The Friendship Algorithm

How do we define a friend and how many friends is an ideal number? This is something I was thinking of the last time I was on Facebook. I actually believe that a friend is someone you share something with, such as a friend whom has been at the same school and share similar interests and outlook, or somebody who has gone through a bad patch as much as a bad patch that you yourself have been through and helped accordingly. Thee are other examples of what a friend is defined but I am hoping that you get the general gist.

In essence, a true friend ideally can be counted on one or two hands. The Facebook “friend” is a misnomer and should be called acquaintances, which I think is more appropriate. Twitter has a much more accurate term with the use of “followers” or “following”.

Another thought that prompted this post was watching the Big Bang Theory episode “The Friendship Algorithm” in which Sheldon produces a flowchart to find new friends and ,in my opinion, is a very funny episode.

Photo Post #6

Evening Star bar person Sharpie Bongo



L busy on the iPhone

Preserving the Digital Memory

Today the British Library begins its new project to preserve our "digital memory" ,which will include websites, blogs and and even our tweets and Facebook updates.

Now websites and blogs are areas that i feel should be preserved (such as LJ), but such ephemeral and instant areas such as Twitter and Facebook would be counterproductive and by the time they have acquired the data it would have been already out of date. Then I ask why? Isn't it self-defeating?

Blogs - yes, Twitter and FB - no!
I think the Library needs to rethink its project.