Yelp if I’m Bothering You
I am trying to be positive and find a reason this new app “Peeple” should exist. After all, I’m hardly the only person writing about this and it’s hardly original to simply trash it. Their messaging is infused with a relentless positivity, but the immediate assumption across the Internet was that an app used to rate people (rather than services or companies) would be used for negativity, bullying and all sorts of harassment. Why would anyone think that?
The real terrifying thing might be that a headline calling this app “terrifying” actually passed muster in The Washington Post. A new era, indeed. I’m silently judging everything involved in this story.
Oh, and there’s already an app named “Peeple.” I’m beginning to think this is actually an Onion story. It’s almost too good.
Meanwhile, Slate thinks the real problem won’t be the negativity, but “empty positivity,” in a nice attempt at- empty positivity(?). Ok, I’ll stop trying to defend it.
And if I complain about negative comments on Peeple, will there be a Streisand effect? I now have a headache.
But wait a minute – Snopes is casting doubt on the actual launch of the app, based on the lack of any real information.
UPDATE: Since I took my sweet-flippin’ time writing and pressing publish on this post, the below Tweet from one of the (new)Peeple founders seems to have happened. Deleting negative comments about an app that is designed to host negative (and positive) comments about real people? I am more than ever convinced that this is performance art and not an actual app intended for release. I’m sure there will be more, and better chronicled elsewhere. I’m getting some popcorn.
Founder of #Peeple, an app designed to collect unsolicited feedback doesn't appear to like unsolicited feedback. pic.twitter.com/MmYZW3oHw4
— Sharon O'Dea (@sharonodea) October 1, 2015
Facebook Privacy/Facebook Premium/ Facebook Underwear
I can’t even, as the kids say. First, we need to be mad at people for being naive about the reappearance of the ineffective Facebook “I declare my privacy to be sacrosanct” hoax, then we’re supposed to roll our eyes at people posting rants about the people telling off everyone who posts complaints about their naive friends. Then we’re supposed to laugh at parody versions, like the one that says Facebook will steal your underwear or something- I guess I should like the parodies; one friend even was amazed I didn’t write one. I can’t, the whole thing makes me want to take a nap, mostly because the hoax passed with much less fanfare many months ago.
No. Dear God, No
Facebook is starting to let users make video profile photos. I’m not prone to seizures, but this sounds like something I cannot get into. I’ll be happy to see any creative uses, but I’ll be just as happy to see the fun police who shut down Twitter’s animated gif profiles in 2012 to get back to work.
Check Your Ego at the Draft:
I’m not going to link to a post and call anyone out, as I’m not interested in shaming anyone (who won’t care anyway) nor in feeding egos. It’s no news that social media posts are very self reverential–oops, I mean referential–and often that’s necessary to bring a personal point of view, but I have seen a spate of posts recently that give great points, but could use some editing. I think perhaps a great editorial job for bloggers could be an “ego eraser.” Would that pay? I’m going to keep it passive-aggressive here because sometimes that’s how it should be.
Now I need to re-read my own writing to see how awful I am on this count.
Twitter removing share counts from sharing buttons?
Many marketers, publishers and egotists love seeing share counts for posts. Heck, I have them on my sharing buttons. I like to know what kind of reaction my posts are getting. So what should we make of the news that Twitter is looking to remove access to counts from its API? How inconvenient is this (a lot, to a few)?
What else does it mean? Control, most likely. Twitter has a recent history of restricting and regulating what third-party apps does with its content and data (see search result below), so this is not out of character. It would be a shame if this means losing Twitter counts to sit alongside numbers of Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Plus shares, but I am also curious to know what they are doing if they are going to withhold this particular piece of information.
Man, that was more negative than positive this week. I’m going out to enjoy the sunshine.