Foursquare: the beginning trial

I recently got myself a full-time gig doing a bunch of stuff. Some of which includes researching different social media (mediums). Another part of my job is adding my undeniably intelligent insight to the company blog. I have been stumped when it came to a topic as of late until I came across several tweets on my twitter feed about a thing called Foursquare (www.foursquare.com). I kept seeing people tweet about becoming the mayor of a certain place that they went to a lot and I was confused. At first I thought it was another application like Farmville on Facebook. For the record, I detest Farmville. I've never played the silly and I never will (I should probably say I don't want to, saying "never" has always been dangerous for me... ex: I will never pierce ______, now 14 piercings later I must say I was wrong). Just seeing people's updates in my Facebook friend feed makes me want to scream, so I hid them (the updates, not my friends). Back to the point... one day I was browsing through blogs dedicated to social media and I came across a post about foursquare and the opportunities it was creating for businesses to reward customers. This caught my attention. So foursquare wasn't just another Farmville app for bored people with no better distractions on their browsers, it was a legitimate social networking site. Interesting. I dug deeper, searched for more articles. I found that Foursquare was created by the same people who created Dodgeball and eventually sold it to Google. Google disappointed these young genius (plural, genii? haha no) by not putting enough funds into the program which had a considerable about of users and eventually they left Google. Google then dropped Dodgeball without explanation, maybe it was too busy acquiring and ignoring other ventures, I don't know. But their drop of Dodgeball gave our genius crew room to create and improve their neglected child. Now we have foursquare.
I'm done with this current history lesson, now I'll move on to what I find most important, my experience with the site. Of course after reading about Foursquare's possible perks I had to try it. I mean, I could potentially be notified if one of my friends was in an area close to me when I went out, or I can see what recommendations people have for sightseeing or exploring my city. GREAT! So I sign up, and get my cell phone linked in... then I start texting my lovely new profile where I am at. I wonder how this is going to help me at all considering I am not posting the address and my In-n-out location can be very vague in San Diego. No worries I say to myself, I'll just edit the location when I get back to my computer. At least it shows that I have checked in at the right time.
Next day rolls around (I must say I don't go very many places so my Foursquare feed might be a bit dull) and I text again, this time with a new location for my lunch. When I get back to the office I try to edit the location that I have text in. I ran into some problems. 1) The sandwich shop I went to wasn't listed, some others downtown were, but I'm not downtown, I'm up north 2) I spelled In-n-out wrong (I know, unacceptable for the native californian) in my text and couldn't fix the check in.
I became frustrated and accidently erased my sandwich check in for the day. I realized later that it was still the same day and in an effort to learn this new thing I should work with the time lie. After adding in the North County location of the sandwich shop I text my check in (spelling everything exactly the same as it was entered in the computer before, capitalization and everything) and lo and behold, it worked. I even received the Newbie badge for being the first person to check in at that place. Awesome.
I wish this meant that all my problems with this social networking site were done and buried but alas they were, and still are not.
Here are my current grievances:

1) if I don't get the exact name/location of a place correct when I text how will I see if my friends are around me?
2) How do I check in online? I guess it has to be through my phone web browser. Unfortunate for sure, the screen is tiny and I'm not sure it will always work. I don't want to text because of grievance #1 above.
3) I have no friends on this thing, none of my facebook friends are on it and neither are my twitter followers or those I am following.

I can't blame number three on the website itself, it has no power over how many friends I do or do not have. Nor does it have power over the lame factor of those friends I do have who refuse to get themselves in the twitter or foursquare world. The loser-atti. (I don't really know where that came from, just go with it.) My friends aren't really losers, I mean, they have me as a friend, how could they be. I do really like my made up word however, so it stays.

The other two are probably more user related (again, blame on me) than them but I'll keep it as my grievance until I figure out how to use the site better.

I look forward to growing my "friend" list on yet another website. We'll see how long this profile lasts.

A short little note

Despite the fact that I like to tear apart the shows The Hills and Gossip Girl I would like to say that I do, in fact, enjoy both immensely. I sit and I watch them first for pure enjoyment and then later the academic side of my brain kicks in to tell me why these shows are so silly and unrealistic. But to be honest, I don't watch them for facts of life. I watch them to see beautiful people and honestly, fashion wise, both shows are incredibly inspiring which may not sound right coming out of my mouth or from my fingertips but alas I do believe it to be true.
I am not embarrassed, I just thought you, my numerous (haha) and loyal readers should know that.

I will stop neglecting this blog very soon. Look forward to it.

Laurie Halse Anderson's comments on censorship

"Literature is a safe and traditional vehicle through which we learn about the world and pass on values from one generation to the next. Books save lives... America's teens are desperate for responsible, trustworthy adults to create situations in which they can discuss the issues that are of the highest concern for them...censoring books that deal with difficult, adolescent issues does not protect anybody. Quite the opposite. It leaves kids in darkness and makes them vulnerable... Our children cannot afford to have the truth of the world withheld from them. They need us to be brave enough to give them great books so they can learn how to grow up into the men and women we want them to be."

I agree with these parts, the only thing I had to add and or change for my own beliefs is the part at the end where she says "into the men and women we want them to be." I would say that I would change the we into a "they" saying, "so they can learn how to grow up into the men and women they want to be."

Find out more about her, her books and her thoughts on other things at
www.writerlady.com or
www.livejournal.com/~halseanderson

United Colors of Benetton

I don't think I have spent enough time looking at http://press.benettongroup.com/ben_en/ this website. I keep seeing their ads and liking them for their shock value or social critique but I don't really know what they are selling. I always assumed it was like a side cotton line but after a while realized that wasn't quite what it was. This particular picture is of a palestinian and an israeli kissing. It's from the "enemies" catalog. From my short time on the site reading the blurbs I got the idea that the whole catalog is full of pictures of supposed enemies engaged in friendly (or romantic) activities.
I'm going to look into it more. See what their purpose is besides selling clothes (if there is one).
If anyone knows about what their mission is or anything fill me in please.

-C

Prop 8 will not last!

Maybe I am biased, but this is ridiculous

Have you seen this commercial? Yes, so have I. Just yesterday I was introduced into the new lows of LC from The Hills. Does she ever find a guy that's not a complete pig is what I want to know. Doesn't look like it. Does AT&T condone a man's "right" to look, and a woman's place to show dissatisfaction but not have it addressed or taken seriously?
The male obviously is not paying attention to what the woman is saying. While he not interested in the woman he is obviously with, he is interested in two women who are walking by the couple's table. These girls look no different from the one sitting before him, but they aren't talking, they are just gliding in an attractive manner. He then takes his phone, with a mirrored screen to watch these women walk away. Sleezy at best. When the woman he is with confronts his (LC) he just smirks and laughs it off as if her concern for is actions don't mean anything.
The male has the power in this commercial. He is white, attractive (according to some) and he shows those watching that listening to a woman (his girlfriend or date) is not important. He demonstrates his lack of attention by looking away from LC, looking toward the other woman, watching them as they walk away and then shrugging and smiling when he is caught by the woman he is sitting with.
LC is playing the typical woman. She is talking about something the male is obviously not interested in, applying lipgloss using her phone's handy mirrored face and then showing displeasure with his lack of attention to her and full attention to the other women through an abbreviated message.
Her message can hardly be taken as serious or really angry, the words aren't fully spelled out and regardless of if this is the norm in text messaging or not, it is still not professional or intelligent. The full importance of her message is not found because she can't even find the time to 1)speak to him directly and 2)write using real words. He then challenges her claim with a shrug and a smile to which she is defenseless so she rolls her eyes and continues on.
Is this how we are suppose to be communicating in relationships? What about the bigger problem?
Yes these two people have a back story but not everyone watching this commercial knows that and that's okay. Whether or not the audience know the characters (I refuse to call them people, they've been playing parts for years), they know they dynamic of that kind of relationship.

I find this commercial to go hand in hand with the klondike bar commericals where a man is talking with his wife and a pretty woman walks by and he doesn't look. The commercial then suggests giving the man a reward of a klondike bar because his attention didn't stray from his wife.



I am not the only one with something to say about this commercial.
Jessica from Feministing said: "Many of you have emailed us about this Klondike commercial. And I agree, it's atrocious. Not only does it feed into the sexist idea that men deserve a cookie for being halfway decent human beings, but it also denigrates men by suggesting that they're animals, unable to resist any ass that that happens to pass their way. Thumbs down."

I'll put more of my own reactions later.

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