Social media, pictures and bears, oh my

[greatbear]

Well, I was not gonna make a big deal about this, or (especially) create some sort of war of affiliate links, but despite my backing away from various social media, I did dip my toe (or, whatever, lol) into Bearbook. Truth be told, I've been having a blast. Jeff even forked over the introductory $2.95 for a year's membership and said that he's having a bit too much fun over there. There's something entirely different about the user experience, or at least so far. It's akin to the earliest days of internet socializing I used to love. Time will tell if the place devolves into another Bear411, but with a group of fair-minded guys very proud of their site and willing to put the user first, I doubt it. If you have not done so already (lots of LJ peeps there already), give it a shot.

Sign up using this link, and I get some "bearbucks", whatever those are. Being that I was a beta tester, I got in for slack. I think I can donate 'em for some good cause.

Comments

[barak.livejournal.com]

Its hard to say whether or not Bearbook will devolve into another hookup site like Bear411- I hope not. However, its easy to see the too-easy shiny appeal some people have of flashing their bits off daily. I can only hope the site matures beyond that, because while you can show off your goods, doesn't mean it should be at the expense of the social side of things.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

By the looks of it so far, there's still a good amount of social banter taking place among the naughty bits being shown. My biggest fear right now is the legal goons at Facebook getting wind of the site and suing it out of existence on it's name alone.

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

Sometimes it's good to be in on the beta. ;)

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Yep!

[putzmeisterbear.livejournal.com]

It's comfortable and friendly there.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Yes it is. And the guys running the show participate all the time and look out for everyone's interests. Refreshing.

[otterdaemmerung.livejournal.com]

I just signed up (add me, anybody who's reading this). The otter invasion had to start sooner or later. ;-)

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

There otter be more of you. ;)

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

However, it's still Facebook. I stopped using it because of the shenanigans going on with advertisers et al. harvesting personal info and all the data being sold to the highest bidder. At bearbook, the users are a community. At Facebook, they are inventory.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I haven't experienced data which are being sold to the highest bidder.

Ah, but you have. It's unavoidable. Even if you have never clicked the "Like" button on a post or followed your favorite company or product on Facebook, your friends most likely did at one point, and it's the connections between friends and their common likes and such (among other things) that are the most sought after by marketing types. While the content of your private posts have not entirely (as far as we know) been aggregated and sold to marketers, corporations and such, there is far more prime data that are to be found in the connections between people, companies, politicians and whatnot. That's what the game is over there. Add to it the constant "revising" of the Terms of Use which has always resulted in the ability to make direct use of more and more personal information, and that's what ultimately drove me away from the site.

You will never experience or "benefit from" the data being collected behind the scenes. You and the rest of the users are not the intended users or market for that information. You are not the "customer," you are the "product." You can (and do) benefit in most cases by the interaction you have with other friends and family there, and there might be a crumb tossed your way by some company offering promotions and such to the community. But the big bucks and end benefits (in the countless billions) go to the untold number of corporate interests beyond what you can see.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying you do. You can list your personal information in Klingon and chat with everyone in Esperanto. Facebook won't find your data very compelling. But that's not generally where the commercial interests lie. You interact with at least one friend, and they interact with at least one other, etc.You have no idea that one person in your network does not spend hours playing Farmville and has signed up to follow any number of commercial interests on the site. You, like it or not, get associated with a group demographic. It's not always a bad thing, of course. This is where what were once thought of as "niche" interests are found to be much more pervasive. But just signing into facebook makes entire networks of advertising and tracking computers aware of your presence, and these same networks can and do track your browsing habits, purchasing and such. Facebook is just a convenient clearinghouse for such mechanisms. No one "forces" you to do anything, aside from the minimum required to get signed up. But even that minimum is highly valuable data. And, like I've said, you have no idea what others in your circle of friends are doing.