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Per Sarah’s request, the top ten things on my mind this week:

1. Diamond Lounge-  Please, please, please tell me it’s true.
2. Pownce- I think I’m completely done with it. I’m just not the right kind of person to use it. I actually get annoyed when I get an email telling me that someone has posted a file. Why? I have no idea. Sometimes it’s a file or a link I’m actually interested in from a friend I asked to add, but for some reason, it feels intrusive. I can’t put my finger on it. I don’t understand, but I can’t take it.
3. The Fitzy situation- Sarah posted this too. When I found out that Paul “Fitzy” Fitzgerald, founder of viral web video phenom TownieNews.com (NSFW Audio) was just a character played by a comedian named Nick Stevens, I wasn’t sure whether to be blown away by his talent or feel cheated and fooled. So I did what every egocentric blogger did. I told everyone I knew online.
4. This video on CollegeHumor.com about if people leaving comments on sites like reddit, digg, etc. were actually put in the same boardroom at a company. It’s VERY NSWF and very funny.
5. Am I becoming too dependent on reddit and the like? I do not have cable at home right now, and have exactly one TV channel (NBC). So, I’ll often just go online instead of watching TV,  and I am constantly refreshing the page at reddit, digg, boingboing, etc. It’s to the point that I’ve seen every video, every new story, etc., and there’s just nothing new for me to find out there. I’ll make sure not to visit these sites during the weekend just so I can see a few new stories on monday.
6. Kristen Nicole is not a human being. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. She is a future alien sent back to this planet to use her power of inhuman social media reporting productivity in a worldwide intergalactic conspiracy to take over. Seriously, watch out.
7. I am getting really sick of the following formula: Z = X+Y and W is the new V Killer. Can’t we all just either a) get along b) differentiate ourselves on the merit of our services rather than as a mashup of single-use existing services or c) come up with something new to say? I mean, I get it: some of the ideas out there are really complicated, so it’s easy to describe the new stuff based on the pre-existing knowledge of the existing stuff. But it’s kind of annoying. The new thing that just came out? It’s the keyboard. But it’s really just Fingers(tm) + Typewriter(tm) - Ink(tm).
8. PR agencies are getting really good- When you see the same story on mashable, techcrunch, om, and 35 other sites, I think it’s fair to that the PR agencies representing the latest shiny app are getting good. And I don’t say that with a hint of cynicism or sarcasm: PR agencies are getting really good at finding the right blogs to pitch to, and they’re doing it effectively. Trust me, there is no value judgment in this post whatsoever.
9. I don’t know if this is just me being a miserable, cranky old man or if I’ve identified a trend: my social media patience is only slightly greater than zero. When I go to try out something new, I have a rule of 2 and a half to 3. For instance, I went to check out MyProgress.com after reading about it at techcrunch. I went to the registration form, and filled in my info. I was then told I did not fill out the captcha correctly, and instead of just needing to fill out a new verification field, I had to start over. There’s one strike. I stayed patient for another second…..then, when I finally logged in, I get the little question mark boxes in Firefox (it’s what happens when you paste Word into html), making it difficult to read the text. Two. Then I got to the part about setting up your “knowledges” and I was out. Here’s the “About Us” intro:
   A famous psychologist, Eric Berne, claimed that people play games most of their lifetime. Don’t you think life is a role playing game itself? There are dozens of millions of people who spend a lot of time and money playing MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games), but… aren’t our REAL LIVES much better RPGs?
   I really do think my complete lack of patience is a function of how much time I spend on checking out the newest stuff. I am not trying to be cynical or critical, and I completely appreciate the energy and preparation put into these services, but as time goes by, I seem to bail out much faster than I used to. Social Media Burnout, perhaps?
10. I have a question: Do you think people would sign up for an invite to the Beta of a service that is completely secret? Just imagine a site, with absolutely nothing descriptive of what the beta is and just a form for email, username, and password. Would people sign up for it? I have an idea.

Filed under: SMT10, social media