Movie Hawk » Web

On Notice: Facebook Fan Pages

Jeff Martin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:00:19 +0000

It’s becoming an increasingly common occurrence: I’ll log into Facebook, scan my news feed, and see that a number of my friends have become fans of pages like “I bet the Phillies can get 1,000,000 fans before the Mets.” And I think to myself: if you become a fan of this page, are you really becoming a fan of the Phillies, or just of this stupid contest? After all, the Phils have their own official fan page, and the contest is just stealing potential fans from the actual organization. Wouldn’t it then be harder for the Phillies to get a million fans? Now, I understand the levity behind trying to get a pickle more fans than Nickelback, but the “more fans than X” meme has gotten out of hand. Meanwhile, some of my other friends are becoming fans of questionable marketing schemes that offer gift cards in exchange for spamming one’s friend list. Consider yourself on notice, Facebook. I don’t know what will take your place, but you’re going the way of MySpace with your obnoxious spam and fringe groups. Let’s try to get a little moderation going.

On Notice: The Internet

Jeff Martin — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 03:22:44 +0000

Note: I spent the last few days in Syracuse, N.Y., with only a little access to Internet. These are the posts that were meant to run on the days in the timestamps.

The more I think about it, the more I realize the likelihood that my recent absence from blogging is due in part to the negative feedback one can expect when writing for the Web. Of course, I speak not of the readers of Movie Hawk; with the exception of a few tiffs here and there, my nose is relatively clean, and my readers are overwhelmingly supportive. I think instead of the war between fanboy factions: Mac vs. Windows, Marvel vs. D.C., Studio 60 vs. …itself. Too often, especially on blogs, people go out of their way to write inappropriately negative propaganda against an opponent with little recourse. Yes, I understand that I’m not breaking new ground here, but I feel the need to point it out. If you don’t like blog posts about Apple products (certain Gizmodo readers), don’t read them. If Veronica Mars isn’t your cup of tea (some AICN folks), don’t waste your time trashing it in the talkback. Leave those spaces to those of us who want to use it to spread more information. Believe me, if you pull back for a second instead of throwing your negative hat into the ring, it’ll save us all a lot of money in future blood pressure medication.

Pluses and Minuses

Jeff Martin — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 04:10:50 +0000

As I continue to consider what new blogs to add to my blogroll, I bid a fond adieu to a few former favorites; namely, “It Moves Me!” Bill is a good friend of mine, and he’s a hell of a writer, but he hasn’t posted in more than a year. If Avington one day goes back to writing online, I’ll be one of the first to welcome him back with open arms.

Keep Sharp

Jeff Martin — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 20:32:35 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve updated my blogroll, and while I consider what to remove, I offer up one new addition: Tack Sharp, the new blog from uber-photographer and Movie Hawk sibling Kelly Anne. As TS grows, it will no doubt be a useful photography resource, something that will be extremely useful as I try to become a better casual photographer. Not to mention a good place to see some neat photos.

Home Improvement (Sort Of)

Jeff Martin — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:24:04 +0000

As someone who is part of a team working to reimagine an outdated Web site, I’ve grown an eye for practical, eye-catching web design. Throughout the years, philly.com, “the region’s homepage,” has sported a host of terrible design iterations. And while this week’s most recent graphics update is far from award-winning, it’s a marked improvement over anything the site has done to date.

The content is still crippled by too many ads – and it’s still a shame that the Inquirer has become more of a wire service aggregate than an original paper – but the page’s use of tabs has separated the news into user-friendly, easy-to-digest bits of similar information. The new catchphrase, “anything and everything Philly,” still seems to overreach itself, especially in the face of sites like goPhila.com, but it’s a start.

Open Book

Jeff Martin — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:21:47 +0000

It wasn’t too long ago that Facebook was the place to go when you were tired of the noisy, ad-laden social networking found elsewhere on the web, most notably the platform’s biggest competitor, MySpace. Facebook was meant to be…well, a facebook—a place where students from a college could interact with and get to know one another. But in the age of venture capitalism and billion-dollar site acquisitions, it was only a matter of time before Facebook turned itself into a moneymaking juggernaut, disregarding the very intentions under which the site was first created.

I speak not of the fact that Facebook opened its doors to all users of the Internet in September 2006. That was a necessary step in drawing users away from MySpace. The beginning of Facebook’s descent into obnoxiousness began this past May, when the site opened itself up to developers interested in creating applications for the site. Applied with some sort of quality control, this step could have been a useful evolution to Facebook. But, browsing through the 47 pages of applications, it becomes obvious that there’s no lighthouse keeper to direct these applications into the port.

There are at least three applications that enhance your ability to “poke” someone – SuperPoke, Poke Pro, and X Me. Want to share more of you musical taste than just writing your favorite bands into your profile? There are 72 applications that either play music on your profile, track the songs you listen to on iTunes, or alert you to concerts in your area featuring your favorite groups. There are dozens of applications that assign an emoticon to your mood. If you need to do something on Facebook, rest assured that there are a vast number of different options to accomplish it.

Opening Facebook up for more customization isn’t a bad thing, but the unsupervised creation of new applications only presents the chance that profiles will become littered with useless garbage. Next up: organizations and phony porn stars are creating profiles and spamming your inbox. I can’t wait.

[/rant]