New Lady Gaga: Alejandro!

The new Lady Gaga video is pretty spectacular (filmically). It has a little Nine, meets Dr. Zhivago, some Liza Minnelli movements with a bit of a Funny Face Audrey Hepburn-esque feel woven into some scenes, and then a little Janet Jackson (and a little Bedtime Stories and La Isla Bonita...but I don't want to associate her too much with Madonna). It wraps back up with the Nine type imagery, only this time inserting some Brothers Quay at the very end with the puppetry...overall, I would say that I loved it but I know it's not everyone's cup of tea...

Newsies go Gaga!

FB: The Trendy Next Best Bookend?

First let me start with the following video, which is one of my favorite Facebook videos:
I’ve been a member of Facebook since August or September of 2004. I will never forget the day the girl with whom I was interning at my first film-related internship introduced me to Facebook. She went to Princeton and, at the time, Facebook was only for students at Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Duke, & maybe even a few other Ivy Leagues. By the end of the summer, my alma mater Johns Hopkins was officially on. I don’t even remember the girl’s name or the names of the people for whom I was interning. Facebook, on the other hand, hasn’t left my thought process since. Even though I have officially deactivated my account 3 times (and clearly I'm not the only one), it was never out of hatred so much as it was out of confusion about where my relationship with FB was going. So, where is it going? Not sure. But, let’s see where we think Facebook itself might be going in the next couple of years…

Personally, I think Facebook will be around but boring. I may be biased since I have been using Facebook for nearly 6 years. It seems to me, however, that you get to a point where being big goes against the appeal of being in a social circle. This applies mainly to real life. People, by nature, associate to clans and groups. The bigger the group, the more invisible you become. Exclusivity, on the other hand, makes organizations desirable. Clearly I’m not talking about politics. But, lets think about private clubs like Boujis (night club in London), Soho House (hotel, restaurant and meeting place in London, New York and LA), The Harvard Club (university club), Puerta de Hierro (golf and weekend club in Madrid) or A Small World (online social network). The similarity amongst them is their exclusivity and the difficulty to become a member of each; you either have to be invited, recommended or you have to pay your way in. And this doesn’t only apply to the social world. Think about the Council on Foreign Relations or even joining the board of a company or a school. Just because most of these examples are not online does not mean that the principle changes: people like to be connected to the people to whom they want to be connected. As soon as the pool becomes diluted, they look for fresh land where they can dig a hole and fill their new pond. So, when it comes to Facebook it’s fun to joke around about having your entire family on their and being able to be connected to over 1000 people but its rare to find a joke that is eternally funny (barring the aristocrats joke, I guess). Clearly this first intuition on the future of Facebook is based on observation and I have no psychological research to back it up. But, I can tell you one thing: the success of these sites are often centered around how well they click with tweens and the 20 year olds of the world. As I understand it, the new cool thing in the States is My Yearbook. While one site may not effect the giant that is Facebook, the quick rise in popularity definitely implies that people are slowly getting distracted by other options which may effect the role of Facebook in the future.

That said, the extreme openness of the network has proven to be beneficial to mass communication strategies that will likely be cloned in the near future. Just looking at the 2008 Presidential election in the USA serves as proof enough of the power of Facebook to convey information on a grandiose level. As the CNN article specifies, the election was won not only because of face time but also because of the candidates ability to seem engaged with the population and one way in which they did this was through Facebook. This wasn’t the first time Facebook, or any other social network, was used for political or social campaigning. So, while Facebook may not allow individuals to be relevant socially because of the lack of exclusivity, it does become a powerful tool when it comes to power in numbers. If anything, the feeling of connectedness and social acceptance is a very powerful tool which, when implemented correctly, can give one great power and attract support. It’s 2010, so we have another election in the states coming up in 2 years. Perfect timing! I think they will use Facebook again (and any other online social network source) and I think it will be still be effective but it will also be a perfect marker to use when comparing the future with the present.

A lot of people have talked about privacy and Facebook. I’m not going to talk about it because it seems silly to reiterate what everyone has said (not to mention that I’ve discussed security in my other entries) but this does seem like an interesting interview with Mark Zuckerberg at D8 which I thought everyone might enjoy!

Finally, I want to talk about Facebook: The Movie. It’s actually called The Social Network and will star Justin Timberlake, Rachida Jones, and Jesse Eisenberg. This is a $50 million movie with Scott Rudin, Trigger Street and Michael De Luca Productions producing. So, this is no joke. And Columbia is distributing and already has deals in Finland, France and Argentina. It is set to be released in October of this year. This seems pretty important to discuss. Not because it will reveal something about the life of Facebook to come so much as the weight that one site has managed to gain in the world as well as the legacy it will inevitably leave behind (assuming, at some point, Facebook is not Facebook as we know it). So, will Facebook be around in 2 years? Well, definitely on DVD, or on OnDemand or GoogleTV or something. And it will probably even still be online…but there’s no guarantee that I’ll still be on it….

Hello World...!

EPIC 2015

Crazy stuff...

My Name is Karina, and I'm A Googler

(After 2 posts for our Info Systems class in which I’ve clearly stated my positioning as a nincompoop when it comes to technology and all things techy, I think it’s safe to move forward without any more hedging and with the faith that anyone reading this knows I am not a technological genius. What I’m trying to say is that I’m not going to excuse my knowledge any more because it’s starting to sound a bit ridiculous.  On that note, just remember that this is all new to me so if I say something that sounds obvious to you, remember that it took the parting of the red sea and the opening up of the sky for me to figure out what was going on.)

So, Google.  Let’s swan dive right in to this evolving simplicity.  Back in 2004 when Google first filed as an IPO, they took on their motto, “Don’t Be Evil” and claimed that their goal was to “develop services that significantly improve the lives of as many people as possible.”  That is quite a hefty goal.  I think God may have even said something along those lines.  Well, mine did at some point somewhere in the Bible and I know after all my years of catechism I still have no clue where in there it is.  So, even if that motto no longer exists, lets see if we can analyze 3 major issues with Google that either helped or hindered it’s ability to achieve it’s goal.  I’m going to focus on privacy, advertisement and future projects.

Privacy is a touchy subject and a big one these days.  One of the main issues that hold people back from going fully online is privacy. We see this everywhere from paying bills online, to online shopping, to using Facebook to Foursquare to Buzz.  My mother, for example, refuses to pay her bills online because she is afraid of identity theft.  As I understand it, however, most identity crimes initiate from paper-based sources and not online hackers.  So, if that says anything, it’s that doing things online may be safer than the old fashioned way (kind of like keeping money in a bank is safer than keeping it under your mattress…another concept that some used to have trouble accepting).  So, how did Google risk losing our trust through loss of Privacy.  Turns out, when Google launched Buzz, their application created to compete with Twitter, they didn’t quite catch the privacy flaw.  Essentially, the people you follow and those who follow you were able to access each others profiles. On top of that, the Buzz mobile application was publishing address and telephone information.  So, Google is clearly working on the issue, but maybe not fast enough.  In situations like these, it’s hard to regain the trust of the consumer.  Google will still be used by most of these consumers, but Buzz will be long gone from the lexicon.  So, based on Issue #1, I don’t really have much of an opinion on Google. We all make mistakes and they were bound to come across some sooner or later. Let’s see how they clean up after that one.  

Advertisement is another major point for the internet and Google definitely shines here.  Unlike any other site, Google has mastered how to advertise online in a way in which they can profit. The are 3 main ad programs: AdWords, AdSense, and AdMob.   AdWords are the ads that pop up on the side panel when you do a search on google.  They are generally related to the search you are initiating.  The company advertising on Google pays according to how many times their ad is clicked.  Pretty much anyone can advertise there and the order upon which you are placed is according to how much you are willing to pay per click.  AdSense, on the other hand, is when an organization or individual allows Google to advertise on their site.  So, for example, I run AdSense on this blog. Every time someone clicks on the ads, Google gets money and I get a miniscule percentage. Finally, AdMob, a mobile advertising application.  Google recently finished the $750 Million deal (much to Apple’s chagrin) which will enable them to expand into the world of advertising in the smart phone arena and battle it out, head to head, against Apple (who recently bought Quattro when Google outbid them for AdMob).  The stakes will be high here, and it will be interesting to see how users respond to these ads.  Thus far, the ads are being positioned in a positive way, insinuating that people are annoyed they can’t see the ad and the site or the application they were using and this will help solve that problem.  Personally, the issue has never been running two programs at once…so much as just never having to receive the 2^nd one. I understand the benefit of ads, however, so I’m interested to see where this will take us.  Either way, Google does win on this end. 

When it comes to innovation, Google is always coming up with new programs and applications.  A recent one which has been commented on in nearly every blog is Chrome (which is a speedy home base, application running, life enhancing web browser).  What I found most fascinating, however is how they are investing their own money on the trading floors.  As Douglas MacMillan put it, “The bottom line: Google built a state-of-the-art cash-management system to improve returns. It may use that money on future deals.”  OK, so not quite Gordon “Google” Gecko in the Greed is Good sense, and they aren’t sitting on a pile of apple cash like Jobs does, but they are playing it somewhat safe in a risky environment to make sure that the future allows for more innovation.  That, in and of itself, seemed like the core of innovation and like a promising jump off point for a company I would now totally and 100% invest in.

Fast Company did a nice financial breakdown in which they compared Google to Apple and Amazon.  Based only on this, I would say that it would be smart not to allow your eyes to wander too far from Google.  On top of that, on a more personal level, I use Google for GMail, GChat, Google maps, Google blogger, Google reader, Google sites, Google calendar, Google books, Google translate, and probably more than I even realize.  I feel that these “issues” or just subject matters related to Google are not enough to hinder me from investing in the company. If anything, they draw me to the company more as they serve as proof of its constant attention towards change and innovation and improvement for the user. They help me feel connected and like I have so much more to learn and explore.  I’m still a fan. I can’t help it!

Animating a Blockbuster: Toy Story 3!

Honestly, I haven't really been a huge Toy Story follower but this one has definitely caught my attention...

Animating a Blockbuster: How Pixar Built Toy Story 3






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