Information On the Move

Twitter Popularity Higher Than Ever in 2011 [InfoGraphic]

Check out these stats & cool uses of Twitter.  This is a great infographic summarizing Twitter’s popularity and growth over the past 5 years - from SearchEngine Watch (July 2011). http://t.co/SXggc96 via @sewatch

Angry Birds - Succumbing to Temptation

Do you play it? I’ve been exposed and now I’m infected.  A friend showed it to me and had me give the game a try and now I’m hooked.  I’m busily trying to figure out which version I should play on my iPhone and who’s the original developer (I later found this information on Wikipedia- it’s Rovio Mobile)? Suggestions or thoughts?

I had no idea how popular this game is - or at least I made a conscious  effort to be ignorant about it.  I think so many people know and play Angry Birds that I’ve resisted jumping on to that bandwagon for as long as possible.  I’m not a big or frequent gamer but I do enjoy playing some games - either online or on my smartphone.

Here’s an article referencing the popularity of Angry Birds:

NY Times: Angry Birds, Flocking to Cellphones Everywhere

And here’s a great “live” video from T-Mobile (for anyone wondering what the game is about…):

Now that I’m playing it, I can see why so many people are addicted to it. It’s fun and entertaining. If only the birds didn’t look so angry!

20 years of Web Design Evolution

Thanks to Mashable for leading me to this infographic from KISSmetrics (I’ve sourced the article).  Wow!  How things have evolved!   To see this infographic in large format, you can go directly to the KISSmetrics image.

Facebook Privacy - In the News

How many of you have claimed your Facebook username?  Have you even heard of the term??  I had heard of it but never “claimed” one because I was not interested in having a personal Facebook URL or web address.  I did not want (and still don’t!) the world visiting my Facebook “page” and learning about me, my friends, my opinions, my likes, etc.  I’ve always kept my Facebook page for personal interest and not for professional reasons. 

So what is a username exactly?  A username - just as the term implies - is a name you choose that will allow you to have direct access to your Facebook page.   It will appear in the location bar of your browser in this format - http://www.facebook.com/your-chosen-username-here.  By entering this URL, anyone can get to your page - depending on how unlocked your privacy settings are.   You can get general information about usernames and how to set one up from Facebook Help (I’ve linked directly to the Usernames: General Information page).  

So let me qualify now…  I was never interested in claiming one UNTIL I read this article from PC Magazine titled:  Facebook’s Sharing Plans Aren’t Evil by Lance Ulanoff.  Specifically, it was this statement that caught my attention:

Accept that Facebook is a social networking business with an aim to make a lot of money. It is not out to harm you, but is also not necessarily operating in your best interests.

and this example:

I even want you to run a little test to see how much of you is already accessible to anyone in the outside world—including those not on Facebook. Start by typing this URL into your browsing address bar: http://graph.facebook.com/[USERNAME]. Replace [USERNAME] with your user name (no spaces).

The controversy - and why Facebook is in the news again - is that Facebook exposed their users’ home addresses and cell phone numbers to developers and publishers.  If you use a particular developer’s application or have linked your account with publishers of Web sites, these individuals now have access to your private data.  The risk is that they could turn around and sell the information to spammers or use it to commit identity theft.

Facebook made this change by DEFAULT and not by asking for your permission first.  Since there was an outcry about this situation, Facebook has pulled back the release of this feature.  But as the author of the article points out, Facebook is still a business (see quote above) and ultimately, YOU are the one making the choice to put all that personal stuff in there.  Facebook has already said they are going to rework the new feature and relaunch it in a few weeks.  So…if the company chooses to sell your data or let third-party interests use it, then you probably should have read their Terms of Use contract more closely, right?   But, of course, who would have ever thought that Facebook would sell my private information to make money?? 

I decided to get myself a username just to see exactly what personal information was going to be shown.  Individuals had already claimed my first and last name (and various variations) for themselves - no loss to me - so I chose something innocuous.  I performed the test as suggested by the article’s author.  I came back with not much - but of course, I’m writing this after the controversy and AFTER Facebook pulled back the new feature.  Thus, I can’t see how securely locked down my account will be.  But rest assured, I’ll be trying again in the future!

For anyone interested, I recommend the Electronic Frontier Foundation video on how to set your Facebook privacy settings.  You can find it here - embedded in another one of my Tumblr posts.

The “evil” idea brings me back to the time when Microsoft had an Easter Egg embedded in it’s Select 3D Text (OpenGL) screen saver in Windows 4.0.  If you put in the text “Not evil”, the screensaver would show you the developers names.  Windows 4.0 was a giant in its day and many considered Microsoft “evil” because of it’s size and corporate power.  The verdict is obviously your own opinion but is Facebook the new Microsoft of our decade? 

Web Hosting - Making a Decision

The concept of registering a domain, setting up a website, and designing a page should be easy. Some friends recently asked me to help them and I thought it would be a great way to remind myself about the process and at the same time brush up on some “forgotten” skills. I consider myself fairly comfortable with “web stuff” and having done such setups in the past with no issues, I figured it would be quick and easy. Unfortunately, what I didn’t realize was that if you don’t own your own servers and bandwidth, there’s a lot of other stuff to think about - including budget, technical support, site maintenance and long-term growth and promotion.

I was essentially starting from scratch. As I begin my research, I very quickly discover that there is not one “go to” site to determine what needs to be done or exactly the order of what needs to be done (or at least I didn’t find an all-inclusive site). The thought of getting these websites set up quickly and easily goes out the window…

The next thing I determine is that whatever I decide to do, it’s going to cost money. I’m a big advocate for FREE but for one to run a business website properly, it seems best to use a paid service for some of the guarantees they offer - which includes limited down time, customer service support, hardware hosting, virus protection, etc.

So with this in mind, I decide to start with registering domain names. Why start with a domain name first? Well, my friends want to establish a brand and by having their site names registered - such as “schoolfriends.com” or “myletters.info” - it allows them to begin promoting their brand. So I make the suggestion to do the registration and then discover that some hosting services offer free domain name registration as part of their services. Oops. A few dollars lost here - not the end of the world - but certainly something to be aware of if you’re looking to start a site.

At this point, I want to make it clear that the word “FREE” comes up a lot. Examples of free offers in some hosting packages included: free ad or photo credits, free databases, free e-mail addresses, free domain name registration, etc. All of it sounds too good to be true (caveat emptor or let the buyer beware!!!). Thus, it’s well worth the effort to go to some hosting companies sites first to check out what’s being offered and to prioritize your business’ or your personal website’s requirements.

I continue my research and very quickly discover that cheap web hosting services are readily available and that they are usually the same companies in a “Top 10” list but ranked in different order depending on who’s doing the reviewing (e.g., a company ranked #1 one review site might be ranked #5 on another web hosting review site). The reviews are always mixed and so far, I haven’t found one company that has gotten 100% positive reviews (I always take reviews into consideration but not knowing a reviewer’s motivations or biases makes me cautious when interpreting the reviews).

So in some ways choosing a web host seems to be a bit of a crap shoot and the market is saturated with too many choices and options. I even checked Twitter to see if I could get some trending, honest opinions but either I didn’t do it right or very few people are currently commenting on their web hosts (a real possibility). Frustrating. I certainly don’t want to spend several nights investigating every possibility and every web host - but if I have to then I will.

There are certainly “industry recommendations” out there but who’s funding these sites and exactly who’s doing the ratings? I decide to go back to the basics and focus on what my friends need and how can I help them achieve their goals? At least I have the domain names right now…

In passing, I also found the ConsumerRankings.com website which seems to give some reasonable ideas for what one should be looking for in a web host:

1. Pricing
2. Bandwidth and Disk Space
3. Ease of Use
4. Customer Support
5. Standard Features
6. Uptime and Page Load Time

Additional details for each of the above numbered points can be found at: http://www.consumer-rankings.com/hosting/ . Upon going through the list, I made my recommendation to my friends (which I will not list here as I don’t want to be told that I might have made a bad choice). Anyone wish else wish to share their experience or recommendations??