Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
Well, Google’s in court again, although this time its not because of something they technically did. The veil of ‘the internet’ is starting to crumble and online ‘bullying’ is something that’s being taken more seriously, especially in cases of defamation of character… as is the case this time. Now, Google’s not in trouble, nor should they be, however, here’s where things get a little tricky and even groundbreaking in this particular case. Google owns the popular blogging service Blogger. Blogger’s been around about 10 years now, and was purchased by Google back in 2003. Since then, its popularity has skyrocketed, allowing everyone and their grandma to start blogging, making it easier than using Word. Each bloggers content is their own and for the most part, they’re entitled to do/say whatever they want, Google’s not monitoring and they won’t be monitoring. However, in this instance, a lovely little blog called “Skanks of NYC” has managed to raise quite a stink. Numerous posts over time take a harsh swipe at model Liskula Cohen, calling her some pretty nasty things, ultimately causing Liskula to take the matter to court. The Blogger has been hiding under a pseudonym, which is quite common online as no one would ever say such fowl things if it could ever be traced back to them, something that is both the beauty and the bane of the internet, but this case changes that. A Manhattan judge ordered Google to release the name of the Blogger in an effort to have charges brought against the appropriate individual. This seems pretty straight forward as a “Duh, of course that’d be the ruling” but its fairly groundbreaking as it begins to set a new standard in the concept of accountability online.
We all have the right to free speech, and the internet has been a prime outlet for that, BongMan420* can say whatever he wants, and up until this week, has been able to hide behind his amazing username. But we’re entering a new day and age, the same rules are being applied online as they would in any other media form, and rightfully so. It’ll be interesting to see where this heads going forward, but I think the most intriguing thing is the fact that we’re seeing that online veil come down. Looks like I’m going to have to stop posting under false names on everyone else’s blogs. Argh…
More from Mashable: http://mashable.com/2009/08/19/google-identity-blogger/
* I’m sure there’s someone named BongMan420 out there, I’m in no way insinuating they were the naughty blogger. I made that up on the fly, because that’s how I roll. BongMan420, if you’re reading this and I offended your delicate sensibilities, I deeply apologize.
Friday, August 14th, 2009
Get Sleep Ready, a project we helped craft for the team over at Select Comfort got some wonderfully positive press the other day on the Twin Cities Business Magazine Blog. Nice to see our clients getting the recognition their hard work and forward thinking-ness deserves.
http://tcbmag.blogs.com/btw/2009/08/diggable-futures.html
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
So the epic Facebook/Twitter battle continues. This week it comes in the form of
1. Facebook acquiring Friend Feed,
2. Announcing a new version of Facebook called Facebook Lite and then
3. This report released about Facebook growing twice as fast as Twitter over the course of July, 2009.
So much has happened in such a short amount of time, its hard to say what may have caused this, but the best guess (as cited over on TechCrunch) is that Facebook is ripping off Twitter yet again by adding the “EVERYONE” button. Now, just like Twitter, you can publicly broadcast what you had for lunch to all the people who honestly don’t care, but you desperately wish would! The addition of Facebook Lite also makes Facebook the new Twitter, as its essentially just a feed based service. Now, I understand their desire to be the master of the social universe, but there’s no reason each can’t exist in its own right, especially since Facebook is on ‘in only’ platform, with no real way to feed content OUT of Facebook, making the concept of open social integration into sites almost non-existent without using their own proprietary “Facebook Connect” login… which again, kinda only points content back into Facebook.
So, while Facebook continues to try and emulate its competition in order to weed them out, they continue to lose their authenticity and original value in the social realm. Again, I call on your Facebook, to focus on what you’re best at and stop trying to buy up all your competitors in an effort to be the only solution out there. Play nice. Integrate with the other networks. Make it all one big happy party where each person brings something they’re really good at and we get a network of amazing skill sets to play within.
That sounds like an awesome party to me!
Source: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/12/facebook-grew-twice-as-fast-as-twitter-in-july/
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
Sevnthsin would like to announce the launch of Get Sleep Ready, a microsite for Select Comfort. Follow Russ and Sally as they discover the things that effect their sleep and how they can make a few simple changes to go from ‘Disastrous’ to ‘Top-Notch.’
A big shout out to the crew over at Select Comfort for being such an amazing partner to work with as well as to the team here at Sevnthsin for diving in head first and bringing this to life. We got our hands dirty on every component of this site, from the concept and strategy to the illustration, animation and voice over work.
We’ll have to have some cake to celebrate!
GETSLEEPREADY.COM
