#NoNews

  I want to discuss news aggregation software.  It is deadly and could possibly be the death of an educated and aware civilization.
  In simple terms news aggregation software is a piece of software that searches news feeds from all over the web looking for tags, and consolidating that information into a singular feed.
  It sounds like a great idea doesn't it?
  NO! No it does not.  It in fact, is a perfect symptomatic representation of how my current generation has abused the technology available to it.  Now the software can be quite useful, in fact Twitter is based on this system.

  The dangers of news aggregate software lies if the habits developed by my generation.  News aggregation allows for a person to tailor the news they read to specific topics.  We can now put blinders on our eyes to make sure we stay extremely narrow-minded.
  If we are not exposed to news under other topics our personal innovation, and inner dialogue.  Imagine the kinds of adults that will exist once we no longer pay attention to the front page of the newspaper!  Already a large section of Americans don't know their military is involved in so many conflicts abroad.
  The other issue caused by news aggregation software is the lack of funding to established news sources.  The NY Times has already seen a significant drop in ad revenue.
  When a person looks at a news article given to them by news aggregation they no longer skip around websites to find that article.  The chance of that person seeing an ad that pertains to them drops drastically just like ad revenue to major news sources has.  When that happens less funding can be used to support investigative journalism that helps keep businesses, political figures, and most importantly the government honest and transparent.
  Use news aggregation software if you like.  I won't blame you, but for all that is good in the world please look elsewhere for your news and information as well!

Because this could happen if we don't find our own news...

(from the movie Idiocracy)

What is The Third Largest Country in The World?

  Earlier this year Facebook boasted about how it had hit the 1 billion user mark, making it the third largest country in the world (if it was a country).  There have been many news articles that discuss the idea about how 'healthy' this is for Facebook or society at large.
  This article discusses the fact that Facebook has over 80% of it's accounts being faked or shells.  These shells include businesses, repeat accounts (where a user has an account to fool employers, parents, and or friends), accounts that have been left alone because users forgot the passwords, accounts used to stalk exes, and over a fourth of these accounts were created by Facebook or Mark Zuckerberg.

  The existence of these shell accounts begs the question "what is a real user?"  Not to mention "how reliable is Facebook as an institution and how can we trust them now?"
  I am not qualified to answer these questions outside of my own opinions, but I can say Facebook seems to be a necessary part of life for most people.  I myself live in another part of the country where it is difficult to stay in touch with old friends and family members.  Facebook helps solve this problem.  I use it to find out information about businesses and public figures.  I use it when investigating news stories or when I am trying to contact sources.  I also know many employers use it to either evaluate future employees or keep tabs on current employees.
  The ethical questions raised by all of these uses will become more and more pressing as time goes on but for now we can say without a doubt that Facebook is like so many companies in the past that have inflated numbers to be looked at in a more positive light.  Bernie Madoff, Enron, and 'Crazy Eddie' were all guilty of the same taboo.  Why is it these people were put on trial, yet it is moral for Mark Zuckerberg to inflate his numbers using bots?  It's not, it is just Facebook is still a necessary part of life so we seem to overlook it's moral failings.



Image found at: gnuband.org
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Updated: Oct. 15, 2012

  Here is a related blogpost by Ken Burbary that has a more in depth analysis of Facebook demographics found on his blog called Web Business by Ken Burbary.