Month: March 2009

So I’m about three weeks late on this one, but anyway I just stumbled across this blog post explaining Facebook’s philosophy behind their latest redesign.

When I first saw it I thought that the philosophy behind the redesign was “let’s try and make Facebook look as much like Twitter as possible and maybe all the people going on and on about Twitter will come back and start talking about us again…” but for some reason Zuckerberg doesn’t mention this at all.

He does say…

In 2007, we popularized the term Social Graph to describe how Facebook maps out people’s connections.

Jeez. Yeah, I remember 2007. You couldn’t move without someone talking about the Social Graph. Social Graph this. Social Graph that. It was everywhere. By December I was sick of hearing about the Social Graph, frankly.

But mostly he talks about how they’ve made Facebook as much like Twitter as possible. In fact, why not read through the whole thing but in your head add “Just Like Twitter!” to the end of every sentence:

Starting today, we are announcing new profiles for public figures and organizations. Just like Twitter! Just as you connect with friends on Facebook, you can now connect and communicate with celebrities, musicians, politicians and organizations. Just like Twitter! These folks will now be able to share status updates, videos, photos or anything else they want, in the same way your friends can already. Just like Twitter! You’ll be able to keep up with all of their activity in your News Feed. Just like Twitter! This means that you can find out that Oprah is reading a book backstage before a show, CNN posted a breaking story or U2 is working on a new song, just as you would see that your friend uploaded new photos from her trip to Europe. Just like Twitter!

We’re also going to make some changes to the home page. The new home page will let you see everything that’s shared by your friends and connections as it happens. Just like Twitter!

And so on. It’s a fun game for all the family.

Sorry Zuckerberg, you’ll just have to face up to the fact that you’re no longer the hottest property on the web. I mean, do you have Stephen Fry? Can I use your social networking service to shout messages in his direction? No? Sorry. Not interested, and no amount of rearranging the deckchairs is going to change things. But don’t worry, it’ll happen to Twitter too, eventually.

I’m intrigued by the messages from “Craig” that have been doing the rounds amongst the Melbourne peeps I’m following on Twitter. Apparently these have been “found” taped up to lampposts and mailboxes in Windsor, which is a suburb of Melbourne and also happens to be the place where I get off the train most mornings on my way to work.

You can see the full set here: http://users.tpg.com.au/morepats/Craig/

And also here and here and here (although the Channel 7 Sunrise peeps incorrectly claim that they are from a Windsor in New South Wales…)

I haven’t seen any myself (if they even really exist and aren’t just put up, photographed by whoever is responsible, and taken down that is…) but I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled from now on.

Perhaps it’s someone’s art project, or more likely–like everything on teh internets these days–some kind of viral marketing (suspiciously, although this has popped up in several corners of the net, it’s the same photos each time), but if it is a viral, what’s it for?

I’d like to think it really is some crazy guy with a printer and plenty of time on his hands, but I’m prepared to be disappointed when it turns out, like the Guerilla Gardeners who did this to St Kilda, to be just some advert for a shabby tv show…

Anyone?

Update (12th March): Apparently someone called “Chris” has been posting very similar notes in NYC. Which came first? (Chris claims it’s him). What is this all about? Just how disappointed am I going to be when I find out what this is designed to sell? Should I just be less cynical and enjoy the joke?

Answers on a piece of A4 paper taped to a lamppost please…