Category: Facebook

Friday Five: clearing the cache edition

Cleaning out some starred items from the RSS reader:

  1. Michael Stoner wonders: Who listens to podcasts, anyway? Good question. And Stoner sort of answers.
  2. A university gets possessive. Via University Business, the Boston Globe reports on Boston University President Bob Brown’s “test-driving” of a new slogan for the campus: “Boston’s University.” It sounds like Brown has convinced Globe columnist Alex Beam, anyway. The tagline “removes two of BU’s outsized competitors — Cambridge-based Harvard and MIT — from the mix entirely. Boston College, its name notwithstanding, huddles in the shady groves of Newton. Both US News & World Report and Washington Monthly rank BU well above Northeastern University, the only other claimant for the title. So ‘Boston’s University’ it is.”
  3. Facebook vs. MySpace (video). A nice parody of those Mac vs. PC TV ads, from CNET.
  4. Paging Joseph Campbell: Tired of those Internet “trolls” who crash your forums with inane or inflammatory comments? You may as well despise the court jester! Via Boing Boing comes word that the troll is nothing more than the archetypical trickster of our mythology, who enter our online discussions with “the cracked, stoic smile of Robin Goodfellow, a Puck with the simple desire to disrupt peace itself.” If we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended.
  5. From the effective keywords department: ‘Distance learning’ breaks out. Bob Johnson discusses how “a relatively rare example of academic jargon moving out into common use.”

No time to socialize; too busy blogging about social networking

Maybe it’s just my introverted self longing for a bit more me time after a long weekend. Or maybe there really is more going on with social networking than I can wrap my head around. Whatever it is, it’s enough to make me want to unplug from the Internet and play a few hours of Minesweeper.

Here’s a sampling from around the ‘net. Check it out when you have time, but don’t forget about your offline social networking.

Facebook, Facebook everywhere. Last week, Facebook announced a new platform that throws the door wide open for developers to create their own aps in Facebook. UBrander has the scoop. Karine Joly of collegewebeditor.com sees this as a great opportunity for colleges and universities to develop their own applications — such as one to raise money from young alumni — before the entrepreneurs storm the gates. And whether entrepreneur or university, be sure to carefully read the terms and conditions of Facebook’s new offering before you rush in.

MySpace on the wane? After reading about Facebook’s new offering, UBrander surveys some graduating seniors about their use of MySpace vs. Facebook. The results may surprise you.

Facebook and the friendship curve, a discussion over at Intermedia about how social networking can help bring a sense of community to students before they enter college and when they leave as graduates. Update: In a comment on the post, Sam Jackson points to an interesting and relevant case study about how one recent high school graduate transitioned from MySpace (a high school hangout) to Facebook as she became a college student.

Finally, .think introduces me to coComment, a tool for keeping tabs on all the online conversations you’re involved in, or just reading. coComment could be useful for tracking blog conversations about your university.