Sometimes I really love the Interweb. Sometimes I despise it. And I both love and hate it for pretty much the same reasons. Here's an example of why it's wonderful:
2-3 months ago someone posted a link on Twitter -->
I followed this link -->
I read the page, enjoyed the page, left the tab open for 2-3 months so I wouldn't lose the link-->
Last week I showed my sister the page -->
She read the page, enjoyed the page, asked me to send her the link -->
Yesterday I sent her the link AND I posted the link on Facebook -->
Last night a friend starting chatting to me about the link-->
This morning I had feedback on Facebook about the link AND I saw on Twitter that my sister had pinned the link on Pinterest
It's exhausting; all the in-and-outs and back-and-forth and the mess of social media sites can just run you in circles. But this story is about someone bringing a fun site to my attention, which I passed on, and this morning I smiled because my sister had passed it on even further. That's pretty cool.
By the same token, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to keep things separate on the Interweb. I learned today that in order to sign up for Pinterest you absolutely must link it to your Twitter or Facebook profile. That means anything you like on Pinterest will be posted to Twitter and/or Facebook whether you want to share that news with everyone or not. This was not the case two weeks ago.
I regret signing up for Google+. I thought it was a nice enough design, and Facebook could stand to have some real competition, but it's not worth it. Google+ is a parasite that wraps itself around your heart and sends its tentacles into your bloodstream (Fringe fans, you should have a pretty clear image of this). I can't get rid of it without destroying my pre-exisiting Gmail account and I'm pretty sure it messes with this Blogger account. Maybe I'd like to have a little more anonymity here than there. That should be my choice. And maybe I'm exaggerating, but maybe I'm not because it's so difficult to see what my site looks like on the outside. A few places have a "view as so-and-so" feature, but it's not widespread enough to be of much use.
I want to see all the sites I use from the outside, not just the inside.
I want to set up a different profile on every site, even if they're owned by the same people.
On that note, I want a comprehensive list of who's in business with whom. (I'm sure it exists, but where?)
In regards to the Pinterest example, I want to choose the particular items I post to Facebook or Twitter. Maybe I will post everything, but even if that's the case, I want to push the button each time.
So, that's just a little rant that's been on my mind. I've never been a fan of watching my back and sleeping with one eye open, but it seems we're heading that way. The Interweb can provide many magical moments, but I don't like the idea of wild magic. I prefer to wield the magic myself rather than hand my wand to someone else.
All right, enough metaphors. Here is the aforementioned link that had traversed so far http://www.box.com/shared/static/a6omcl2la0ivlxsn3o8m.jpg. It's a highly entertaining flow chart that helps you choose a fantasy or science fiction book to read.
