Notes for 5/24/2010

Hope you had a nice long weekend! Here are my weekly notes:

• Did you play Pac-Man on Google on Friday? Software-usage-tracking-tool RescueTime crunched the numbers and guesstimates that the first-ever interactive “doodle” consumed 4,819,352 hours of time.
• This is a pretty interesting design idea: using LED lights to create fake sunlight reflections on interior walls.
• Here’s a good write-up on Mediagazer, one of my favorite new websites. If you’re interested in news about the media industry, bookmark it now.
• I found this one via Mediagazer, for example: The Rise of Bloomberg News.
• Got this article via @mattdance: The Data-Driven Life. What if you could record everything?
• Here’s the ‘Lost’ finale, in Twitter Traffic.

Facebook has been in the news a lot lately for privacy issues, and for the fact that it is expected to announce its 500 millionth user sometime in the next few weeks. A recent Time article basically says that Mark Zuckerberg will continue to ask for forgiveness, rather than permission. His quote: “We’re building a Web where the default is social.” The article says that Facebook is redefining privacy and that Zuck thinks people want to share more about themselves online.

If you believe the media (both new & traditional) you’d think there was a huge backlash going on against Facebook right now. Apparently there are lots of startups looking to capitalize on Facebook-related privacy fears. There are protest groups, and even a “Quit Facebook Day” initiative.

Here’s a quote from Matthew Milan, co-creator of QuitFacebookDay.com:

“I’m not interested in having my data somewhere I can’t trust what is going to happen to it.”

Really? I don’t buy it. Our data is in so many places already, and more sensitive data probably. Do we trust all of those places? Do we even know all of them? I think Zuck is right. My gut tells me that the vast majority of Facebook users don’t give a hoot and that they’ll happily share more information. There’s a tiny percentage that have found media eager to help them make a mountain our of a molehill, but that’s it.

I won’t be quitting Facebook anytime soon.