Daily Dose of Common Sense

The fastest growing group on Facebook is the 35-54 set, which can lead to sticky situations with real consequences for many people. Therefore, who you friend is as important as who you don’t. As an example, a survey out this week found that 56% of people believe it’s irresponsible to friend your boss on Facebook. Seems there are more categories to be considered as well. So, here’s our common sense list of “To Friend, or Not to Friend.”

Should you friend…

…your boss? As the survey lends us to believe, it’s probably a bad idea. Not only are you possibly exposing awkward photos, status updates, and Wall posts, but your boss can actually SEE if you’re on Facebook at any given time. (The “Friends Online” feature reveals who is logged into the site.) Unless you plan to do all your Facebooking after hours (ha!), then let the boss actually think you’re working. Also, it’s hard to claim a “sick” day when you post photos of your impromptu trip to Six Flags the next day.

…your parents? This is tricky. It really depends on your parents. Are they the judgmental type? Do they disapprove of your lifestyle, job, or friends? If they’re the easy-going, we-love-you-just-the-way-you-are parents, then you’re probably safe. However, you don’t want to become the black sheep over your online revelations. Plus, if you connect to your folks, you might learn more than YOU want to know. (Be prepared for a barrage of Farmville.)

…your kids? As we just talked about, you might learn more than you want to know. Are you invading your child’s internet privacy? Or, are you just trying to stay more connected? If it’s the later, that is certainly a noble reason. Just don’t expect them to appreciate it. More than likely, you’ll just embarrass them.

…your ex? Before you try to maintain a friendship (albeit an online one) with an ex, ask yourself if you’re ready to hear about his or her new relationships. If you can handle seeing vacation pictures of he and his new girlfriend in Bermuda, then it’s probably OK to be Facebook friends. But, if hearing about how happy he or she is without you sends you over the edge, it’s not worth it. Also, if you friend an ex just to keep tabs on him or her “just in case” (or worse, for some revenge plot), then that’s just wrong.

…randoms? If you can’t remember the person from high school, then why stay connected to them on Facebook? Ditto for a friend of a friend, or someone who was blindly suggested by Facebook. Yes, you can hide friends from your News Feed. But, if you friend someone knowing that you’re just going to hide them, why friend them in the first place?

Facebook isn’t just about collecting as many friends as you can. It should be about interacting with a network of people you’re interested in. Don’t let the friend requests bog you down. When in doubt, IGNORE!

If you’re an avid user of social media–specifically FourSquare and Twitter–PleaseRobMe.com is a site you might want to know about. Done with a sense of humanitarianism (as in not for criminals), this site collects all the location data sent to Twitter and FourSquare and publishes it in a running stream.

For example, on PleaseRobMe.com, you’ll see posts like this:

@USERNAME left home and checked in 4 minutes ago:
I’m at The Computer Corner (99-185 Moanalua Road Suite 101, Aiea). http://4sq.com/….

@USERNAME left home and checked in less than a minute ago:
I’m at acclamation bar and grill (James street north and mulberry). http://4sq.com/….

@USERNAME left home and checked in less than a minute ago:
I’m at Costco Kawasaki (3-1-4 Ikegami Shincho, Kawasaki Ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa). http://4sq.com/….

The creators look to raise awareness about internet privacy and how the information we put out there could be used in the wrong hands. When you visit the site, you will see that most of the entries on PleaseRobMe.com are from FourSquare, a social media site that is practically a continual GPS of where you are. Which makes it kind of obvious where you aren’t.

The danger is publicly telling people where you are. This is because it leaves one place you’re definitely not… home. So here we are; on one end we’re leaving lights on when we’re going on a holiday, and on the other we’re telling everybody on the internet we’re not home. It gets even worse if you have “friends” who want to colonize your house. That means they have to enter your address, to tell everyone where they are. Your address.. on the internet.

We did learn this week that 30% of Americans are not online either at work or at home. So, there is a small percentage of people not iFollowing your movements. But, do you want the other 70% to know your precise location?

[Via The Consumerist]

Tiger Woods held a press conference today (that was streamed live on the Web, no less) to apologize to us.

In case you’ve been living under a rock with no TV, Woods has had some extramarital affairs. So, why do we need an apology in such a private matter? I’m not sure. Was it a PR move for his remaining sponsors? His wife’s idea? A dare? I would believe any of those reasons over just his need for the world’s forgiveness to get on with his life. Think about it… If a friend, co-worker, relative, or total (non-famous) stranger cheated on his or her spouse, would you get an apology? Absolutely not.

Tiger, go away and play golf. We don’t care about what you do in your free time. Really, we don’t.

Sometimes I envy the days when the media would look the other way on the transgressions of famous people (Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., JFK, FDR, etc.). There are things that are just none of anyone else’s business. Think of how many tabloids would be out of business!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc02ZEPJuF8

AdFreak has a great graphic of what you could buy instead of a Super Bowl commercial. While I don’t like some of the suggestions, the point remains clear: Super Bowl ads are a giant waste of money.

Yes, I know some of them are iconic and some of them are wildly popular. And, the ads are a main reason that people tune into the game. Agencies know the audience numbers are unbeatable on any other day in the modern television landscape. So, the ad dollars makes sense to some companies. (How else would GoDaddy be a household word?) But, most of the ads we’ll see on Super Bowl Sunday will only end up as a blip on our busy, over-programmed, short-attention-span radar.

I don’t begrudge the network for charging the amount they do for the airtime. I’m a firm believer that the free market should decide what the going rate is. If there are companies willing to pay it, then the network should reap the benefits. But, in this recession, does it really seem wise from the company’s perspective to pay $2.6 million for a 30-second spot during the game? Yes, that is over two and a half million dollars!

That’s why Pepsi’s decision to not place Super Bowl ads this year is so great. After almost 25 years of placing ads during the Super Bowl, they have decided to put the money towards a social media campaign. Pepsi usually purchases many 30-second spots during the game, so this is a huge chunk of change the company can use throughout 2010 and beyond. Plus, the announcement has been so startling that Pepsi is now getting more Super Bowl buzz than its rival Coke.

We’ll have to wait until next year to see what effect Pepsi’s pull-out will have on the ad rates. Could this be a trend other companies will follow? Until the economy bounces back and people have jobs again, I sure hope so.

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On August 28th,1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered one of the most powerful speeches in modern history. Commonly referred to as the “I have a dream” speech, King spoke bravely and wisely, and called for an end to discrimination.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, celebrated every third Monday in January, honors his birthday, which is January 15th. The day is one of only four United States federal holidays which commemorate an individual.

So, on this third Monday of January 2010, take a moment to listen again to (or reread) his iconic words spoken 47 years ago. The words are just as relevant and important now as they were then.

Read it

Listen to it

Photo: The U.S. National Archives

Not that anyone believes anything Pat Robertson says, but he’s really proven how hateful he is with his latest comment on the Haitian earthquake. While tens of thousands of people have lost their lives in Haiti, Robertson said they asked for it by making a pact with the devil:

“They were under the heel of the French…and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French,’” he said.

Robertson continued: “True story. And so the devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal.’ They kicked the French out. The Haitians revolted and got themselves free. Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other.”

I know what we’re cursed with, Pat. Having to listen to YOU, you old conservative, hate-slinging, ignorant windbag.

For the record, earthquakes are caused by the shifting and moving of the Earth’s plates. Not the devil. Not a curse. Not magic beans or any other hoodoo you can dream up. I’m pretty sure an elementary school child could tell you that.

But, while we’re focusing on him, let’s not forget some of Robertson’s other gems in the face of disaster:

In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Robertson said civil libertarians and gay rights groups bore responsibility for the strikes.

He has also said Hurricane Katrina was an expression of God’s wrath over abortion, and said Ariel Sharon’s stroke was God’s vengeance for Israel’s ceding land to the Palestinians.

Nice, huh?

Photo: FoxNews

When was the last time a movie made you want to commit suicide? (Note: sitting through AI doesn’t count because *everyone* was suicidal after that movie.) Well, after seeing ‘Avatar,’ some moviegoers became depressed and suicidal because–Spoiler Alert!–the world depicted in the movie isn’t real. Gasp! What?!

From CNN.com:

On the fan forum site “Avatar Forums,” a topic thread entitled “Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible,” has received more than 1,000 posts from people experiencing depression and fans trying to help them cope. The topic became so popular last month that forum administrator Philippe Baghdassarian had to create a second thread so people could continue to post their confused feelings about the movie.

One ‘Avatar’ fan had this to say:

“Ever since I went to see ‘Avatar’ I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na’vi made me want to be one of them. I can’t stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it,” Mike posted. “I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora and the everything is the same as in ‘Avatar.’ “

GET A GRIP, people! I wanted to live in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but you didn’t hear me boo-hooing about it. In simple terms: here’s the line; on one side is reality, and on the other side is what you see in movies and on television. See the difference now?

Photo: CNN/Getty Images
[Thanks to Christine L. for the link!]

Then, the EZCracker is here to solve all your egg-cracking problems!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CB2MVZgt5Y

Really? Is this how pathetic we’ve become? Cracking an egg is neither difficult nor time consuming. I think this product should only be purchased by amputees and people with severe arthritis. Anyone else who owns one has surely lost his or her dignity.

What’s next? A product that will shovel the eggs into our mouths for us? I can hear the informercial now…. “Using a fork is hard! And, how many times have you poked yourself in the eye? Well, put down that fork because now we’ll do it for you….”

[Thanks to Ken S. for the link!]

Here are some of our favorite brief Web stories from this week.

Some people had common sense.

• A couple in Washington is collecting aluminum cans in order to pay for their summer wedding. Getting hitched ain’t cheap, so kudos to this enterprising couple. I can’t wait to see how they pay for the honeymoon.
• An interactive media company in NYC developed a video to entice potential interns. When working for peanuts, a quick video of your responsibilities helps–especially if it looks fun. This makes the want ads seem so 1990s.

And, some did not.

• While giving an interview on Good Morning America, Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of NYC, said there was never a domestic terror attack on G.W. Bush’s watch. Really, Rudy? Did you forget about 9/11, which happened when YOU were mayor? More absurd than this ridiculous partisan sniping, GMA’s correspondent did NOT call Guiliani out on it. Just nod and smile while you’re on camera. No need to actually think.
• A woman in Ohio punched though a McDonald’s drive-thru window because McNuggets weren’t available. Man, what’s in those things?! We know the nuggets are good, but punching the window…wow.
• Some British researchers concluded that the female G-Spot is subjective, so therefore must be a myth. No physical exam was performed. Instead, the women (all twins) were asked whether they believed they had a G-Spot or not. 56% of the women said yes, but no pattern between twins emerged so the researchers concluded those 56% were misinformed about their bodies. The study seems anecdotal and not very thorough. It’s a sad commentary when such shoddy methodology is used, especially on such a delicate subject. If it’s going to be proven or disproven, do it right.

Twitter: you either love it or you hate it. The service appeals to many because it’s a way to carry on short conversations with large groups of people. But, like any conversation, users should be careful not to offend, bore, or just plain suck. The Oatmeal has a comic that is pretty funny and to the point: Ten Things You Need to Stop Tweeting About.

These include: what you’re eating, the conference or event you’re attending, your workout, and your emotional breakthroughs. The main reason is that no one cares about these things. (Well, very few people anyway.) Most of the ten are fairly obvious, especially like tweeting about Twitter. (Does anyone really do this?) But, we still appreciate the efforts made to liven up some of the social media banality.

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