Aug
24

Social Media Needs Backbone

Justin on August 24th, 2009

Last week, I Twittered that a tar truck was idling on my street, leaking fumes into everyone’s home while the driver sat on his buddy’s stoop and chatted for at least 20 minutes.  Fellow Twitter user Ben Atlas (who’s been very anti-social media lately*) asked if it wouldn’t have been more productive for me to [...]

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Armchair Sociology, My Social Media POV, Twitter 9 Comments »
Aug
21

PittGirl: A Lesson in Anonymity, Paranoia and What’s Wrong With America

Justin on August 21st, 2009

Lately, I’ve been discontent with the state and quality of social media.  I’ve lamented the lack of trailblazers, questioned the purpose of an audience and even called for an outright rebellion.  And now, amid all this white noise that passes for communication, we have yet another sign that independence in America is more discouraged than [...]

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Armchair Sociology, Blogging, My Social Media POV 4 Comments »
Aug
20

Why I Hate People: Epilogue

Justin on August 20th, 2009

Two years ago, I wrote an unusually profane and venomous post, even for me.  Buju, a dog I worked with at the Animal Rescue League in Pittsburgh, had been murdered by its adopter, who proceeded to cut off its paw and then attempted to decapitate it.  Having known this dog personally, the entire situation infuriated [...]

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Armchair Sociology 2 Comments »
Aug
19

10 Ways to Become a Thought Leader

Justin on August 19th, 2009

(NOTE:  This post originally appeared on my now-defunct blog, but due to all the alleged “thought leaders” scrambling this week to get YOUR vote so their SXSW 2010 panel pitches don’t get turned away, I couldn’t help but repost it here.) When I was a kid, I wanted to grow up and become an artist, [...]

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Armchair Sociology, My Social Media POV 6 Comments »
Aug
18

Sometimes “Friend” Is a 4-Letter Word

Justin on August 18th, 2009

Ever since Facebook bought FriendFeed, I’ve been getting daily notices from FriendFeed that complete strangers are following me, with dubious names like Casual Encounters and Scanna69.  If I’ve never met you (and you’re a robot), how can we be friends?  And doesn’t being stalked by strangers and spammers implicitly undermine the concept of a “Friend”Feed [...]

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Armchair Sociology, My Social Media POV, Twitter 2 Comments »