Online Social Networking: 2010

What I think now...

Two years ago I did a video blog "Online Social Networking Revolution: Thinking Ahead." It was one of my first video blogs and although I cringe at my presentation and editing, it remains a video that continues to get views.

This is my follow up video blog with some of my current thoughts on online social networking. Over the 15 years that I've been interacting online, YouTube and vlogging really changed the game for me four years ago when I first ventured there. The interaction on YouTube, the video sharing site, made it also a social web site. It pushed many of us further online because it allowed the presentation of self in real life (apologies to Erving Goffman)...we could see each other in video and get a better sense of the people we interacted with online.

Much has been made about what happened with online social networking, interaction and the community on YouTube, however there is no doubt that the site advanced online interaction into the mainstream. It remains to be seen what happens with YouTube but my belief has been that Google as a corporation had (and still has) no idea what it had in YouTube in the aspect of online social networking and what direction to go with it. It has never been in the MBA/CPA marketing business school mindset principles the company operates by, no matter how cool their campus was too work at and trendy their logo was. It was only a matter of time before the community on YouTube became a temporary moment in an era now gone by.

In any case what I've learned personally about online social networking is that it intersects in my life and is integrated now with offline "real life" social networking. A large number of the people I've met online since the early nineties I have met in person and maintain contact with. Those that I haven't, the virtual relationships have become as real as those with people I know in person. I no longer distinguish the difference.

One thing has become clear, everyone must now come to terms with how to handle life online and offline, even if for some that means opting out and not engaging online at all. That is still a choice that must be reckoned with, since to engage or not through the internet, means a decision has been made about relationships. It is neither right or wrong and everyone must decide individually what is best for them in their own personal happiness and choose how they want to interact with other people.

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Online Social Networking 2010 (What I Think Now) from JR Snyder Jr on Vimeo.

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January 14, 2008

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Urban Desert Storm: Phoenix Arizona September 2009

I'm a geek...weather interests me

Urban Desert Storm Summer 2009 from JR Snyder Jr on Vimeo.

Video Response to my unedited video "Urban Desert Rain 09/16/2007"

http://www.youtube.com/jrsnyderjr

Early Morning Rain Clouds

it rarely rains in central Phoenix...


05:30 nice gentle rain falling now!

Phoenx South Mountain Communications Towers

Twenty Towers Top South Mountain



Over the years I've wondered about the vulnerability of the towers on South Mountain. Usually decades ago when lightning protection was not what it is today, the concern was lightning strikes. That also sparks another concern, wildfires from the brush that covers the mountain, which could be started by lightning.
After September 11, 2001 the security of locations like this all over the US was reconsidered. The Bush Administration quietly spent millions of dollars in securing all kinds of locations. Among other things 911 emergency communication systems were upgraded both in locations like this and correspondingly in 911 centers.

This video blog was taken on South Mountain where the communications towers are located.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8obFpg_MTYk

http://www.youtube.com/jrsnyderjr

The Economy and Me: My Hometown

Phoenix, Arizona | Labor Day Weekend

This is the summer I believe we will look back and remember as the time when the fullness of this economic crisis and the aftermath, became much more real to the mass population.

Relatively no one will go untouched by the current and upcoming extended economic period. The United States and world are affected profoundly and in this video blog I discuss my thoughts on the one city and state, Phoenix, Arizona that I know well. In my mind the most difficult bear to wrestle is going to be unemployment because that is about income. The conundrum is an old one and too large to tackle here.
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Due to my personal circumstances I've had unique opportunities to see this economic crisis develop to it's ultimate collapse in a variety of ways. My professional associates, friends, family and myself have had to and are dealing with issues daily very directly and no end seems in sight. Currently I am in a good place of acceptance with an understanding of basic facts that no public relations spin of any corporation, media outlet or government agency will change my mind about, when they're as plain as the nose on my face. Of course my acceptance is subject to change with new information, since the ground is shifting beneath us. Another key though is knowing that shifting ground is part of the package.

It's been a long road since this Economic Crisis really began for me with the Tech/Telecom Crash in 2000 and then exacerbated by the events of September 11, 2001. Additionally I am living in a state that was giddy with vaporous money at the height of the market, when my mindset was that if it seemed too good to be true, it was. There have been employment and monetary struggles but they have been overcome, but not without challenges.

As painful as it's been at times, this decade for me has been rich with learning new things about myself and others, as well as where, when and how my values diverged with certain parts of American culture (such as consumerism). So many of us were sidetracked and I'm finding many of us are now finding our way back to our original selves and reflecting on "where do we go from here"?

This is a topic I am far from done writing and video blogging about I suspect.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbCARgTdin8

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There is a lake in California...

A visit to Dry Ford Lake in California in August, peak heat of the year



My video blog on YouTube



http://www.youtube.com/jrsnyderjr

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...on not casting pearls before swine

If you live long enough you experience the joy of learning things over and over again.

This is certainly true for me regarding the internet and specifically the social web. In the nineties when the internet came into the mainstream and more social with the advent of the worldwide web, I learned some lessons which laid the foundation for how I intended to deal with a technology that quickly became an information backbone of our time.

Since then, the internet has become more ubiquitous. A wealth of information and a cyber junkyard, a web of commerce and a social networking venue but above all else an overflowing warehouse of too much data. The rules controlling my online social engagement are pretty much the same as they are offline. I have come to relearn that not only is it intrinsic to my nature to be selective but also a requirement in order to keep my sense of self relatively intact as well as balance and order in my life. Rules for my life online need to come from my experience in life offline.


I was the kid who lived in a remote place and back in the day would have loved to have online interaction to explore the world and for a while escape what seemed like a mundane local world.


Oh, if I only knew then what I know now...

For some reason it seems necessary to reconsider the ground rules for operating on the internet. I'm not sure why...but I trust my instincts. It's not clear if this is due to the economic crisis, a change of decade, feeling overwhelmed, I'm wiser or something else and right now the reason seems irrelevant. The bottom line fundamental rule is I have control over how much and what information I see, and who I interact with online and any benefit or repercussions are due to my choices. In any case I use and interact on the web on my terms and what I use any website for is generally my business and not subject to the opinion of people who do not influence me.

This doesn't mean that I'm stopping or slowing my current online activity or judging what anyone else does. Perhaps our privacy is not as intact as we'd like to think and we should recognize accessing the "information superhighway" means sharing the road with unlicensed drivers. That also means making intelligent choices about how much road we can handle and proceed with caution.

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http://www.youtube.com/jrsnyderjr

Signs of the Times

Phoenix Arizona 07.21.2009

It is now two years after it became glaringly obvious that Arizona was at the epicenter of a cascading real estate market fall of epic proportions...

the state is in essentially in suspended animation, at an impasse, with no real resolution regarding what real estate is actually realistically worth and the refusal of lenders/real estate to concede they're over-leveraged, and "there is no there, there" to extract back the overextended amounts they loaned out.

The State Legislature in September will start the state budget from scratch. The current budget is a makeshift, temporary fix with an expanding deficit that hasn't been addressed.

A few signs of the times...
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Mortgages Ltd filed for bankruptcy in June 2008 after the suicide of President Scott Coles. Mortgages Ltd fueled the commercial real estate bubble as one of Arizona's largest private lenders, using cash from private investors. The returns were paid by proceeds coming in from new investors and not actual gains. They funded the largest commercial real estate projects, many now unfinished, causing long term damage to commercial real estate in the state.

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Arizona government has never done well at social service programs and the recognition is slowly dawning that probably our government is not a good place to humanely solve those problems. The best possible solutions in this economic environment are likely to be found in local community resources and self-reliant financial support. __________________________________________________________________

Biggest Anxiety of All: The Other Side of the Tracks

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It is no longer unusual to see BMW and Mercedes in the parking lot of uptown pawn shops.




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As much as Arizona epitomizes the Boom and Bust cycles of the American West it actually may have the best opportunity to reinvent itself, although it will take innovation and hard work. There are unique factors about the governmental process in the 97 year old 48th state. We are not encumbered by too many complex processes developed over centuries as some states are.

FWIW: My Thoughts on State Government Shutdown

Why I think shutting down state government is a bad idea, using Arizona as an example...

Today, 19 states are struggling with their state's budgets and how they are going to meet services with declining or no tax revenues. Arizona is one of them and less than 24 hours from a meltdown.

No matter your political point of view, recognize that a state government shutdown is much more than just stopping services and putting everything on hold until everyone makes up their mind. It triggers responses that have irretrievable consequences and is irresponsible. A shutdown, slowdown, meltdown, whatever...freezes all the State's money and the State Treasurer can not issue any warrants or checks (vendor payments, payroll, utilities, janitorial companies, loan payments, tax refunds) or disburse Federal money such as Unemployment, Medicare, Food Stamps, TANF, etc. The National Guard could be called out for prison duty but because they're federally funded, the money for them to operate will also be frozen. How many will accept an IOU for that assignment for very long?

If you choose to take the position that the state needs a shutdown to get it's house in order, know the consequences no matter which side you're on. Social services may be distasteful but the answer is not abruptly halting them without some thoughtful unwinding. The chaos ensuing affects all citizens, because the ripple of destruction will run through the state economy on all levels.

Destruction is not the same as Disruption.

There are good reasons why even a partial shutdown is a very bad idea right now. A shutdown will destroy the state's credit rating. We are already insolvent and any money borrowed to operate will have to be paid back at higher interest rates due to bad credit. The entire state economy is in a precarious position and even a 24 hour shutdown will have a negative impact and far worse if protracted. The law suits against the state alone will hinder us for decades.

I am absolutely against spending money we don't have and are not likely to obtain in the near future. This is the worst possible time for taxation and I have grave doubts about the effectiveness of government social services. On the other hand I do not see any sense in further destruction of the state's economy and government, simply because some people don't understand that there is just not enough money, and others are too stubborn to reflect that destruction is irresponsible anarchy and nothing more than that.

If there ever was a time to call for cooler heads to prevail, this is it.

Everything is amazing, nobody is happy...

Louis CK appearance on Conan O'Brien's 03.18.2009 show viral video on YouTube

Enjoy...hopefully this video won't be removed from YouTube by DMCA

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Thomas Edison's Automatic Telegraph at the 1872 Centennial Expedition
First keyboard of The Victorian Internet

For those of us born smack in the middle of the Baby Boom, the advances in communications, medicine, transportation and social norms is staggering. We're fortunate to live in a period of history when advances equivalent to those in the Renaissance have occurred at lightning speeds in a mere few generations. The Dark Ages lasted from the fall of Rome in the 5th century until the Renaissance began in the 14th...centuries of decline in culture and no progress, generations where life never changed and knowledge stood still, secreted away.