Zuckerberg Reveals New Facebook Features

On October 6th, 2010, Mark Zuckerberg and company revealed from within the Facebook Headquarters – a place that resembles my high school cafeteria – three major renovations to the Facebook experience.

First, in order to downplay his portrayal as a self-absorbed monster in The Social Network, which is currently the number one movie in America, the crafty billionaire planted the idea in listeners heads that Facebook now cares about user-privacy and user-control. To achieve this goal, Zuck told the audience that Facebook will finally give a user the chance to “Download Your Information.”

When using the “Download Your Information” feature, a user can navigate through the Application Settings section of Facebook, locate a feature called “Download Your Information,” and request a downloadable ZIP file to store on his or her personal machine. The ZIP file will contain every piece of data a user has ever posted to Facebook, encompassing such things as photos, messages, wall posts, friend lists, profile information, and anything else imaginable.

What I truly hope happens with the “Download Your Information” feature is similar to that of an alcoholic confronting an overflowing trashcan of wine bottles and succumbing to the reality of his or her addiction. I hope that when a Facebook user takes advantage of this feature, he or she examines this ZIP file for what it really is: evidence of a problem. Remember: The larger the ZIP file, the greater the obsession.

The second announcement Zuckerberg mentioned in his trio of transformations is one that allows a user to control the information sent to third-party websites through Applications. The new “Application Dashboard” feature gives a user the ability to view a command-center filled with Application data that displays what information is being transferred to external websites and when the last time an external website acquired personal information.

Although at first glance the “Application Dashboard” seems like an altruistic move by the former privacy monger, Zuck has made locating the Dashboard quite difficult. Instead of accessible through the sensible “Application Settings” section of the “Account” tab, the Dashboard can be found tucked-away in the bottom left corner of the “Privacy Settings” screen, displaying in 8.5 font-size: Edit your settings. I had to pull out my monocle for this one.

Last but not least, the 35th richest person in America unveiled a new “Groups” feature – not to be confused with the groups we all joined five years ago – that lets users create a collective Facebook wall that only specific users defined within a Group can access. Also, Group members, when online, can interact with one another in a real-time group chat setting.

Zuckerberg and friends sold the Groups feature by trying to convince viewers that we need to filter out the statuses and updates from acquaintances – the Facebook friends that we do not seem to care about – and create a more personalized way to interact with our “real-life” friends by creating a “Group.”

While I tend to agree that there is a need to eliminate some of my “friends” status updates, especially the ones that contain a picture of an eight-month pregnant belly, I think that the Groups feature is diverting from Zuckerberg’s vision of a more “open and connected” world.

How are we supposed to become open and connected when we are invited to close off our friends? And will we actually be more connected if we end up using the Groups feature, or will this submit us deeper into to the virtual world we have become so accustomed to?

I fear that eventually – without realizing it – people will be sucked into this virtual community we call Facebook, if we are not already. I believe, and I hope that I am wrong, that people are using Facebook more and more as an end and not as a means to an end.

Think about it. When is the last time you heard a Facebook friend’s voice rather than read his or her words on your wall? When is the last time you interacted with your family member by observing his or her body language and facial expressions rather than looking at his or her static pictures and funny emoticons?

What we now consider a real-life conversation is slowly shifting from tones to text. From sound to silence. And from face to Facebook.

Article first published as Zuckerberg Reveals New Facebook Features on Technorati.

Will Facebook Places end up MIA?

Facebook doesn’t like to be outdone, so it’s about time founder Mark Zuckerberg introduced “Places,” a location-based application much like Gowalla and Foursquare.  Now Facebookers no longer have to divert their attention to applications like Twitter in order to tell their followers where they are every second of the day – with Places Facebook once again comes out on top of the social media ladder.

Each new application that emerges on the social media scene is usually met with scorn and pleasure in near equal parts.  The big allure of Facebook’s Places is the fact that it incorporates the same basic functions of Gowalla and Foursquare but with the greater influence of the Facebook name.  Although the emergence of sites such as Twitter and LinkedIn has jump started the growth of the social media community, Facebook continues to reign supreme in the world of social media (with an estimated following of 500 million users – and counting).  Critics of the new application will likely be skeptical of the security of posting your location online.  More and more Internet predators emerge on the scene everyday, and with teens and young adults flooding the Internet location-based networking opens doors for people to be exploited.  Mark Zuckerberg insists, however, that this new feature will only extend to people in your network, limiting the amount of information available to the general public.

After Twitter emerged on the scene Facebook incorporated the idea of tagging friends in status updates; this same tactic is now extended to the new Places application.  This sets the bar high for location-based social media, uniquely allowing friends to share information about their location.  This feature is what will draw teens and young adults to the application.  The whole point of social media is just that: to be social.  What’s the point of merely posting your location online?  It seems rather egotistical to me.  The advent of including friends in location-based social media is a natural progression in this socially-driven online world.

Facebook Places is a new breed of social media that will consume the lives of teenagers and young adults (at least for a while…).  Each new trend or application has its honeymoon period: those using it will love it, those not using it will be ridiculed and convinced to use it, and its creators will high-five each other for their creative genius until the cows come home.  Is Places the new Beanie Baby of the decade?  Maybe, but probably not.  Teenagers are a fickle breed, riddled with ADD when it comes to new technology.  Places will likely fizzle out as soon as the next big media gadget appears.

As far as marketing gurus are concerned, Facebook Places might as well be the Holy Grail of social media; with one post on Places the new place in town can become the only place in town.  Now when little Suzie goes to get pizza and updates her Facebook Places on where she is, Johnny can make his move and “conveniently” join her – bringing along a few friends, of course.  Now the previously mentioned pizza place has an onslaught of customers.  Groups of younger adults seldom travel solo, taking packs of friends with them everywhere, and Places only makes this herd mentality that much easier to maintain.

In summary, here’s my take:
Places is great for promoting events and locations within your Facebook network, but how many more applications do we really need?  At the end of the day Facebook Places will fizzle into the background, losing its momentum just as quickly as it started…but has it even started?  Asking around, few people have even heard of the application.  Is it possible that Zuckerberg has as of yet failed to create a following for his new brainchild?  Only time will tell…

This entry adapted from a review of Reggie Bradford’s article found on: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=13583

Think Deeper About Using Colors for Web Design – A Fruitful Explanation

A colorful website, as opposed to a black and white one, is usually designed to visually stimulate the senses. The use of color is also seen as a way to subtly accent the static content of a web page, and is commonly crafted to appease visitors, potentially converting them into customers.

Although a perfectly executed color scheme can do wonders for a website, a color scheme that is poorly planned can result in a drastic decrease in a visitor-to-customer conversion ratio, possibly due to an almost instinctive exit from the site.

Is there a reason for this second-nature retreat? Do does the simple use of color really affect whether we stay, or go? The answer might be closer than you think.

Ned Kock, a professor at Texas A&M International University who is well-known for his work relating the field of evolutionary psychology to how humans interact with modern-day technology, has proposed a theory that may explain why humans prefer the use of certain colors on a webpage over those of black and white.

In a paper published in 2009, titled “Information Systems Theorizing Based on Evolutionary Psychology,” Kock theorizes that the way we view, respond, and react to the colors displayed on a webpage may be linked to the behavior of our hominid ancestors.

Based on Darwin’s natural selection theory, Kock argues that humans are alive today because of the actions of our more than two million year old hominid predecessors. Kock states that at some point in our evolutionary process, hominids began to forage for brightly colored fruits because these fruits contained vitamins and minerals that helped fend off disease. The hominids that were able to locate and consume the most nutritious fruits received the nutrients needed to survive.

Kock says, using other sources for references, that the psychological trait used to locate the vibrant fruits was passed down through the interrelated genes of the remaining hominids. The trait was then acquired by the next generation of offspring, and assisted with this offspring’s – as Kock puts it – “ancient task performance,” which is the ability to forage for brightly colored fruit.

The hominids that received this trait inherited the competence to pinpoint the distinctive fruit and reap the healthful benefits in order to secure the continuity of their species. This process, over millions of years, led to the successful transfer of traits from generation to generation, and eventually reached our current stage of life.

Basically, throughout the course of evolution, our primitive requirement to locate fruit based on color – yellow for bananas, green and red for apples, and purple for grapes – is now ingrained in our subconscious. And these subconscious desires to associate bright colors with survival and nutrients could be linked to how well we perform a task associated with a webpage, or any medium of technology.

I, for one, agree with Dr. Kock’s theory of relating our past actions to our present thoughts; thus, influencing our present behavior. I truly believe that the simplest things from our past, whether they happened two million years ago or two days ago, can have the most profound influence over the way we think, act, and feel in the present.

Who knows? Maybe this theory is a minuscule explanation for why we are beginning to prefer a more color-focused web over a black-and-white newspaper. We still eat fruit, don’t we?

Article first published as Think Deeper About Using Colors on the Web – A Fruitful Explanation on Technorati.com.