What will happen to blogs in 50 years?

Did you ever think what will happen to blogs, Twitter and Facebook accounts and tons of other websites in 50 years? Can you imagine our blogs being 50 years old with an archive going from the top to the bottom of the whole sidebar? A Twitter account with possibly few hundred thousand tweets? A Facebook account with 1000 photo albums? Or do you think at one point in your life you will stop with all this?

Ok, let's imagine further. This may be a bit sad, so don't read more, if you're a pessimist. Let's imagine that things go the way they go now. All of us, who became blog friends, continue the same way and update the way we do now. Years pass and we really become like a family. One blogger gets married, one gives birth to a baby or becomes a father, another one moves to another coutry, new jobs, new betrayals, sweet vacations, family matters... but then one day it happens:

At one point one of your blog friends dies. Shock! Devastation! Sadness... No more updates in your Google reader. Days pass and the last update becomes older and older... And then you realize: This person is not among us anymore. You have never met them in real, yet you know almost everything about their life, the ups and downs, the happy and the sad moments. For me it would probably be as if I've lost a real friend, even a family member. I hope it doesn't happen any time soon, but I must say I did think about this for a while now. And I wonder what would happen to all the content a person uploaded during their long long (online) life.

Now that I made you emo and spoiled your mood, I'd like to cheer you up! ^^v

Hey! You're young, right? You have a life, right? Then, please, don't think so far. Enjoy your life every day to the fullest! Don't think about what will happen in 50 years! Another week started, many things may piss you off again... but it can't really be that bad, right? You have so many things to accomplish, so many adventures to embark on, so many wonderful moments await you in life. So all I'm asking you now is to drop a cheerful comment and then get outta here and embrace the world :P

[Photo: Source]

Twitter or Facebook?

If you had to chose between Twitter or Facebook, if you would only be allowed to use one of these sites, which one would you choose?

I'd delete my Facebook instantly! Seriously, what does Facebook want to be? They are shamelessly stealing things from Twitter. I read that they plan to implement something similar to Twitter's @reply, naming it Facebook mentions. When will this stop? When Facebook came out, it had a philosophy to connect people (like ex-schoolmates, ex-colleagues, lost relatives etc.). It was innovative and interesting. And what is it today? A "Twitter-monster" with games and tests and massive picture tagging that's going slightly out of hand. And with photo albums, which is some of their strenghts and something I like. Things like the Chat feature and the Like feature are just redundant in my opinion, because I can chat on MSN or Skype and the Like feature is shallow. It's like for those people who are lazy to write a comment. I admit, I sometimes click like randomly, because I am lazy, too. So what's the point of it?

As for Twitter, I wouldn't want to miss it. It does connect people so much better. It's simple, it's very open, it's like one big community of (mostly) awsome people. I really hope they don't screw up and add tons of useless features, but rather keep it simple. I'm afraid that they will start with ads sooner or later (I still don't know how they maintain the site without them), but I hope they won't be like the out-of-control (and ugly) Google ads. Twitter is so useful to bloggers, I met so many awsome people thru Twitter and I am tweeting like half a year tops, while I'm on Facebook since 2007. I know that after a while these websites lose their initial charm, because we (the users) change, too. We're always overly excited about something new and then after a while we either move to a new hot website or we just become periodical users. Nevertheless, I still think Twitter is so influential and has changed lives of so many people. Hopefully it has enriched their lives. It's really so simple, convenient and addictive.
You gotta love it ;-)

And besides, the world's oldest Twitter user, the 105 @IvyBean104 can't be wrong, right? Ok, I have to admit, she's also using Facebook... -_- I guess Twitter and Facebook are in a love-hate relationship or something similar...

UPDATE: I came accross this touching story about how some Twitter friends helped a girl in need. That shows how awsome 'tweeple' can be :-)

So..., Twitter or Facebook, what would you chose?

[Photo: Source]

What kind of recession is this?

Sometimes I don't understand the times we are living in. It's the sort of times when the media says there was a new case of swine flu and people start wearing masks.

So now I'm seriously wondering about this recession. They repeatedly said it's the worst recession since the 1929 Great recession. Really? How come that the iPhone sells like there's no tomorrow? From what I learned from history books, people in 1929 literally starved in huge masses! Yet these days I still see people continuing their lives the same way as before. And here's the problem:

Those who fared well before the so called "recession" are still doing well. And those who struggled before, are in the same position now or even worse.

As for my country, the recession began years ago. Slowly and subtly, affecting the middle class. It's so hard to find a good job as a young person these days. I'm talking about a job that would give you the chance to start a family, buy a house and a new car. Everything is so expensive these days! No wonder so many people have children when they're over 30 and still many live at home, because rents are very high. The rift between the poor and the rich is getting bigger and bigger and nobody was doing anything about it all these years!

Those who do well, don't care about it. And those who don't do well are too weak to help themselves.

People in the West are becoming more and more indifferent. That's no wonder, since we have to compete with others everywhere! You study, you compete. You try to find a job, you compete. You have a job, you compete again. It's a vicious circle! We're becoming very selfcentred, it's always me me me... Is this capitalism going too far? When did the solidarity and sympathy get lost? And what will we learn from the so called "recession"?

I don't think we've learnt much so far, because after the initial shock (driven by the media), we fell back into our daily routine and try to make the best of it. We just think I hope the recession doesn't affect me, I don't care for the rest. Because that's how it is in 2009. And we can only do so much to change the status quo. We just have to make the best of it.

[*I wish all of you good luck and hope that the recession doesn't and won't affect your lives.]

About Facebook friends and their babies

*Disclaimer: I wrote this post in a cynical and sarcastic way, inspired by Seinfeld's nihilism and seasoned with my recent bitterness. Keep that in mind.

I recently added many old schoolmates on my Facebook. There were so many requesting to be my 'friend', I just couldn't continue ignoring them. So I created another account just for them. First of all, why do so many people I was never close with, want to follow my daily life, rummage thru my photos, be my 'friends'? Didn't they get the hunch by me virtually ignoring them in real life for almost a decade? I'm not gonna update anything on my second account but just upload photos from my travels and let them wonder. Yes, that's how I roll, hehe. I still have my old (main) account where I only add people who I feel comfortable with. And guess what, most of them are from all over the world. Yes, in this phase of my life, I only befriend like-minded people and not those who just happen to live in the same town like me. And some people from here, who happen to be my friends, don't use Facebook (weird). But thanks to the internet, I can have 2 identities and nobody can do anything about it. Yes, I am very selective.

Well, what actually made me write this post, was the fact that so many of my old schoolmates have babies and they post pics of them on Facebook. I mean, why would they do this? Why? First of all, I would never put a photo of my (future) baby online. I mean, what will these 'babies' say in 20 years? Do we have to document someone's life online since their birth? What happened to the old classic phot album? They are humans and not objects and since they're incapable to tell wheather they want to be exposed online or not, I would never put their photos online. Secondly, every baby looks the same. So what's the point to let others see a baby? Can't you just write 'I have a baby, it's healthy and it looks like any other baby' on your wall and get on with your life? Wouldn't that be enough?

I mean, where is the time when people, if they really wanted to see your baby, came to your home? Is this so 20th century? [*Am I too sentimental?]

I mean something like that on the clip below, from Seinfeld:


I feel like some people post the pics of their babies like trophies, like Look at me, I am not yet 30 and I have a baby! I accomplished something! I am mainstream. Are you? Well, I am not. I could be easily, but since I was always a skilled master of *cough... I mean, I was always careful, so I just happen not to be. Which can be an accomplishment far bigger than the opposite. Then again, what is mainstream these days anyway? Men in twenties 'having babies' seem to become rare recently. So maybe I am mainstream.

I really don't know... maybe I'm bitter now, but once I have a baby myself, I will be like them: An overly excited parent-freshman, who will post hunderds of photos of his newborn and prouldy tweet: My baby made his first poop. #proudparent #baby #random and then soon after post another tweet: Please follow @littleMKL #FF. Hehe, who knows. We'll see in few years ;-)

Now, what do you think? Baby photos online, pro or contra and why?
Not being a parent in the twenties, pro or contra and why?