The recent wave of news about Facebook has really touched a nerve with me. There was that email fiasco just last month, and more recently the news of open graph. I’m not the only one to see the potential for pure and unmitigated evil, and there is no indication that it will get any better. The future of online social media is grim. What really irks me is that it doesn’t have to be. As a long standing member I remember the requirement for a .edu or alumni email address just to participate in facebook. Things were much different then. Sure there were some apps and basic games, but over all it was a fairly sparsely populated service, and I liked it that way. Sure there wasn’t the access to as many of my friends as now, but there was something pristine and cultured about the site. Facebook was indie and cool. Then in a very short amount of time it turned into Myspace. Yes, I had a Myspace account, but I never could get past the juvenile idiocy that ran rampant through that community. I hated that every other page was fully of animated gifs and sparkletastic backgrounds. It was like having a group of tween girls kirked out on a sugar high assaulting every sense with glitter and cheap accessories from Spencers. Sadly this is the drain I see Facebook precipitously circling with one exception. Read the rest of this entry »