basically giving a take-it-or-leave-it choice to users. Well, users are leaving, and taking all their information with them,” said Ari Schwartz, vice president of the Center for Democracy & Technology, which monitors Internet privacy.
The debate has become so heated that Facebook has scheduled a companywide meeting on privacy Thursday at its California headquarters, according to allfacebook.com, a leading Facebook resource blog.
The most contentious of recent Facebook tweaks involves the “instant personalization” service, which automatically feeds users’ profile information to third-party partners such as Yelp and Pandora.
“That’s not what people signed up for originally,” Schwartz said. “They didn’t think their friend from camp would be sharing their personal details with Yelp.”
The six-year-old site is just trying to make a buck, others said.
“Facebook is just trying to become a more profitable company and trying to put themselves in a situation to provide advertisers with enough data to do efficacious selling,” said Shelly Palmer, a tech expert and TV host.
But such efforts seem to be turning members off. Google searches on how to delete Facebook accounts have skyrocketed, four U.S. senators last month sent a letter to the company denouncing new privacy settings and multiple privacy lawsuits have been filed against Facebook.
“I don’t like it at all when my conversations are seen by others, but I have more concerns about my personal information being sent to other sites,” said Matt Allen, 21, of Ridgewood. “I’m very tempted to drop my Facebook.”
Free Press, a media reform group, has started a campaign urging people to quit — admittedly a difficult task after years of building a profile.
“Facebook is the tool that keeps me connected with my old friends,” said Ray Sasaki, 24, of East Harlem. Experts admitted Wednesday there isn’t a service that comes close to rivaling Facebook in membership and convenience.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has defended his company’s evolution, last month saying, “We are building toward a Web where the default is social.”
Facebook officials did not return requests for comment Wednesday.
“You can’t say they weren’t warned,” Schwartz said. “Trust is key to what they do, and losing that is going to hurt what they do.”
Robert Levin contributed to this story.
emily.ngo@am-ny.com
*****
Want to be Facebook-free?
For now:
* Click “deactivate” under “account settings.”
* Profile no longer appears on Facebook, but information is saved so you can reactivate later.
Forever:
* Go to “help center” and enter “permanently delete” in search bar for link to submit request. (Yes, it’s that roundabout.)
* Profile is saved for 14 days before deletion, just in case you change your mind.
(Emily Ngo)
Tags: Facebook, privacy, Internet, Senate
Sunday November 15, 2009 6:06 PM By Lucy Blatter
Staying connected to social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook can help you find a gig faster.
Addicted to Facebook? Love tweeting? Your social networking savvy may just help you find a job.
We spoke with Brad Schepp, co—author of “How to find a Job on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Other Social Networks” for tips.
LinkedIn
According to Schepp, LinkedIn is the best site for job searching, “If you’re a professional you pretty much have to be on there,” he said.
Your LinkedIn profile should always be complete, Schepp said, with photos, recommendations from each of your key employers and your most up-to-date employment information.
Schepp suggested changing your status weekly, or more often if there’s news. One good post he’s seen: “An engineer has one that said ‘XX makes it easy to buy complex technical solutions. Seeking a marketing or senior sales role. How can I help YOU.’”
LinkedIn can also be helpful for research purposes. “Use the Advance Search tool to search for your dream title. Look at the people who are there and take a look at the path they’ve taken to get there.’”
Facebook
Make sure all of your employment information is filled out on your Facebook page.
And be sure to join professional groups. That’s how you can network.
You also must monitor your page so there’s nothing on it that can harm your search.
”If you’re looking for a job, you need to be careful of what you have on Facebook. You don’t want to get too personal or too political. You don’t want anything out there that’s going to disqualify you,” Schepp said. “You want to show personality but be careful not to offend people.”
Twitter
While researching for his book, Schepp said he was surprised at how many people found jobs on Twitter.
More and more, companies are actually posting job listings on Twitter.
There are so many jobs now posted on Twitter that there’s a tool called Tweet My Jobs, with which you can sort through relevant postings.
It’s important to build your network on Twitter, Schepp said. In order to find people to follow, do a search through People Search and use keywords for your industry. “Typically once you start following someone, it’s common practice for them to follow you,” he said.
And, he said, it’s a good idea to follow the employers or companies for whom you’d like to work.
You also want to make each tweet count. “Don’t tweet about minutia,” Schepp said. “Give brief updates about meetings or post news relevant to your profession, or if you’ve just put up a really good blog post link to that,” he said.
MySpace
MySpace is a relevant site for those in the arts, Schepp said. A number of musicians ge gigs through their profiles.
“You want to take advantage of the multimedia aspects, whether they’re photos of videos. You want to give people a reason to hang around your page,” Schepp said.
Tags: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace, social networking
Thursday October 1, 2009 9:02 PM By Ellis Henican
There are some things even I won’t joke about. And you know me. I’ll joke about almost anything.
But there is no humor, as far as I’m concerned, in kids being abused. Too horrible.
Or in the Holocaust. Too huge and too horrible.
And I never, ever, ever joke about someone killing or trying to kill the president of the United States. Any president. Ever. We’ve had far too much of that in our history already.
So when someone puts up a Facebook page and asks, “Should Obama be killed?” — I’m all for the Secret Service paying a visit, even if it is just a kid.
And when a smirking Second Amendment absolutist shows up at a presidential speech with an assault rifle, I don’t understand why someone in sunglasses and an earpiece doesn’t immediately climb right up in that nut job’s face: “Get out of here! Now! No guns around the president!”
None of this has anything to do with party or politics. It has everything to do with common sense and sanity.
I bring all this up because, suddenly, there’s some very scary stuff being said out there. Some of it is supposed to be funny. I’m not laughing, and you shouldn’t be either. Some of it is just plain creepy, obsessive and mean.
It’s not about this or that policy. It plays to the ugliest prejudices. It’s tinged in violence. It challenges Barack Obama’s very legitimacy.
There was a piece the other day on NewsMax.com promoting the idea of a military coup.
That’s the kind of craziness I’m talking about.
I’m not saying all of it is racial. Some surely is. But former President Jimmy Carter reached too far in pairing Obama hatred with race.
There are many reasons to have differing views on health care. But no sane person takes polls about assassinating a president. No responsible analyst urges military coups. Some of this still hot-blooded rhetoric really does need to dampen down.
It’s time to remember that words have consequences. Inciting violence is not the precise equivalent of committing it. But it bloodies the hands just the same.
E-mail ellis@henican.com. Follow him at twitter.com/henican.
Tags: Ellis Henican, politics, President Barack Obama, Facebook
Wednesday September 16, 2009 3:54 PM By Ya-Roo Yang
Chef Julian Medina of Yerba Buena Perry uses both Twitter and Facebook. (Ryan Thatcher)
We all know Facebook is great for connecting with long lost friends, but what about connecting with your favorite restaurants?
More and more restaurants are reaching out to their customers with social networking sites such as Facebook (with 250 million active users, half of whom log on everyday) and Twitter (six million registered users).
Mobile food vendors like Calexico Carne Asada (@calexicocart) and Treats Truck (@thetreatstruck) tweet their locations daily.
Fans of Yerba Buena Restaurant in the East Village could follow the opening progress of its Perry Street offshoot, from menu edits to estimated opening date and invites to opening nights.
Those who “faned” Telepan Restaurant were the first to find out when Beet Pierogie came back on the menu. Klee Brasserie in Chelsea updates its Facebook page several times a day with postings and pictures that inform its friends of the dinner special.
“It’s a great opportunity to reach directly to customers or to media or even to investors because everyone is on Facebook,” said Kate Telfeyan, a restaurant PR manager at Steven Hall Public Relations. “And, it’s also a great way to develop your brand.”
Gail Schoenberg of Gail PR agreed: “Restaurants have to be smarter when marketing their brand. Technology is a great way to do this.”
Cary Rosner, founder of ULode, a software company that helps small businesses manage their social networking presence, offers a more compelling reason for the increasing presence of restaurants on social networking sites — it’s free. “Even if you decide to hire an expert to do this for you,” continued Rosner. “It will be far less money to do this, and more effective than putting money into an advertisement.”
But not all media experts agree. Of the five top-rated restaurants on Zagat.com, only two have Facebook pages and none are on Twitter.
One reason may be that the mature customer base of traditional fine dining restaurants prefers a more personal level of service than the younger DIY social networking crowd. “You still have to know who your customer is,” said Magdalena Spirydowicz of MST Creative Group. “If your customers are not using social networking…. it’s not an effective use of your time.”
Chikalicious, a dessert bar in the East Village is not on Facebook or Twitter. Don Tillman, who runs the place with his wife Chika said they simply don’t have the time and resources to maintain a social networking page, although they are looking into setting one up. However, judging from the long lines outside the eatery, business does not seemed to be hurt.
One upside for restaurants that use social networking is that it enables fans and followers to post comments, bringing the diners that much closer.
But before you complain about last week’s overcooked fish or under-grilled meat on the restaurant’s Facebook wall, remember that the page is still closely monitored by administrators. “We can remove anything that is disparaging or negative,” said Telfeyan. “Or, if it’s legitimate, we’ll talk to the restaurant about it and get them to work it out.”
“This is the future of doing business,” Schoenberg said.
Five Reasons to be a Restaurant’s Facebook/Twitter Friend
1. Bargains and deals: If a restaurant is running a deal on a limited basis, Facebook fans or Twitter followers will be the first to know. Example: Tonight and tomorrow night, in honor of Fashion Week’s end, Boqueria’s two locations are offering a complimentary glass of Cava to all diners who mention Twitter.
2. Off-the-menu items: Check out pages like the one Fatty Crab (2170 Broadway. NYC) maintains, and you may find cured cuttlefish that is not on the menu.
3. Special events: Followers of Allegretti’s (46 W. 22nd St. NYC) twitter page and fans of Bar Buloud’s (1900 Broadway, NYC) Facebook page can learn all about the wine events that take place at these restaurants.
4. Dinner and drink specials: Fans of klee Brasserie’s (200 9th Ave. NYC) Facebook page will never have to ask the waiter to repeat himself or herself.
5. All other strange stories: The strange case of the missing goat that appeared on the Cabrito’s (50 Carmine St., NYC) Facebook page may not enhance your dining experience, but it certainly makes for good dinner conversation.
Who’s the Fairest of them all?
Can’t decide where to eat for dinner? Users of Citysearch may notice the recent sprawling, more encompassing new format.
The site not only allows potential diners to view the menu, make reservations and share the page with friends, it will even let them email the business and link it up to social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace. iPhone user? Yes, there’s an app for that.
Citysearch believes it gives the potential diners a more balanced perspective as each restaurant page offers three separate views: The Owner’s, The Critic’s and the User’s. The sets the site apart from others like Yelp, which only offers the User’s reviews; and Facebook pages, which are set up by the owners and publicists; as well as traditional news and magazine sites, which only give the Critic’s opinion.
But, a recent phone interview with Kara Nortman, Senior Vice President of Publishing on Citysearch revealed that a restaurant’s support and privilege is based on the level of advertising dollars it put in.
Citysearch will do everything from helping business owners craft their views to allowing them to get back to the users. Is that more balanced than a site that offers just the User’s or Critic’s review or the Restaurant’s view? You decide.
Tags: Twitter, Facebook
Thursday June 18, 2009 9:11 PM By Emily Ngo
Photo credit: Urbanite
Supporters of Iran’s opposition movement rally in Union Square late Wednesday.
By Emily Ngo
Mirroring a movement that has mobilized hundreds of thousands of protesters halfway across the world in Tehran, Iran, New Yorkers are taking to the streets and social networking sites to lend their support.
Facebook and Twitter — where photos are swapped, protests organized and news updates shared — have given supporters a viral stake in Iran’s disputed presidential elections.
“We live in a globalized world,” said Saeed Rahimi, 33, of TriBeCa. “They’ve touched our hearts via new media, and we want to show them that we’re here for them.”
The Iranian government has been largely unsuccessful in quashing the use of Facebook, Twitter and the like, which New Yorkers used to organize at a Union Square protest late Wednesday. Many of the roughly 600 attendees wore green ribbons as headbands and carried signs denouncing violence in Iran.
Hundreds are expected at a similar protest set for 2 p.m. Saturday at the United Nations headquarters. Tech-savvy supporters also are organizing a Global Protest Day at 10 a.m. on Saturday.“New media is really important because we are able to get internal reports from abroad,” said Sahar Vahidi, 22, who designed the fliers for the rally and follows about 10 Iranian students on Twitter. “Things we really have no way of seeing through own eyes.”
Web sites, such as WhereIsMyVote.org and Twitter applications such as one that turns members’ photos green (the color of reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi’s campaign) are further uniting dissidents. Tweets under the IranElection tag, which rocketed past the 221,000-per-hour mark on Wednesday, averaged 4,000 per hour on Thursday.
“There is no question that the use of cell phones and the Internet … has ushered in a new era of global ‘people’s reporting,’ ” said Frederick Shiels, a foreign policy expert at Mercy College. “Blocking attempts [by the Iranian government] have been “too little, too late.”
In Union Square, some protesters argued that both Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the apparent winner of the June 12 election, and runner-up Mir Hossein Mousavi are corrupt.
“It’s a double-edged sword and both edges are going to stab them in the back,” said Beheshteh Farshneshani, 23, an Upper East Sider who wore a version of the Iranian flag as a dress.
The rallies are meant to grab the attention of the all-powerful supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, and the Guardian Council, Farshneshani said.
“We’re here for change,” said Amir Haven, 29, of the West Village. “We need democracy instead of being preached to by a supreme leader who rules the country.”
Tags: iran, protest, union square, twitter, facebook, politics, international, manhattan
Tuesday June 16, 2009 1:39 PM By Sean Joseph
When an American mom put a picture of her family on Facebook, the last place she expected to see it was on an advertisement for a high-end grocery store in the Czech Republic.
Tags: viral video, television, czech republic, facebook, advertising
Tuesday May 19, 2009 8:55 PM By Garett Sloane
Photo credit: Urbanite
Bulletproof Messenger has the most investors — 1,171 “believers” — on the crowd funding site SellaBand.
By Ryan Bonner
Special to amNewYork
Mr. Ozwald, aka Kyle Jekielek, tried to build a fan base for his music the old-fashioned way: selling CDs on city streets.
Now, he’s learned the art of online promotion. Ozwald, as he likes to be called, is trying to make it big using the route that so many new artists are trudging, generating fans through social network sites, giving away music free online and more recently using Twitter.
If Ozwald, 26, gives away his music, then maybe his next show downtown is that much more popular.
“You pay attention to your fan base,” Ozwald said. “People aren’t going to pay for music, but they may pay 10 or 20 bucks to see a show. It’s important to give yourself as many avenues as possible to expose yourself to more people.”Another emerging revenue generator for musicians is SellaBand, which facilitates crowd funding — harnessing groups of people who invest small amounts of money to finance a venture. In the case of music, investors finance albums and get a piece of the profits. This way they’re also incentivized to blog, tweet and hawk the group online.
Bulletproof Messenger, a Long Island-based rock band, rounded up the most investors — 1,171 “believers” — on SellaBand.
“We knew we had a good first album so we weren’t surprised when people put their money where their mouth was,” said Matt Litwin, the DJ and programmer of Bulletproof.
When the band hit the target $50,000, it hit the studio and finished recording its latest album, “Arm Yourself,” in January.
Other striving artists, who see the shift in the industry, recognize that technology may have taken away some avenues to riches, but it has opened others.
Anamanaguchi, a city-based electronic band comprised of four college buddies, tweets, leaks its music online and fully embraces the Internet model of success.
“As new tools come up, we try to get involved in as many ways as possible,” said the band’s guitarist, Peter Berkman, 20. “We grew up with all of this technology.”
Tags: twitter, crowd funding, changing music industry, free music, facebook, social networking bands, bulletproof messenger, anamanaguchi, mr. ozwald, sellaband, media, entertainment, economy, technology
Tuesday April 7, 2009 2:04 PM By Heather Haddon
Photo credit: Urbanite
The Working Families Party has sponsored these ads on Facebook.
By Heather Haddon
Opposing the MTA fare hike has gone viral.
In recent days, several Facebook groups have popped up to harness the angst of the Internet set against the fare increase and service cuts.
The largest, “1,000,000 People Against the NYC MTA Fare Hike,” grew from 1,000 members to nearly 60,000 in a week.
“That is definitely quick growth,” said Matt Hicks, a Facebook spokesman.
The groups started simply, with light conversations among friends segueing into angry talk about the fare hike. Riders unaccustomed to activism turned to Facebook for their outlet.
“We both read all the (service cuts) and got really pissed off,” said Mellisa Pegus, 32, of Crown Heights, who formed the “Boycott the MTA” group with her co-worker.The groups have taken a non-liner approach to their work off-line. Some users called for a mass transit boycott Wednesday, but not many have signed up for it Pegus plans to stage a boycott on June 1, when the fare increase will roll out if Albany does not deliver new MTA funding.
“It’s not OK to pay over $103 a month for a MetroCard,” said Lisa Wildenberger, 39, a teacher who co-founded the MTA Fare Hike group, which is encouraging members to call lawmakers.
The MTA is implementing a fare hike of at least 23 percent to plug its more than $1.2 billion deficit. Yesterday, the MTA announced its schedule for service cuts, which begin with the elimination of 21 bus routes on June 28.
Lawmakers left for the holiday recess yesterday without any movement on a bailout package.
“Implementing these measures is the last thing the MTA wants to do,” said MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz.
As the fare hike approaches, established advocacy groups have also started recruiting through social networking sites.
The Working Families Party purchased millions of Facebook ads last week to get users to call Albany. Keep New York Moving, a coalition of progressive groups, is collecting pictures of people’s commutes to send to lawmakers through a Flickr site.
Lawmakers who have opposed the new MTA funding said they welcomed feedback from constituents, but maintain they are acting in riders’ best interests.
“I am a person who does not bend under pressure,” said State Sen. Ruben Diaz (D-Bronx), who is a Facebook member. “We have the best plan for the commuters.”
Tags: facebook, fare hike, mta, economy, subway
Tuesday March 31, 2009 9:59 AM By Sean Joseph
What if someone you barely know, and don’t even like, showed up at your door, poked you, asked you to be friends, wrote obnoxious comments on your wall and showed embarrassing pictures of you to the rest of your friends? Would you call it “social networking” then?
Tags: viral video, television, facebook, technology
