Let's Go Back to the Good Old Days..

I have no hesitation in saying that almost everyone I know is a Facebook user, including my dad. It seems like Facebook is trying to get their users to hate them. Just in this past week, they have made changes to the homepage by making two different newsfeeds, a live one, and something else that I find kind of useless.
I just want to go back to the simpler, easy to use Facebook I know and love. Also, they have this new feature on the homepage that makes "suggestions" on who's wall I should be writing on. This is just ridiculous, I'm sorry, I don't feel like "re-connecting" with my 10th grade World History teacher or the girl that sat in my row freshman year in government.
This post is a bit reminiscent of Kelsey's Blog on simplicity. I love Facebook because it helps me keep connected with my friends and family, but with all these new additions they have planned for us,(Mashable) I feel like they're headed in the wrong direction. I hope that they respond to users feedback and realize that over complicating features that were fine to begin with is going to be to their own detriment. I can only hope that Facebook decides to take a step back and realize that keeping things simple leads to success.

Tweeting the Ellen Way

With the emergence of Twitter, most American celebrities (and their skilled public relations advisers) have made use of this social media outlet. One such celebrity that has caught my eye is none other than Ellen DeGeneres. Along with having a daytime show and several comedy specials, DeGeneres has used Twitter to reach her fans. Not only does she continuously update her Twitter page, but she has made a point to mention Twitter on her talk show.
Many celebrities use social media to keep their fans updated on their day-to-day lives and keep connected with followers. Ellen does this too, but in addition she shares videos and links that she finds humorous or heartfelt and she offers prizes to her followers. I've watched several of these videos and have always found myself smiling afterwards.
Just this past week, she reached out to her followers in Dallas and connected with them by having a give-a-way of a GMC car from Sewell GMC, a dealership in Dallas. By localizing and distinguising between fans in different cities, Ellen has used Twitter the right way by not only keeping her fans updated, but also making it an interactive by involving them in her Twitter experience.
As Twitter continues to grow, I hope to see more celebrities and well-known figures use this social media outlet to not only keep fans updated, but perhaps build a stronger connection as well.

Myspacing Out...? Perhaps Not

So I was reading an article earlier about how Myspace has become pretty much obsolete in the realm of social media. The only exception to this observation is the reigning success of Myspace Music. The writer of this article described Myspace Music as the web site's one "bright spot" in all of the darkness. I couldn't agree more. As much as I love Facebook and Twitter, I still revert to Myspace when I am looking to find new music or learn more about an artist. On Myspace Music websites, like the one for Taylor Swift , not my particular taste in music but I'll give her her props for gathering a huge fanbase of 1,607,047 friends on her Myspace site. On her site, in addition to finding full-length songs, there are music videos, blogs, pictures and a plethora of links. While this number of friends would be much larger if such a page existed on Facebook, Myspace has still stolen the spotlight on this one aspect of social networking sites. Facebook apps have attempted to fill the void from the lack of music sites, but yet I always find myself running back to Myspace. My latest, and a little shameful use of the Myspace Music has been for the Twilight Saga: New Moon Soundtrack. Yes, go ahead and mock me, but I will say that while the acting in those movies is abysmal, the music selection is truly fantastic. I was excited to find the entire track list and full songs on Myspace. I got to listen to each track before I decided if I wanted to buy the album, which I did. The best thing from my point-of-view about Myspace Music is that they haven't forced people to stay members in order to see musician's profiles. If I had to be a member of the Myspace community, I would join, but I am so glad that it's easily accessible. All in all, Myspace Music is still a vital part of my everyday online adventures, and while most of its features are pretty much phased out now, their music section is still holding strong in my book.