Is Gri.pe the new Yelp? (Photo Credit: CC BY-SA/Wesley Fryer/Flickr)

Some consumers who have bad experiences with corporations feel inspired to warn other consumers via the Better Business Bureau that something’s amiss. However, dealing with the bureaucratic speed of an organization like the BBB isn’t necessarily the most efficient way to handle a problem, particularly in this age of online social media. That’s when Gri.pe, the new company that bills itself as “a better Better Business Bureau for the Twitter age,” becomes handy.

‘Word of mouth is powerful’

Consumers looking to lodge meaningful complaints against a company at the speed of Twitter need look no further than the free Gri.pe iPhone or Android app, reports the New York Times. The company’s byline – “word of mouth is powerful” – reminds consumers they have the power to fight back against bad businesses. With a simple user interface, Gri.pe enables consumers to simultaneously post their complaints to Facebook and Twitter and directly to the company’s customer service department. In the process, Gri.pe invites the company in question to respond to the charge and potentially remedy the problem, similar to the way Yelp works for service industry businesses.

On the flip side, consumers can send out positive notices, called “cheers.” Then they can talk about it with friends on the Gri.pe network.

Posting to Facebook weeds out the fakers

While having Gri.pe post to sites like Facebook might seem like an expected add-on, Gri.pe CEO Farhad Mohit argues that there’s a good reason for doing so. As it would be very easy for consumers searching for a free payday to loan their voice to a chorus of boos, Gri.pe uses Facebook and Twitter as security devices to help discourage users from making frivolous posts (“social bullying”). Nobody wants to sound like a jerk in front of friends and family. However, if a user doesn’t possess reasonable internal filters, Gri.pe does reserve the right to remove comments deemed too offensive or outlandish.

Gri.pe: It was a very good year

Despite having been founded little more than a year ago, the six-person company has nothing to Gri.pe about when it comes to its user base. According to Mohit’s estimation, nearly 1.7 million people already use the service. “Online word-of-mouth power,” which Mohit refers to with the fun-sounding acronym “womp,” is simply that powerful. Gri.pe has more than 100 million-plus local businesses and service providers taking notice, so it must be.

Griping and complaining about bad service on ‘The View’

Sources

Gri.pe corporate site

New York Times

Is giving companies like Twitter huge take breaks killing local economies? (Photo Credit: CC BY-ND/Estupido/public var)

In an 8-to-3 vote, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has decided in favor of an ordinance that will grant local company Twitter and others a tax break from the city’s corporate payroll tax on new hires, reports the Los Angeles Times. The 1.5 percent tax shelter will be good for the next six years, as long as companies like Twitter maintain their physical San Francisco offices. While Mayor Edwin Lee praised the move as a step in the right direction for maintaining the city’s popularity as a location for tech firms, critics believe such corporate tax holidays open the door for cities to be exploited by big businesses.

Twitter’s continued presence ‘a rejuvenation’

Offering Twitter a payroll tax break was necessary to keep the social media giant in San Francisco for years to come, said Lee.

“This moment represents a real step forward in the effort to revitalize and transform the Central Market area,” he said. “Central Market and the Tenderloin have been burdened with high vacancies and blight for decades.”

While Twitter officials would not comment on the payroll tax exclusion Wednesday, Lee told the San Francisco Chronicle that he appreciated Twitter’s enthusiasm for helping revitalize those key business districts. The creation of jobs and services in sagging geographic areas would benefit San Francisco across the board.

“There is great synergy between Twitter and the arts organizations and small retail businesses who are looking to expand in the area,” said Lee. “The city can work collaboratively with businesses, community-based organizations, property owners and area residents to catalyze meaningful change.”

Businesses will expect the tax holiday, critics claim

Over the next six years, the Twitter payroll tax break is projected to save the company about $22 million on its taxes, the Chronicle reports. That’s $22 million that San Francisco needs, said city supervisor John Avalos.

“I don’t believe giving an exception to our payroll tax is the way to go,” he said. “I believe that businesses in San Francisco and around the country should be socially responsible. … If we allow a company to threaten to leave, then give them a tax break so they don’t, we’re setting a bad precedent.”

Sources

Los Angeles Times

San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco Mayor’s Office

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty on corporate tax holidays and offshoring

Jeffrey Cox, recently fired for comments on Twitter, is further proof that social media has real consequences. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Jeffrey Cox, formerly a deputy attorney general for the state of Indiana, was recently fired for comments he made on social media sites. He said on Twitter that pro-union protesters in Wisconsin should be cleared from the capital with “live ammunition,” and the comment was relayed to his bosses. This is only the latest piece of evidence show that irresponsible use of social media can ruin a career.

Lawyer loses job with three malicious words

Recently, a controversy began on the social media site Twitter. The popular news opinion site Mother Jones was Tweeting updates concerning the ongoing union protests in Wisconsin. When Mother Jones tweeted that Wisconsin police might be used to corral unruly protesters, another user replied “use live ammunition.” The user further tried to justify his comment, saying use of force by police cannot be called “murder” because law enforcement officers have the right to use force, according to Mother Jones. The website did some digging and discovered Jeffrey Cox was the author of the comments. The entries on Twitter and his now-defunct personal blog were passed on to his superiors — thus ended his 10-year career as a lawyer.

Many before Cox have made that mistake

There are numerous tales of people losing their jobs because of gaffes on social media sites. In the case of a Twitter user who came to be called “Cisco Fatty,” a tweet destroyed the user’s chance at a job before she even took it. Cisco Fatty wrote “Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against … hating the work.” Cisco, being the computer savvy company it is, found out about it, discovered the person’s identity and promptly rescinded the job offer.

Deep web

Companies can find out a lot of information about potential and current employees, and it is remarkably easy to do. Using a website like Pipl.com or a program that searches the “deep web,” or the information that traditional search engines don’t always include in results, a company can see a person’s profile on social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook or Myspace, any blogging activity and even voting history. Corporations and governments have an image to maintain, and employees are tied to those entities. What people do in their free time can certainly affect the company when it’s known who someone works for.

Sources

Mother Jones

Twitter and Facebook firings on Huffington Post

Pipl

The New York UFO sightings weren't flying saucers, and neither is the cooling tank in this photo. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Reports are beginning to emerge of a New York UFO sighting. It seems that some unidentified objects appeared over New York City on Wednesday. Almost immediately, New Yorkers took to Twitter and began tweeting about the UFO in New York City skies. Balloons can be mistaken easily for flying saucers, if seen at the right angle and with the right reflection. Reports of China UFO sightings have been rampant as well.

New York UFO sighting likely balloons

Around midday Wednesday, some New Yorkers began seeing multiple flying objects that were reported as a UFO NYC sighting. Twitter exploded with claims of a UFO over New York City, according to the Huffington Post. However, not every New Yorker was buying it. Almost as soon as claims of a UFO in NYC came out, so did the explanation that what people saw was a raft of large balloons that appeared silver in color. Video of the events in question only reveals tiny silver objects floating far away. Balloons with a silver tint can easily appear metallic with glare from sunlight. Making the imaginative leap to visitors from another world isn’t too difficult, either.

UFO China sightings

Over the past year, several UFO sightings have occurred in China. An unidentified flying object closed several airports over the summer. The most recent sighting occurred a few weeks ago. A flight into Baotou, Inner Mongolia, reported seeing something in the air that air traffic control observed on radar. The airport rerouted flights for more than an hour before the object left. It wasn’t the only report of a UFO over China during the summer. Xioashan Airport closed temporarily in July under similar circumstances.

Prediction coming true?

It’s worth noting that retired Air Force officer Stanley Fulham, according to Yahoo News, released a book online, titled “Challenges of Change” in September. The book predicts that extra terrestrials would make their presence known on Oct. 13, 2010, when the U.S. would see UFO displays over its “principal cities.” The book is available on Fulham’s website.

Sources

Huffington Post

Yahoo! News

Website for Stanley Fulham

Twitter hacked: fixing a bug that let Twitter users force people to follow them erased every user's Twitter follow stats Monday. Flickr photo.

“Twitter hacked” was the headline Monday as users saw their Twitter follower stats fall to zero. In a microsecond, every Twitter user from Ashton Kutcher to Average Joe lost their Twitter follow stats. But “Twitter hacked” was just another social media wildfire rumor. Twitter’s follow stats display was disabled by Twitter itself to fix a bug that allowed Twitter users to force others to be their Twitter followers. It’s the latest of many recent social media security issues. But when compared to Blippy exposing credit card numbers online and Facebook phishing scams, Twitter hacked could be worse.

Twitter follow bug exposed in Twitter hacked scandal

Part and parcel of Twitter being hacked rumor was that Twitter users were led to believe that Twitter was hacked after a Turkish blog exposed the Twitter follow bug and offered instructions on how to exploit it. Caroline Mccarthy at CNET reports that another blog jumped on board the same day loan of scandalous intel. Webrazzi forced the Twitter accounts of Twitter CEO Evan Williams and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to follow a dummy profile. The bug allowed Twitter members to add followers by tweeting “accept” followed by “@” and any registered Twitter user name.

Twitter followers fall to zero

After “Twitter hacked” headlines broke loose Monday, Twitter sent a notice on the company’s Twitter feed that everyone’s Twitter follower states were affected while the bug was being fixed. “Follow count display is set to zero and follow/unfollow is temporarily offline while we fix a bug,” Twitter tweeted at 1:02 p.m. eastern time. MSNBC reported that the follower lists were restored by 2:15 p.m.

Twitter hacked following Facebook phishing

The Twitter hacked story is hot on the heels of news about the latest Facebook phishing scam. According to pehub.com, a Facebook event invitation was sent to some of the over 2,300 friends of Jim Breyer, a venture capitalist who sits on Facebook’s board of directors. Breyer’s Facebook friends checking their E-mail Sunday morning saw a note asking “Would you like a Facebook phone number?” Users who entered their passwords in response to the spoof message from Breyer in turn had the whole thing sent to their friends lists, too.

Twitter followers beware Blippy

Twitter being hacked and Facebook phishing has sparked a debate that has social media users wondering just how secure their personal information is and what companies like Facebook and Twitter are doing with it. One of the most frightening social media security incidents adding to this debate is that of Blippy exposing credit card numbers online. Blippy invites users to use the social networking service to tell their friends about what they buy online. Those concerned about financial security should know that someone figured out how to find Blippy members’ credit card numbers on Google. A search returned 127 results that included full credit card numbers before Blippy fixed the flaw.

How would you feel about one search engine combining all of your social networks? Image from Flickr.

Spokeo.com claims to do something very simple: aggregate all the publicly available information about a person and sell it to anyone who is willing to pay with payday loans or otherwise. Many are asking if it’s a Spokeo.com scam, or if Spokeo really does offer a legitimate service. The answer is … sort of. “Spokeo.com is a scam” isn’t entirely true, but the functionality of Spokeo isn’t necessarily entirely legitimate.

What Spokeo.com offers

Spokeo.com itself is a search engine that aggregates social networking information. Any information considered public on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Ning, Netflix, Flickr, Last.fm or any other network is aggregated using the Spokeo.com search. The aggregator matches the information it gathers with an e-mail address. Spokeo.com then sells the information it aggregates to anybody who gets payday loans no faxing or any other financing to pay for the information.

Spokeo.com scam?

There have been many allegations that Spokeo.com Scam might be a better name for the company. Spokeo.com itself states in its privacy policy that it only gathers publicly available information. Independent tests by snopes.com and news services have found that the opt-out process on Spokeo.com is spotty. Spokeo.com scam whistle-blowers also claim that Spokeo.com scam billing processes are of concern.

The response of Spokeo.com to scam allegations is that company heads are “just launching a new version of Spokeo and are reviewing policies and algorithms.”

Keeping social networking information safe from Spokeo

The spookiest thing about Spokeo.com, scam or not, is that it aggregates information on the internet you may or may not want shared. More important than which web sites like Spokeo.com might be aggregating your information is what you choose to share. If available, set your privacy settings to a level you are comfortable with.

Spokeo.com is an aggregator – so be sure to remove information you do not want public from the original web site where the information was available. Beyond protecting yourself from the potential Spokeo.com scam, it is just good practice in protecting yourself online.

Sources

Snopes.com
Pandia Search Engine News
Spokio.com blog

You know that it is dangerous to broadcast exactly where you are over the World Wide Web, right? Let’s set aside the ways in which the powers that be monitor us every day. I’m talking about revealing your location to complete strangers so that they can track you, a la Cornel Wilde in “The Naked Prey.” It isn’t the best idea in the world, because at the very least, if people know where you live and that you aren’t home, they can come claim your stuff. “Please rob me” is what the Paris Hiltons and Tila Tequilas of the world are saying when they tweet exactly where they are at any given time. It’s a potential pay day for the unscrupulous savvy.

Please Rob Me? What a concept

Boy Van Amstel took those three little words to heart, placed his tongue firmly in cheek and started his mashup site entitled – wait for it – Please Rob Me. He told the BBC that “It started with me and a friend looking at our Twitter feeds and seeing more and more Foursquare posts.” For those of you who don’t know, Foursquare is an online game where participants reveal their location in the real world, which is plotted on a map. Twitter is, of course, a ubiquitous microblogging platform where many people tweet anything that crosses their minds.

Please Rob Me mixes these features with social commentary

There’s satire afoot here. Please Rob Me doesn’t encourage theft or related illegal activity. I don’t, either. But I think skewering the way people tweet is juicy.

“The Web site is not a tool for burglary,” Van Amstel told the BBC. “The point we’re getting at is that not long ago it was questionable to share your full name on the internet. We’ve gone past that point by 1,000 miles.” Van Amstel also claims that actually using information on Please Rob Me to burglar someone’s abode would be “very difficult.” No easy pay day here.

Twitter shut down the PleaseRobMe account

Yet the site rolls on. PC Magazine writes that Twitter turned out the lights due to what they considered to be “suspicious activity.” I think that Twitter doesn’t have a sense of humor.

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Whether your business is payday loans, auto loans or nearly anything else, online social marketing through such networks as Facebook and Twitter should be an important part of the way you do business. However, if the recent Edelman study quoted in Ad Age is any indication, social media friending is far from a be-all, end-all. In fact, Edelman’s survey shows that a mere 25 percent of social media users trust what their friends have to say about the credibility of a business.

What? They don’t trust their “friends?”

That’s what Michael Bush reports in Ad Age. It spits in the face of the online social marketing strategy that is central to many companies. Richard Edelman, CEO of the Edelman public relations company, uses his Trust Barometer to indicate that since 2008, the percentage of those who trust their online friends has dropped tremendously, from 45 percent down to the current 25 percent.

A sign of the times?

“The events of the last 18 months have scarred people,” Edelman said in reference to privacy issues encountered with such popular social networks as Facebook and Twitter. “People have to see messages in different places and from different people. That means experts as well as peers or company employees. It’s a more skeptical time.”

Online social networks aren’t the only group to have lost ground. Bush writes that the Trust Barometer showed television’s credibility to be down 23 points, while radio and newspapers were down 20 over the same time span. Oddly enough, Edelman’s Trust Barometer showed that CEOs and financial analysts gained credibility in the eyes of the public. Have people been paying attention to the news?

Average Joes don’t hold sway any more

Perhaps we’ve finally reached a saturation point with online social media. The influence of friends is diluted by sheer numbers and mind-numbing speed of communication. Live feeds from friend lists that are hundreds of members long are too much for a human being to follow with any meaning or accuracy. Word of mouth is more valuable than ever, Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association President Paul Rand tells Bush. Yes, that’s the name of the association.

“The mind-set is no longer, ‘I can just trust it because it’s somebody’s opinion. It’s, ‘I can trust that specific opinion because it’s someone I know.’”

Which raises the question: Do you really know your online friends?

Most people can’t physically name 200 to 300 people they know, yet many have that many online “friends,” if not more. Personal Money Market and other online payday loans portals depend upon social networking to spread the word regarding their services. But as consumers become more sophisticated, they can spot marketing messages disseminated via online social networks more easily. If Edelman’s study is any indication, consumers aren’t responding as positively as they were just two years ago.

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For sports fans, the Super Bowl is the culmination of the NFL season. Even for casual fans, Super Bowl time is a pop culture chill out, as the viral commercials fly fast and furious and the halftime show always presents the chance to either see the performers have a wardrobe malfunction or finally succumb to rigor mortis, perhaps both. Payday loans for mummification supplies are available, and hotlines are at the ready in Roger Goodell’s skybox.

But how about this chocolate-peanut butter collision?

Television commercials alone aren’t enough anymore; online social media like Twitter, Facebook and more have ramped up the Super Bowl experience to an entirely different level. Fans, advertisers and players are all in on the action, from Facebook fan pages to contests and various other promotions, it’s a completely interactive experience that mere television cannot match.

What Super Bowl social media can do for you

Thanks to Mashable’s round-up, here are a few highlights of what to expect from Super Bowl social media this weekend:

Lots of controversy

• GoDaddy: Watch out for the “Lola” ad online that was banned by CBS. It’s received it’s share of negative buzz, but perhaps the Danica Patrick-driven ads are cashing in on the “no publicity is bad publicity” concept.
• ManCrunch: See the video below. Men need intimate time, apparently.
• Focus on the Family: This is the pro-life Tim Tebow commercial that the makers insist isn’t a politically charged religio-political ad on national television. Yes, all organized religion is politics. You heard it here first.

Creating a sports buzz (w/product tie-ins, of course)

• Coca-Cola: Live Positively on Facebook, football fans. Share a virtual Coke and send some money to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. You’ll feel just like the kid who got the “Mean” Joe Greene jersey.

• Budweiser: Fans are being encouraged to vote on Facebook for what ad they want to see.
• Target: Not technically a Super Bowl social media player, but their Super Love Sender is a Valentine’s Day attraction.
• Monster: A Super Bowl advertising veteran, Monster is featuring a microsite called Fiddle a Friend. Because what job hunter in this economy couldn’t use a fiddle-playing beaver?

If you don’t care about the game

Then something is wrong with you. Sorry, kidding. It will be a good game, but I can understand wanting to do something else. I’d rather be watching baseball, or playing it, but that’s just me. Here are alternatives in Super Bowl social media:

• Pepsi: No Super Bowl commercial, but plenty of social media fun to be had, thanks to the Pepsi Refresh Project.
• Fill in your favorite social media time-waster here.

NFL players twitter and tweet

• The NFL: The Tag the Super Bowl #SB44 is a joint Twitter/Flickr venture, and as a whole this is the NFL’s first official foray into Super Bowl social media madness. According to Mashable, the “initiative encourages fans to tag their tweets and Flickr photos with the SB44 hashtag.” The NFL will pull it all together into a great photo album.
• Chad Ochocinco: Lots of players past and present are on Twitter and Facebook. Not to be outdone, however, Chad Ochocinco will be on Motorola’s OCNN to cover the game and rap about the color of his underwear – or something.

Slow down; untwitter your brain

Your payday loans blogger says that Super Bowl social media is changing the way fans interact with the game and its players. Yet it still can’t make him care more about football than baseball. Baseball operates outside the boundaries of time – there is no game clock. Since we’re all rushing toward our social media graves at 4G speed these days – with nary a moment to Twitter our parting shots – I think it’s nice to have something where the game continues until it ends, not until a clock runs out or advertisers tell us.

Related Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MQWFiIrBLA

(Image from cote, Flickr.com)

In part one of this series, readers learned that Twitter can be useful in creating additional income streams or just useful for fast cash in emergency situations. As we journey further into the opportunities for making money on Twitter, we’ll show you how to use it to save money in order to pay down debt or how it can be used to raise funds for charitable efforts.

The following ideas round out our series for making fast cash on Twitter:

Search for Deals

It is likely that you’ve fallen into debt because you’ve been paying too much for items that you use every day. Therefore, it is time to tighten your belt and start searching for deals on these items, instead. Make a list of the products that you regularly use and then go in search of their manufacturers on Twitter. Follow them to receive regular updates on sales and coupons being offered on many of these same items.

Also, follow coupon sites that offer a variety of different coupons or sites like Woot or SlickDeals, which offer or advertise a wide selection of deals on different items every day. While deal mining won’t put fast cash directly into your pockets, it will save you money that can be applied to your existing debt.

Solicit Donations

If you are raising money to benefit a charitable cause or if you are just in a tight bind and in need of a little fast cash till payday, ask your Twitter followers if they can share a few bucks to help you out. While this isn’t something you’d do every day, most people don’t mind contributing a dollar or two to charity or directly to your PayPal account when you need emergency cash. If fifty of your kindest followers are able to share two bucks, you’ve made $100 for your charitable efforts or to help you get out of a crunch. Chances are you’ll need more space than the 140 characters Twitter allows per tweet to explain your situation, which is where sites like ChipIn come in handy. By setting up an event there, you can explain your need and give your followers an opportunity to chip in. You may even want to offer an incentive, such as a service in exchange for donations. For example, if you are adept at making Twitter backgrounds or setting up WordPress blogs, offer your followers a special gift of one of these for the money that they donate.

Stay Home and Tweet

Twitter and other social networking sites are free to use and can introduce you to people all over the world. So instead of going out and spending money on admission, food, drinks, gas and other expenses, why not stay home and socialize online instead? Sure, it’s not face to face interaction, but it’s also not costing you an arm and a leg to participate. When trying to get out of debt, your focus has to be on saving money, so if you’re a social butterfly but fluttering from event to event in the real world is keeping you in debt, learn to tweet, instead.

While these tips on making money with Twitter won’t make you rich, each one of them can help you climb out of debt if you apply them properly. When you are in need of fast cash, it helps to think outside of the proverbial box and try things that you ordinarily wouldn’t. Bear in mind that, although Twitter does represent a money making opportunity, the key to success in any social networking activity is to personally engage those who are taking the time to follow you. Do not bombard people with advertising or financial requests simply because you have a need for fast cash. Instead, take the time to interact and build strong relationships and then, if you find yourself in need of emergency cash or swimming in debt, you are in a position to use these, and other, creative ways of turning your tweets into cash.

Looking for fast cash?  Apply HERE!

(Image via keiya, Flickr.com

Just a few years ago, twitter was something people did with their thumbs when bored. Today, it still involves using your fingers, but engaging in Twitter connects you to a world of people with similar interests. For those in debt or who are involved in a charitable effort and frantically searching for ways of making fast cash, why not consider the opportunities literally at your fingertips via social networking?

The following are a few possible ways of making fast cash on Twitter:

Promote a Business or Service

This one is obvious, but if you haven’t tried it yet, it’s time to start. Everyone from your neighborhood Avon lady to Bill Gates is using Twitter to promote their business. People engage in social networking with others based on their common interests. Now, we all know that, in business, what you’re selling first to the public is yourself. So, since you’ve already been successful in selling yourself, making friends and building a following, why not take the next step in inviting your online networks to do business with you?

Sell Your Stuff

Look around your house and consider that any gently used items you’re not using anymore can be sold to someone else. When you find yourself in debt and in need of fast cash, think of Twitter as your own personal garage sale site and offer these useful wares to your followers.

Get Paid to Tweet

A lot of business owners would like to advertise on Twitter, but don’t have the time to engage in social networking. Therefore, smart entrepreneurs have taken to paying others, who are savvy at social networking, to tweet about their special sales, discounts, new products, special events, etc. Rates for this service may vary according to the amount of people following you or if you have to establish a separate account and build a following for each particular client, but the payoff can be big if you work hard at it. While having one client pay for this service may not produce enough fast cash to get you out of debt, if you extend this service to multiple clients, you just may be able to get the cash you need while building a new business niche.

Sponsored Tweets

It is rumored that Kim Kardashian charges up to $10,000 for sponsored tweets running in her timeline. Now, while you probably don’t have the following that Ms. Kardashian does and, therefore, cannot charge nearly what she and other celebrities do for sponsored tweets, you can still benefit from sponsored tweets. Internet companies, like Ad.ly exist for the sole purpose of connecting you with businesses willing to pay you for the opportunity to advertise to your followers.

In part two of How to Make Money on Twitter, you will learn more on how to use social networking to make fast cash, but you’ll also learn how to use sites like Twitter to save money when you need to tighten your budget or raise money for charity. Individuals who are serious about making fast cash on the Internet to get out of debt can do so with these tips and other creative social networking ideas that are applied with serious effort.

For Fast Cash, apply HERE!

Grand Central Station interior; image from Flickr.

People were all aTwitter, saying Grand Central Station was shut down today, but it turns out that was either a hoax or a misunderstanding. According to The Huffington Post and Gothamist, the commotion started when someone linked to a 2007 story about an explosion at Grand Central. It was shut down back then, but not today.

It does say on the linked story and photo that it’s from 2007, but it’s waaaaay down at the bottom. I haven’t been able to track down down the original post that started this mayhem, but it’s an interesting lesson in social networking. You can use Twitter to find the best place to get a new tire, advertise short term loans or spread panic and lies.

Double check before you double click

I think the best thing we can learn from this is that before we copy a link, ReTweet a post or update our Facebook statuses with the latest tidbit of surprising information, we should check our facts. I have been guilty of Facebooking without thinking, for sure.

A friend of mine posted in his status update that Robert Pattinson was going to play Spider-Man in “Spider-Man 4,” and I immediately reacted, stating my displeasure. Turns out, he had stumbled across an April Fool’s Day story. Not only was the story old news, it was a hoax. Luckily for me, this did little harm other than making me look foolish. This Grand Central shut down business is a good example of a time when it could cause a little more damage.

No more he said, I said

The best way to know if information is accurate is to check it out on an actual news web site. Newspapers and news television stations are probably the most careful, best sources of information. Sure, they get it wrong sometimes, too, but you can trust them most of the time.

"Whut? U poked her instead of going out wit me?"

I’m a statistic. You may be a statistic, too. But I didn’t get ‘faced and mess around on Facebook during my marriage in order to become one. If I had, I would have needed a whole lot more than a cash advance to fix that kind of trouble.

Despite the seeming stupidity of it all, the London Telegraph claims that 1 in 5 divorces refers to Facebook. I cringe, and not just because of the horrific grammar in that linked phrase that I use to ensnare you, random Google surfer. I cringe because people use social media like Facebook and Twitter without thinking. Even Tiger Woods didn’t air his escapades for the entire World Wide Web to see.

Poke, Poke, Cheat, Cheat

Twenty percent of divorces are prompted by Facebook indiscretions? That’s a staggering number, but Mark Keenan of Divorce-Online tells the Telegraph that “I had heard from my staff that there were a lot of people saying they had found out things about their partners on Facebook and I decided to see how prevalent it was I was really surprised to see 20 percent of all the petitions containing references to Facebook.” Inappropriate sexual conversations with inappropriate people are big factor in divorces and other marital strife. E-mails, scrawling your libido on a Facebook wall or flashing the hot to trot via a mobile Facebook app are all signs that people have a lot to learn about being decent people. Remember, it’s quite easy for wronged lovers to track that kind of stuff.

But Everyone Deserves Physical Fulfillment

Yes, they do. But when you’re in a relationship, you’ve made a commitment to that person. That deserves more than what one 35-year-old woman got from her husband. Apparently, she discovered he was going to divorce her by combing his Facebook communications. Privacy and trust issues aside, show some class! A partner deserves face-to-face communication. No text message breakups, no phone calls, no E-mails, no Facebook posts. You make the commitment to be intimate with that person in the first place; show them the basic human courtesy of discussing it with them face-to-face before you shoot it off for the rest of the world to see.

Relationship Status: Too Stupid For a Relationship

Yes, 1 in 5 divorces refers to Facebook (to repeat the grammatically painful keyword). Many more relationships end because the couple is unwilling or unable to communicate in a respectful, healthy manner. But if your admission amounts to changing your Facebook relationship status, you are without question too stupid to be in a relationship.

What about full-on role play in the virtual world? Second Life and MMORPG venues have that covered, even though Linden Labs or any other game company would certainly say they do not condone such behavior. And I’d believe them. I find Second Life to be a neat idea for harmless fun, so long as that Second Life doesn’t become your first life. Yet having a virtual affair is not harmless fun. I know of at least one married former co-worker who played another game (a Final Fantasy MMORPG, I think) and had what amounted to an online affair with another player. Sadly, there are countless examples of such behavior going on in cyberspace, each and every day. Not only do these people often convince themselves that they need a cash advance to fund their gaming habit, but they have the gall to justify what they do as harmless fun.

Be Smart, Be Respectful

If your relationship is important to you and your partner (yes, you should honor your partner, all things being equal), work on your problems. If the differences are irreconcilable, talk about an exit strategy together. At least then you’re making the effort to show your former loved one respect and aren’t adding to the rubbish heap of statistics that includes such concepts as “1 in 5 divorces refers to Facebook.”

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Improper punctuation can be dangerous. Image from Flikr.com.

National Punctuation Day is a holiday like no other. Unlike most holidays that are invented seemingly out of the blue, National Punctuation Day wasn’t created as a business promotion.

It’s sort of like Talk Like a Pirate Day. It doesn’t make anybody any money. It doesn’t spread publicity for a business. It is simply there for people to celebrate something they love. You don’t need an unsecured personal loan or any other form of financing to celebrate National Punctuation Day.

Either you’re in, or you’re out

National Punctuation Day simply exists to encourage writers, editors, other types of wordsmiths and lovers of the printed word to celebrate properly used punctuation, rather than complaining about, correcting and berating others for incorrect punctuation. Of course, they will still do that, too. They can’t help it. But today, we celebrate as well.

You see, some humans are afflicted with a very real condition that causes them to feel extreme anxiety when they see misplaced punctuation. This may manifest itself through a physical reaction, such as tightening of the chest or gritting of the teeth. Similarly, some with this condition will go to great lengths to remove the offending punctuation from their sight or alter it if possible. Others exhibit auditory responses, such as heavy sighs, general angry noises or yelling punctuated with profanity.

Then there is everyone else — the “normal” people. They do not even notice improperly used punctuation and often misuse it themselves.

More manifestations of condition

I have a “friend” who once stopped following her acquaintance’s Twitter account because he purposely misused both “your” and “you’re” in the one tweet. He clearly does not understand the seriousness of this condition. She was so angry she decided to stop following him. She didn’t even tell him.

That friend later realized, as much as she hated to admit it, that apostrophe misuse was not worth ending a friendship over. This same friend once saw a sandwich board sign on the sidewalk that had a misplaced apostrophe. Fortunately for the business owners, the wording on the sign was made of stickers, so she simply peeled off the offending apostrophe and continued in her travels feeling relieved and lighthearted.

Celebrate National Punctuation Day

Some grammarians may choose to celebrate National Punctuation Day in this manner, correcting any improper usage of punctuation they can reach. However, many people who have the above described condition do things like this on a regular basis. The same friend who peeled the sticker off the sign once altered every copy of a poster in her favorite bar because they were missing  apostrophes.

None of these incidents happened on National Punctuation Day. Being offended, angered, saddened and irritated by incorrect punctuation is an everyday occurrence, especially as communication becomes more and more text-based, thanks to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, text messaging and instant messaging. Thus, I think National Punctuation Day should be a day of celebrating correctly used punctuation, something we grammarians often take for granted.

Celebrating good punctuation

For instance, my friend once wrote a Facebook status that contained a semicolon. In response, one her her friends commented: “Way to go with using a semi-colon. I don’t think I could do that to save my life!”

I think this is an excellent way to celebrate National Punctuation Day. So just for today, pay extra attention to your own punctuation. Also, seek out proper usage of punctuation and give compliments, preferably in a public forum such as a Facebook wall or MySpace comments. Also visit The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks, and have a good laugh.

Image from zincplatepressblog.files.wordpress.com.

California’s budget crisis may seem like an overwhelming lost cause to some, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is putting up a fight. His latest plan to get some emergency money to fight the state deficit is the Great California Garage Sale.

The state is now using online resources including Craigslist and eBay to advertise items for sale at the Great California Garage Sale, which takes place this weekend at the surplus property warehouse. Items for sale include a huge collection of unclaimed and confiscated items.

It’s all about the marketing

Items that become property of the state after being confiscated are always for sale, but the difference for the Great California Garage sale is promotion. The items are for sale on familiar, commonly used sites that everyone knows about and knows how to use. Buyers will be able to pick up their items at the Great California Garage Sale this weekend at designated booths.

The process of buying state property through police auctions is a daunting idea for most people without experience with them. But Craigslist and eBay are comfortable for most people to use. The other key to making the Great California Garage Sale a hit is publicity. Advertising is key in the success of any event, so Schwarzenegger is hoping that turning the Great California Garage Sale into a well-publicized event rather than  just another police property auction will get attention and make money.

Using social networking

The Great California Garage Sale is being promoted using social networking media, so it seems appropriate that the idea for it was actually submitted to the California state government through Twitter. The government created a web site called MyIdea4CA.com, which indexes tweets submitted on how to combat the state’s budget problems.

One person suggested that he should autograph some state-owned cars and bicycles for sale, and that’s just what he’s going to do at the Great California Garage Sale. Of course, there will be plenty of other items for sale, too. You can view photos and a list of everything available at the Department of General Services web site.  The list includes items such as jewelry, surfboard, racing bike and an antique piano.

Ideas for California

This web site for ideas to submit to the State of California sounds kind of cool. GovTech.com writes:

Myidea4ca.com scoops up tweets tagged with #myidea4ca, and people can then give a thumbs up or thumbs down to each idea — a function that’s commonplace on social bookmarking Web sites like Digg and Delicious. Users also can submit comments about the ideas, which are searchable by keyword, Twitter username, category, most popular, most commented and most recent.

Leave it to California to stay ahead of the curve — or at least with it, depending on how you look at it.

A Twitter fan favorite for California

GovTech also says that legalizing and taxing the sale of marijuana is the most popular idea on the site. This is not surprising, but it’s also not something that will happen this decade. However, the Great California Garage Sale is practical, doable and realistically could be successful.