will facebook.com be a thing of the past?

Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t referring to Facebook – the world’s largest social networking site. I was referring to facebook.com – the URL. With recent announcement of Facebook that it is opening parts of its code to the public, third party developers can now build Facebook applications that will let users interact with most of the elements of Facebook (status updates, sharing of photos and links, etc.) without ever visiting Facebook.com itself.

For my layman brothers having trouble understanding the concept, this is like Twitter in action. If you are an avid user of Twitter, you will know that there is multitude of ways to post your messages (tweet) aside from visiting twitter.com site itself. There’s tweetdeck, twitterrific, twitterfeed among others.

Anyway, using the Facebook Open Stream API, software developers can build different (thousands, millions) websites and integrate Facebook functionalities into it. This thing can be a boon or a bane depending on which angle you look at it. Some say it will mean loss of advertising revenue for Facebook while some developers like the idea as it can leverage on Facebook’s “viral” power – an effective tool to market a product or service.


The way I see it, Facebook will not do this if it will not tremendously benefit from it. (not just plain jane benefit but tremendous!). Maybe the obvious loss of advertising revenue can easily be gleaned at this time as major bulk of its revenue comes from advertisement. However, times are a-changin’ and I see some genius behind this idea. By opening up to more developers, Facebook will become more and more ubiquitous shielding itself from irrelevance and mediocrity. And when it happens, business model will come, trust me. When Google started, nobody can also figure out how an internet search company will generate a profit. Google did not pay attention to its critics and it just proceeded with generating a great user experience. Look at where Google is now.

Currently, Facebook is arguably the top social networking platform that has been able to integrate third party applications (gaming, business, events, etc) very well into its site. This time around, Facebook might want to do it the other way around.

At the end of the day, Facebook.com (the URL) is still not shutting down. In plain and simple terms, it’s just launching an attack – front and back. Clever.

paano ba maging masaya? ikatlong yugto

Sa panahon ngayon, di lang bawal magkasakit. Bawal din ang malungkot. Sa totoo lang, kung malulungkot ka pa, sa dinami dami ng problema sa mundo ngayon – nandyan na ang global warming, financial crisis, terrorism isama mo pa yung asungot mong ka-opisina na sobrang epal – ay masisiraan ka na ng bait. Mabuti na lang ang mga Pilipino, mababaw ang kaligayahan. Makita lang si Pokwang, matatawa na. Makatanggap lang ng Facebook comment, masaya na. Yun naman ang maganda, yung madali tayong tumawa, ngumiti at sumaya.

Pero kahit marami sa atin, mababaw ang kaligayahan, meron pa rin tayong mga kaibigan na mala-Pasan ko ang Daigdig ang drama sa buhay. Pag nakakapanood sila ng Maalaala Mo Kaya, iyak ng iyak kasi pakiramdam nila sila yung bida. Api, malungkot, nag-iisa. Tanong nila, Paano ba maging Masaya?

Sa inyong lahat, heto pa ang mga kakaibang tips na nakuha ko. Maganda kung mabasa mo rin ang part 1 at part 2. Tingnan mo baka me mapulot ka sa mga ‘to:


9. Manood ng Wowowee. Nasubukan mo na bang manood ng show na ‘to ng milyonaryong si Willie Revillame? Maaaliw ka. Di dahil kay Willie kundi dahil sa mga ordinaryong tao na sumasali sa programang ito. Dito mo makikita na ang mga pinoy kahit sobrang hirap ng buhay at walang katiyakan kung me kakainin pa bukas ay makakasayaw pa rin ng “Lambada” sa gitna ng stage.

10. Mag-reunion kasama ang mga kaklase mo nung College / High School. Isa sa pinaka masayang kabanata ng ating buhay ay ang buhay estudyante. Kaya nga pag nagkasama-sama tayo ng mga kaibigan natin nung college o high school, parang bumabalik lahat ng masasayang alaala at andun uli tayo sa kabanata ng ating buhay na puro saya lang at walang kahit anong problema.

11. Matulog. Oo ganun kasimple. Matulog. Marami kasi sa atin ngayon, halos di nakukumpleto ang tulog sa magdamag. Lalo pa kung sa call center ka nagta-trabaho. Isa sa pinakamasayang bagay na gawin ay yung matulog ng mahabang mahaba at walang kahit anong iniisip. Yung tipong paggising mo di mo kailangan bumangon agad at meron ka pang pagkakataong magmuni-muni. Maglaan ka ng panahon para magawa ang bagay na ‘to – matulog. Tingnan mo, sasaya ka.

12. Magbigay ng testimonial sa ka-Friendster mo. Simpleng bagay pero maniwala ka, sa panahon ngayon na bihira na ang nagbibigay ng “meaningful message” sa isang kaibigan, ang simpleng Friendster testimonial ay makakapagbigay sa kanya ng ngiti. Ang sarap ng pakiramdam pag alam mong me napasaya kang tao. Ang resulta, ikaw din Masaya.

Meron ka rin bang mga kakaibang tips para sumaya? Wag mong sarilinin, share mo sa amin. Pasayahin natin ang mundo:)

friendster vs facebook: is it even a battle?

Quick survey. How many of you have Facebook account? How many still have Friendster account? Looks like Friendster is slowly losing its luster and playing a losing battle against Facebook. I still have accounts at both sites but I find myself more and more drawn to Facebook.

Drawn, in this writer’s context, means spending more than 10 minutes in one site. It used to be that Friendster is my social networking platform of choice. I know, Friendster is so 90’s so why am I still there. Maybe being one of the early adopters of social networking phenomenon, Friendster has kept up with its promise of creating better communication between friends. Real friends and not just a name that you add on your list even though the person is a complete stranger.

I also like the level of privacy that Friendster used to provide. Only real friends can see an update. After all, they are the only ones who really care if you had coffee this morning instead of juice and not just some anonymous “extended friend.” The friend testimonial was also a big draw for it’s reminiscent of a modern day love letter. Real friends write meaningful testimonials and real friends read those testimonials with gusto. Sad that now testimonial has been reduced to just a one-liner comment like – “Cool!” or worse, “Hehe..” What does that even mean?


Last I heard, Friendster is still No. 1 in Asia but this may not be for long. I might be wrong but I notice Friendster is becoming more and more like Facebook. Its interface, features and overall feel is like Facebook – in its infant stages. If this is the case, then I’d rather stick to Facebook, right?

Let me know your thoughts. Post a comment.

85 million and counting - susan boyle is breaking records

Our heroine Susan Boyle has broken records. According to recent reports, all Susan Boyle related videos – including clips of her television interviews, recently released rendition of “Cry Me a River,” recorded 10 years ago and of course, that little video of her Britain’s Got Talent performance – have generated total of 85.2 million views. And that’s just in a week. Whew!

This data is from Visible Measures, a company that tracks videos from YouTube, MySpace and other video sharing sites.

Currently, she holds the record for “Most Number of Views in a Week” dislodging more popular and mainstream videos like Tina Fey’s impersonation of Sarah Palin and U.S. President Barrack Obama’s victory speech.

Aaahh, the power of social media. I wouldn’t be surprised if our dear friend Susan breaks some record in Facebook and Twitter as well.

With this enormous popularity, I wonder what she will do next. Talk to Rick Warren perhaps to find some purpose behind all these things? Hhmm…that’s another topic altogether.


Let me know your thoughts. Post a comment.

ashton kutcher is twitter king, now make way for the queen - oprah

Popular actor Ashton Kutcher (Demi Moore’s boyfriend for some) has recently been named Twitter King, being the first person to achieve 1 million followers on Twitter this week, beating out network giant, CNN. Twitter, for those of you who are living outside our galaxy, is a micro-blogging site that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets.

Long been the leader of the pack, CNN commands the biggest followers in twitterverse, until recently. Dubbed as the defeat of “the establishment” over “the people,” Kutcher claimed the lead and brought enormous media attention in the process.

In one of his most talked about interviews, Kutcher even teased he will “ding dong ditch” billionaire Ted Turner (founder of CNN) if he beats CNN to million Twitter followers. What is a ding dong ditch you may ask? Well, it’s when you go up to a person’s house, ring their doorbell, then run away and watch as they look around to see who’s there. Would be fun if he actually does that, eh?

Now that the “small guys” are done playing, all eyes are on Oprah Winfrey, the media celebrity giant who recently joined the site. Based on recent reports, the Queen has already gained 300,000 followers in just a day. Take that.


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Susan Boyle's Got Talent (video)

In the hit British TV show, Britain’s Got Talent, an unlikely star wowed the audience, and in fact the world, with her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables. The fact that she has great voice is one thing but I think one factor that made her performance “newsworthy” is that Susan Boyle, 47, is not your typical TV star.

One look at her and you can easily dismiss her as another aspiring singer whose main reason for standing in front of the stage is to waste everybody’s time. Frankly this is the look that the audience and even judges Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden gave when Susan Boyle stepped up the stage.

Then she started to sing. As soon as she opens her mouth and the notes started to permeate the room, everyone was dumbfounded. I was only watching it on YouTube but I got goosebumps all over while watching it. I bet the people who are hearing it live are even more overwhelmed, almost on the verge of tears.


Tears because throughout the whole song, you will realize that it’s easy to dismiss someone based on their looks, only to realize what a true gem that person is. You will be in tears because you will realize you are one of those people who easily pass judgment based on one look. I should know, I'm one of those people sometimes.

Well, Susan Boyle is certainly not one to be judged. Certainly not with that kind of talent. Way to go Susan! Keep wowing. Watch the video and see for yourself.

PC is cheap, Mac is Cool (video)

Remember the “I’m a PC, I’m a Mac” series of commercials? It was not a long time ago when Apple (creator of Mac) came up with series of “ads” that lampoon Microsoft and cemented Mac’s image as a cooler machine. Microsoft responded with an “odd” commercial that features Jerry Seinfeld and Microsoft founder Bill Gates himself. Truth be told, I don’t think Microsoft achieved anything with the release of that commercial so they had to pull it out earlier than expected. Had they kept showing that commercial, I think it would’ve achieved the real results they were hoping for. Anyway, that’s another topic. I blogged about it a few months ago, if you want to read it, feel free to do so.

Just recently, Microsoft flexed its “odd” muscle again and came out with an ad that basically says: “Ok, Mac is cool but PC is cheap.” Of course it was not said verbatim but anyone with an IQ greater than zero will get it. I’m not in any way an advertising genius but as an average user, that Microsoft ad screams Buy Mac! Buy Mac!


Basically, the commercial features an average user, Lauren, looking to buy a new machine. Sees an Apple store and finds the merchandise beyond her budget. Lauren sighed: “I’m just not cool enough to be a Mac person.” By a stroke of genius, she hops on another store where different machines running Windows are being sold. She looked around and found the “cheapest” one. An HP machine running Windows. Nice. Now HP is dragged into this mess. She bought it and showed a big smile on her face. End of commercial. Duh?!

I’m not sure who are the people behind this commercial but I’m pretty sure their respective careers will be finish sooner than they say “cheap.” I find it disappointing because I’m a PC user. I admit Mac is cooler but there are tons of reasons to use Windows also. Maybe my reason is similar to the billions of other PC users out there. For Microsoft to come out with this ad and (inadvertently) portray PC as somewhat inferior to Mac is for me a great disservice to the billions of PC users around the world.

I hope Microsoft can still redeem their badly beaten image – however much of it are of their own doing.

Watch the commercial below and see for yourself:

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Tuesday, 11:45am is the worst!

In a recent study done in Britain, it was found out that Tuesday, 11:45am is the Most Stressful Time of the week. This debunks the Monday morning blues that used to permeate our collective inanity. First time I heard the news, I thought, hhmmm, this can’t be true. Surely, if Monday is the first day of the WORK week, then it follows that it is also the most stressful. Just imagine the rest of the work week that you still have to go through. Wow, the thought alone makes one stressed already.

However, reading through the article about the study, I see that it actually makes sense. Basically, respondents of the survey says Monday is not that bad because it is usually the day they check their Facebook accounts to view photos from their weekend antics. Tuesday is the time when they actually start to “work”, specifically, midday, around 11:45am. Hhhmmm..


For what it’s worth, I find the study rather interesting. The relationship of work and stress at this juncture seems directly proportional. I beg to disagree. Work can be fun and sometimes, can even be a source to de-stress yourself if you’ve GOT the right company and IN the right company (I hope my boss is reading this..hehe)

Maybe the next study should be about the most effective way to waste your time. My vote would be: “To read a study done in Britain about Brits while you’re a non-Brit living very far away from Britain.”

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