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I think some of my brain cells exploded yesterday.
I think I have officially gone off the deep end when it comes to social media. Working in the tech industry I am inundated with the stuff every single day, and the only way I can get through it without losing my sanity is by doing the Braindead Techcast with Steven Hodson every weekday evening.
See, I think Steven and I (along with Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins) realized long ago that the whole concept of “social media” is a sham. This whole, “It’s about conversations!” line is just a whole lot of clap trap. No, what it’s about is giving even more information to marketers and letting them find whole new ways to sell you things.
This isn’t to say that there isn’t some value in it. It’s an easy way to keep up with friends and family, to find out about interesting links you may have never stumbled across, but at the end of the day it is just a giant marketing tool, and we’re all playing along like good little lemmings. I’m a part of it, I admit it, I belong to so many “social” sites that I have probably forgotten some of the one’s I’ve joined, but I also have no delusions of grandeur about being at the fore front of some wave of world change. There have been moments where it has empowered people, such as last summer with the Iranian elections, but most of the time it is just a way to promote yourself, boast about how drunk you got or to share photos of your life that no one really cares about.
Then yesterday I think I had a minor aneurysm. I saw a Tweet from a well-known social media “expert” who shall remain nameless because they simply don’t need any more ego boosting of their importance that said:
so interesting to see how many internet marketer types have 4000+ followers and a klout of 5. that’s what happens when you twitterfeed only
Now, I had heard of Klout, but I honestly hadn’t bothered to check it out because I simply didn’t care, but now my interest was up. I went to their About page and … well, I’ll let it speak for itself:
Klout is the standard for influence. We believe that every individual who creates content has influence. Our goal is to accurately measure that influence and provide context around who a person influences and the specific topics they are most influential on.
Klout tracks the impact of your opinions, links and recommendations across your social graph. We collect data about the content you create, how people interact with that content and the size and composition of your network. From there, we analyze the data to find indicators of influence and then provide you with innovative tools to interact with and interpret the data.
The Klout Score is the influence metric. It measures overall influence through 25 variables broken into three categories; True Reach, Amplification Score and Network Score.
I’m sorry, “the standard”? And who exactly figured this out for you? Is there a new division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology that I am unaware of? Have you been certified to be “the standard”? Uh-huh, right.
And this, kind readers, is two of the main problems with social media: That people set them as experts and people just accept it, and that anyone would every really give two hoots what their “klout” is.
The first point is obvious. Since the dawn of social media, people have been proclaiming themselves to be “experts” and “gurus” in the field, and I just laugh my rear end off at them. This is still a field in its infancy, and it changes daily as to what is in and out. Remember when we all had Digg buttons on our posts? Funny, now they all say Twitter. How’d getting to be a Digg “expert” work out for ya? Still getting a lot of calls?
Klout saying they are “the standard” means just as much. It immediately conveys a sense of importance and weight to their service that just simply doesn’t exist.
And that brings us to the second issue about anyone giving a hoot about this. The above quoted Tweeter later said it was just a number and then went on some namby pamby commenting spree about its the quality of the conversations and so on. Sorry, but you brought Klout up, you get stuck with it. Why in the world are you looking up other people’s Klout numbers if they are “just a number”? It means you put some importance on it, and I just don’t get that.
How about we just go back to using social media for what it’s best at? Fun. Who cares what my “reach” is? Who cares how much “influence” I have? Social media isn’t science, and I think we’re stripping out some of the core components of it by caring about such stuff. I don’t ever want to see the day where I think twice before sending out a Tweet because it might damage my “influence”.
I’ll save you all the trouble since I know some smartass will go look it up, @seanpaune has a Klout of 30
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Well, someone pinch me, because someone finally woke FIFA up the need for technology to be used in reffing games.
The other day I wrote about how FIFA, the governing body of world football (soccer), needed to stop playing around and get serious about using technology as an aid in reffing games. After the disastrous judging of two goals on Sunday in the Germany Vs. England and Brazil Vs. Mexico games, it was overwhelmingly obvious that something had to be done, and apparently FIFA agrees.
According to The Wall Street Journal, FIFA president Sepp Blatter apologized to both England and Mexico over the blown calls, and commented that it would be “a nonsense” for the governing body to not reopen its research into technology that could be used to avoid these situations. ”After having witnessed such a situation,” Mr. Blatter said in reference to the non-goal kick by England. “we have to open again this file, definitely.”
The governing body is scheduled to have a meeting in July where the subject will once again be addressed.
This has to happen. England lost a clear goal and Brazil’s first goal was a clear case of being offsides. We at home could see both situations clear as day, but for whatever reason the refs on the field could not. Both situations could have changed the course of their respective games, but, alas, they didn’t.
Welcome to the 21st century FIFA, glad to have ya.
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Make sure to continue reading to see out “bonus materials” for this episode Continue Reading ->
No, that wasn’t a typo, FIFA, the ruling body for football (soccer) is going to walk away with egg all over its face after what happened on Sunday at the World Cup. Forget the vuvazelas annoying the heck out of everyone, it is the staunch stance against the use of instant reply technology that will forever mark this year’s World Cup.
The Germany Vs. England match was severely marred by a line judge not seeing the ball cross the line into Germany’s goal and would have brought the game up to 2-2. Everyone else in the world seems to have seen it, but because it bounced back out so fast he missed it and disallowed the goal. Take a look at this image over at MSNBC, and you try to tell me that ball wasn’t inside the goal line. Even German coach Joachim Loew said, ”I saw in the television this ball was behind the line, it must have been given as goal.”
Okay, fine, perfect example of how instant replay could, and should, be used in football, but certainly things like that happen so rarely you can live without it!
… aw, crap.
Argentina Vs. Mexico … later the very same day. Argentina scores its first goal with its player clearly offsides to just about everyone but a blind man. Somehow the officials missed it, they allowed the goal, and Argentina was on its way to victory.
Look, there is no way that instant replay can be used in every case, no one argues that, but in the case of a disputed goal, it has to be used. England deserved to lose (the final was 4-1 Germany), but how differently would they have played the second half had they gone into it 2-2? My thoughts are that Germany would have still won, but we’ll never know the true outcome of the game because for some insane reason FIFA says that technology should not be involved in the game.
So, with that in mind …
Why is there lighting for night games?
Why is there artificial grass woven into some of the fields?
Why does the main official wear a headset?
Why are electronic boards used on the sidelines to communicate substitutions and stoppage time?
I could go on, but you get the point.
Again, instant replay can not be used in every single instance as it would ruin the flow of the match, but when it comes to a disputed goal, it must be introduced.
A Tucson, AZ English teacher has been arrested on allegations of furnishing harmful items to a minor.
Jennifer Whiting, 32, is an English teacher at Rincon High School in Tucson, AZ, and she has been arrested on allegations of furnishing harmful items to a minor. As to what those materials were, it is alleged that she furnished a 16-year-old male student with naked photos of herself via text message.
The police were alerted to situation after the father of the teenager contacted them with concerns that his son was having an inappropriate relationship with Ms. Whiting. On the morning of June 25th she was arrested by the police after she left her children at home in the early morning hours to have a rendezvous with the teen. Child Protective Services were alerted to the situation regarding her kids after Ms. Whiting was taken to the Pima County Jail.
She has been charged with a Class 4 Felony.
You would think I would be getting used to these stories after the number I’ve written. And I have actually tried to cut down on the number I report on because they are just depressing, but leaving your minor children alone at home so you can go meet a 16-year-old? I guess they will never cease to amaze me.
The World Cup Group Stage is over, and now it’s on to the serious stuff … the Group of 16.
I wanted to get this out before the first game so I could at least look like I know what I’m talking about. With the 2006 final two (Italy and France) already out of the picture, it’s anyone’s guess what is going to happen. There are some easy picks in this round, such as Germany will take down England, Paraguay will dominate Japan (although the Japanese are looking unusually strong) and Mexico will probably be out. There is no way I can pick all eight games, but boy are these going to be some exciting matches.
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Scattercast #101 will be the first episode to go down in history as not only did I have only my fourth guest, but it was someone who actually offered to be on the show!
David Montelongo left the A&E series Flip This House in 2007, and since then he has been off pretty much everyone’s radar. This is his first interview since his departure to address what happened in the infamous “Little House of Horrors” (AKA “The Cat House”) episode, and why he chose to split with his brother/business partner, Armondo.
In the show we follow up on what he’s been doing, and the launch of his new site, Montelongo Coaching. We then move on to the show, what brought about his departure with his wife Melina and how it impacted his personal relationship with his brother. It is a frank and open interview, and David didn’t shy away from any of the questions I put before him.
We also discover our mutual love of another reality show, and discuss our desire to compete against one another on it. (Hey, it wouldn’t be Scattercast without a bit of pop culture.)
It’s an intriguing interview for fans of the show, and those who have never heard of the Montelongos before now. Enjoy!
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I think some of my brain cells exploded yesterday.
I’m sorry, “the standard”? And who exactly figured this out for you? Is there a new division of the 
Well, someone pinch me, because someone finally woke FIFA up the need for technology to be used in reffing games.
A Tucson, AZ English teacher has been arrested on allegations of furnishing harmful items to a minor.
A total of 46 this week as I change some things up in my scheduling.
Scattercast #101 will be the first episode to go down in history as not only did I have only my fourth guest, but it was someone who actually offered to be on the show!
