The 12 Most Annoying Types of Facebookers

Great list put together by CNN.com:


The Let-Me-Tell-You-Every-Detail-of-My-Day Bore. "I'm waking up." "I had Wheaties for breakfast." "I'm bored at work." "I'm stuck in traffic." You're kidding! How fascinating! No moment is too mundane for some people to broadcast unsolicited to the world. Just because you have 432 Facebook friends doesn't mean we all want to know when you're waiting for the bus.

The Self-Promoter. OK, so we've probably all posted at least once about some achievement. And sure, maybe your friends really do want to read the fascinating article you wrote about beet farming. But when almost EVERY update is a link to your blog, your poetry reading, your 10k results or your art show, you sound like a bragger or a self-centered careerist.

The Friend-Padder. The average Facebook user has 120 friends on the site. Schmoozers and social butterflies -- you know, the ones who make lifelong pals on the subway -- might reasonably have 300 or 400. But 1,000 "friends?" Unless you're George Clooney or just won the lottery, no one has that many. That's just showing off.

The Town Crier. "Michael Jackson is dead!!!" You heard it from me first! Me, and the 213,000 other people who all saw it on TMZ. These Matt Drudge wannabes are the reason many of us learn of breaking news not from TV or news sites but from online social networks. In their rush to trumpet the news, these people also spread rumors, half-truths and innuendo. No, Jeff Goldblum did not plunge to his death from a New Zealand cliff.

The TMIer. "Brad is heading to Walgreens to buy something for these pesky hemorrhoids." Boundaries of privacy and decorum don't seem to exist for these too-much-information updaters, who unabashedly offer up details about their sex lives, marital troubles and bodily functions. Thanks for sharing.

The Bad Grammarian. "So sad about Fara Fauset but Im so gladd its friday yippe". Yes, I know the punctuation rules are different in the digital world. And, no, no one likes a spelling-Nazi schoolmarm. But you sound like a moron.

The Sympathy-Baiter. "Barbara is feeling sad today." "Man, am I glad that's over." "Jim could really use some good news about now." Like anglers hunting for fish, these sad sacks cast out their hooks -- baited with vague tales of woe -- in the hopes of landing concerned responses. Genuine bad news is one thing, but these manipulative posts are just pleas for attention.

The Lurker. The Peeping Toms of Facebook, these voyeurs are too cautious, or maybe too lazy, to update their status or write on your wall. But once in a while, you'll be talking to them and they'll mention something you posted, so you know they're on your page, hiding in the shadows. It's just a little creepy.

The Crank. These curmudgeons, like the trolls who spew hate in blog comments, never met something they couldn't complain about. "Carl isn't really that impressed with idiots who don't realize how idiotic they are." [Actual status update.] Keep spreading the love.

The Paparazzo. Ever visit your Facebook page and discover that someone's posted a photo of you from last weekend's party -- a photo you didn't authorize and haven't even seen? You'd really rather not have to explain to your mom why you were leering like a drunken hyena and French-kissing a bottle of Jagermeister.

The Maddening Obscurist. "If not now then when?" "You'll see..." "Grist for the mill." "John is, small world." "Dave thought he was immune, but no. No, he is not." [Actual status updates, all.] Sorry, but you're not being mysterious -- just nonsensical.


The Chronic Inviter. "Support my cause. Sign my petition. Play Mafia Wars with me. Which 'Star Trek' character are you? Here are the 'Top 5 cars I have personally owned.' Here are '25 Things About Me.' Here's a drink. What drink are you? We're related! I took the 'What President Are You?' quiz and found out I'm Millard Fillmore! What president are you?"

Social Media Ad Spend Trending Downward

And everyone is waiting for Twitter to takeoff in terms of ad revenue? Get a clue!

Total social network ad spending in the U.S. will drop 3 percent to $1.1 billion in 2009, from $1.2 billion last year, according to projections from eMarketer. This is a major reversal: spending grew an estimated 33 percent in 2008 and 129 percent in 2007. The news shows that while social nets continue to attract millions of users, the ad dollars don’t seem to be following in kind.

Blame it on MySpace: The falloff in social net spending is largely pinned on the faltering of MySpace. The Fox Interactive social net accounts for nearly half of all U.S. ad spend in the space. Back in December, eMarketer expected $630 million in ad spending on MySpace in the U.S. this year. Now eMarketer projects that US ad spending on MySpace will reach just $495 million this year, down 15 percent from the estimated $585 million it produced last year. To be sure, MySpace and Facebook began looking at expanding their overseas advertising last year, as the U.S. market was already heading into a tailspin. But observers are keenly watching as to whether MySpace’s new CEO—and former Facebook exec—Owen Van Natta can begin to turn things around in the U.S.

Facebook, widgets not affected: MySpace’s troubles appear to be unique to itself, though eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson does say that spending across social nets is diminishing. But Facebook still has a reason to smile, as eMarketer expects it to grow its U.S. ad revenues 9 percent in 2009, to $230 million, though it’s less than half of what its rival will take in. Ad spending on widgets and apps are also having very healthy growth, with projected spending to hit $70 million in ‘09, up 75 percent from the year before, albeit when spending was next to nothing. In general U.S. ad spend on all other social network sites combined is expected to rise an anemic 1 percent to $345 million.

Sprint's New Widget Gives You A Taste Of "Now"

Sprint has launched their "Now" widget and it really is unbelievably cool. It provides info on just that, "Now." Little snippets of information regarding the amount of babies being born to the top Google searches going on at this moment. It's designed to live in all the major environments; iGoogle, MySpace, Facebook, or your desktop. Give it a click and see what's "Now."

Lionel Richie, DJ AM, Ashton Kutcher...Digicrest?

MySpace Music through a party at The Old Mint last night as part of the week long Web 2.0 Summit going on here in SF.  A top class event from MySpace no doubt, with a fantastic bar selection, gorgeous decor, and of course, entertainment for all.

Lionel Richie started the evening with such classics as "Hello," "Say You, Say Me," and "Three Times A Lady."  Despite his mixing the words "MySpace" in with his usual lyrics, Lionel gave a killer performance and had the place jumping.

I'm a huge DJ AM fan, and followed the plane crash and the events that followed pretty closely, and like many of the attendees last night, questioned whether or not he would show up.  I got that answer when I quite literally ran into DJ AM as I turned a corner into the room where he was to spin later on.  Happy to see him healthy and doing what he does best, I danced my ass off with everyone else as AM killed the room with his classic mixes; Red Hot Chilli Peppers into Oasis, Bob Sinclair into Bob Marley, and so on.

Oh, and Ashton Kutcher was there.  Moving on.

Grainy cell phone photos for your liking...unlike a majority of other attendees, I couldn't manage a digital camera into my outfit that wouldn't get swiped by security guards.

MySpace Is Out, Facebook Is In

I hate to steal the tile and content directly from Media Post, but this is a great article about the varying differences in MySpace and Facebook as a pure social network vs. a utility.

Panel: MySpace Is Out, Facebook Is In
by Karl Greenberg

A panel at Monday's PMA Digital Marketing Summit in New York tackled social media. Its biggest conundrum seemed to be this: Which is better, Facebook or MySpace? Everyone pretty much agreed that MySpace is out, Facebook is in. Hooman Radfar, CEO and co-founder of Clearspring, a digital marketing company that centers on widgets as an ad platform, says that while he agrees that there's a migration away from MySpace, "It is still relevant from a viral perspective. It is still huge, but there's segmentation where a lot of people are viewing Facebook as a utility."

Kwasi Asare, head of new media for Bad Boy Entertainment, said the Sean Combs conglomerate is seeing people migrating away from MySpace. "I would say that my marketing is focused on cracking the Facebook puzzle," he said. "People are using it as a social networking tool, while MySpace is ... annoying."

Marshall Sponder, senior web analyst with Monster Worldwide, said social media sites like Facebook are serving as replacements for personal web sites. "But," he added, "there has not been a lot of return on advertising yet. I think what's really holding it back is the need for social networks to become ubiquitous."

Both Sponder and Radfar said the wide adoption of so-called "cloud computing" will make social media sites ubiquitous. Radfar used a program called Mint as an example. Mind is an online financial tool that requires a certain level of trust among those uploading personal banking data. "When it launched, it didn't think anyone would ever use it."

When Asare said that advertisers mulling placement on Bad Boy social media properties were balking because there's no way to control the content on social pages where ads might appear, Sponder said that's the nature of the biz. "They are not in control; you can't change that, but can monitor and moderate it."

Asare said the fact that "sexy" brands - e.g., personalities, films, fashion and music (Bad Boy's stock in trade) -- garner the best response rates in social media environments amounts to an opportunity for more prosaic brands. "The music industry is hurting for new revenue streams. Non-sexy with sexy music content. From my perspective, those are the deals I'm looking for. In the music industry, we are looking for those opportunities."