One More Detour on the Writing Road

Remember when we all signed up? Well, when many of us did. When it was all the rage?

I never visit my page anymore. I am debating just deleting it--is that the way to go?

I've opened a Tumblr account, and am feeding my Twitter and LJ accounts into it.

http://ksmithsf.tumblr.com/

Just increasing visibility. I've been told that Tumblr works best for folks who post a lot of images, which I don't. But, I have the account anyway so there.

...why Facebook is considered to be worth $42 billion?

Facebook's latest valuation, according to trading on SharesPost Inc., an online marketplace that trades in shares of private companies, is greater than that for Internet giants EBay Inc. or Yahoo Inc.

"Over the years people have paid premiums for the companies best positioned for long-term growth and margin expansion. For good reason, Facebook is perceived of as one of those companies," Standard & Poor's analyst Scott Kessler said. "Whether or not at this point in its life cycle it deserves to demand a valuation that essentially makes it the second- or third-most valuable Internet company on the planet is an open question."

I understand that companies use Facebook as an advertising site, a way to hook up with potential and current customers. Writers, musicians, etc use it as a way to connect with fans and promote themselves. A lot of people use Facebook. Is that what makes it worth $42 billion? Has anyone tried to estimate total business earnings as a result of presence on Facebook, assuming that's even possible?

So far, I have friended/fanned pages of some companies I already have done business with. Sometimes I click through newspaper or magazine links that interest me. Is that where the worth comes in?

I contributed some money to Diaspora when it was in the funds-gathering stage, and will be setting up a page/account/whatever once it gets going. If it works out, I may cancel my Facebook account and move. We'll see how it goes.

One result of not keeping up with my flist is that I miss all the internet slapfights.

I cannot convince myself that this is a bad thing.

Here.

From Balloon Juice:

The FCC is collecting data about Internet speed across the country to find out where broadband stimulus money can best be spent. If that site gets a ton of hits, not only will it collect good data, but the FCC will have more proof that the public is watching and gives a shit.

Those ads that drop down/unfold over/obscure the area that I am trying to read? Those animated ads that chase after me even when I page down down down in order to escape them? I don't read them, other than to hunt for the blasted Close tag. I don't click on them. I sometimes avoid visiting your site because of them. I HATES THEM!

Pop up surveys? KILLKILLKILL!

I don't know how online newspapers and news aggregators will make money. Micropayments, maybe, with an area of the internet becoming a sort of toll road. A penny here, a penny there. But intrusive LOOK AT ME! ads just don't cut it.