So, firstly, a couple of cringey graduation pictures (as promised):
Secondly, technology. So excited with recent updates to Facebook and Google(+). Facebook in particular actually (surprisingly) - if you haven't seen the plans for Facebook Timeline, you should. I literally clapped my hands with glee when I watched the respective videos - it feels like Facebook has finally got its act together in terms of design and being imaginative with its own possibilities. It's kind of felt like Facebook has been this massive half-tapped source of mint internet interactivity for a long time, but has been resting on its laurels as the dominator of social networks.
I guess it's kind of unsurprising that they haven't made any huge changes to their layout, as any time they make any kind of tweak there are floods of thousands of people going "WTF??!! Whys fb keep changeing evrything?!?!" It must be pretty wearing if each time they try and be innovative they come up against a wall of people keep clinging to the old, less user-friendly version, as though Facebook's effectively trampling over their rights as users.
It seems as though Facebook are making a very clear choice in their marketing for this new Timeline layout, which I find interesting. The advertising video is framed around a married, middle-aged man with kids: very middle-class, very conventional. Markedly absent in the "apps" video were the likes of Farmville and Mafia Wars - replaced with cooking apps, running schedules, and The Guardian.
Are Facebook trying to phase out of their post-MySpace and -Bebo status as, like, the only social network worth using? What started as a clean, simply-designed, self-consciously middle-class alternative to MySpace and Bebo and the like has since (inevitably) become littered with "vampire requests", poorly-made and corrupted Pages linking to third-party websites, and PoStS TyPeD LiKe ThIs. Is this Facebook reclaiming their original concept of simplicity and connectivity? Are they (finally) branching out into user-directed design that was previously the realm of MySpace, and which I feel has been lacking in Facebook until now? Exciting times, people!
So, I'm typing this post on my Mum's brand new shiny iPad. "What?! Such extravagance and frippery!" I hear you say. Well, yes. HOWEVER, after much scoffing and huffing and puffing at the seemingly pointless frivolousness of iPads, I have actually warmed to them. I've been playing on Mum's for all of 45 minutes and already I'm pretty much sold.
The thing is, most people (myself included until the last half hour) just see iPads as a fairly needless luxury. And, in a sense, they kind of are. BUT, I don't think it's until you've had a proper go with one (longer than 10 minutes in an Apple shop can afford) that you start to see their real potential. Basically, I've got this (very tentative) theory about a problem with the advertising we've seen for the iPad (not that I, a mere mortal, could ever really criticise Apple marketing which is, on the whole, perfection).
My theory is that they tried too hard to make it seem a viable piece of technology for everyone, all at once. Their determination to demonstrate how universal it is has, I think, actually weakened their campaign. They've focused so much on how it can be used for gaming, photography, presentations, Internet, books - businessmen, artists, young families - that it's made it feel kind of confused.
Instead of demonstrating how the iPad can be perfect for, say, a photographer in every aspect of their work, they tried to show how perfect it is for EVERYONE all at the same time. I reckon a series of adverts targeted at specific people (business people using them for presentations and easy transportation of files, artists using them as portfolios, commuters using them as libraries and games consoles, etc.) would help people better imagine how an iPad would slot seamlessly into their lives. Instead, I think the current adverts leave you thinking, "We-ell, I think I'd maybe use it for one of those things..."
Anyway, just a thought. My experience using one this afternoon has left me thinking, "Ah yeah, it'd be really useful for this and that". Also, typing on it is surprisingly easy ;)
