It used to be that the only people with MySpace profiles were kids lying about their ages so that they could join.  It was the only viable major social network anyone had back in its hey day.  The profile pages were so customizable that they often looked hideous.  It was easy to embed all kinds of sloppy code into elements of the profile page, too, making it a formidable security risk.  Several times viruses and malware circulated around MySpace, infecting people’s computers and wreaking havoc with their profiles.  If it hadn’t been for Facebook opening up its doors to people besides college students, that might have been all we have today.  Thank goodness that changed.

The beginning of the Great Facebook Migration took place when non-college students were able to sign up.  At first it was parents who wanted a way to keep in touch with their children who were off at college.  Then, those parents began friending one another.  Then friends friended friends, and families began to form networks for themselves, and ultimately that is how senior citizens came to be a major part of the online social networking scene.  Grandmas and Grandpas everywhere have joined up so that they can connect with their kids and grandkids, and they’re pretty savvy users.  But they also play a lot of social games.  Social gaming among senior citizens, with games like Words with Friends, Solitaire, Texas Hold ‘Em, and Farmville, has really taken off.  Social game developers like Zynga should be interested in this phenomenon, since all those people who are using their products during the day when younger folks are at work are driving advertising views in social media marketing.

Bet you never thought of that.

Check out this infographic for some of the apps pet owners love most.

Sharing with the people that we may not be physically close to is also different.  Many families use Facebook as a tool to keep in touch.  It is far better than the once a year letters or emails that used to be common in families because you can feel like you are a part of the action even while many miles away.  Picture uploads, status updates, and messages are now how people know what their cousins or long lost high school buddies are up to.  So, think about how you use Facebook.  Are any of your friends your family or people you went to school with?  More likely than not you have quite a few friends that you might not see on a regular basis, but might want to still keep in touch with.

This infographic gives you a glimpse at how big Facebook has become.

What does iCloud have to bring to the mix?  Along with the hundreds of new features in iOS 5, iCloud aims to keep the Apple faithful on the bandwagon, while attracting new converts to the fold.  Going on the principle of cloud computing, iCloud stores photos, songs and other files on servers in Apple’s data centers, making them instantly available to other Apple devices. For example, a photo stored on your iPhone with iCloud service would be accessible within seconds to your other Apple gadgets like the iPad, iPod and any computer (Mac or PC) with iTunes installed.

Competing with Google’s Android OS, which has slowly been edging its way into the mobile market dominated by Apple, is cited as another possible motivation for getting iOS 5 and iCloud out to the public.   iCloud makes keeping files accessible much easier than any solution found on Android.  It will likely make people think twice before buying other types of smart phones not equipped with iOS and iCloud.

There’s a Graph for That

Thankfully, we have this excellent infographic that displays the most longed for improvements that are expected from iPhone 5, and how likely they will be to actually happen.  It’s all speculation, of course, but there’s a hungry rumor monster out there that needs to be fed so it’s all good.  Keep ‘em coming, and click to expand the infographic:

Still, a good number of the more social media savvy people on the Internet are actually noticing some of the more impressive features of Google+ that Facebook doesn’t seem to have.  They too are craving attention from their Facebook friends, who they imagine they will soon be able to lure to Google+.  While they are waiting, however, they find themselves really branching out and finding other friends they never would have met on Facebook, following people they wouldn’t have followed, and reading a lot more information daily than Facebook posts have to offer.  There are some great satellite television channels you can watch to keep up on the latest tech news, but in the meantime, enjoy this infographic:

The Chromebook also has always on Wi-Fi and 3G, and comes with 100Mb of free 3G data from Verizon Wireless per month.  Affordable plans for additional wireless data for the Chromebook can be purchased from Verizon Wireless, or any vendor of the user’s choice.

Reports of early availability of the Chromebook beginning today have come from various Internet users who are long standing holders of Google accounts.  With a special purchase opportunity from Gilt.com, some users have been invited to purchase the Samsung version of the Chromebook for $499, today.  It also comes with a limited edition sleeve.

1. For one thing, always keep it brief and to the point. Email messages aren’t supposed to be very formal, or very long.
2. If there are any questions in the email message, answer them.
3. Always use proper spelling, grammar & punctuation.  Just because it’s email doesn’t mean it doesn’t count.
4. Make it personal.  An email message shouldn’t be a cookie cutter response.
5. If time of of the essence, use templates for frequently used responses.
6. The beauty of email is its immediacy.  Answer swiftly.
7. Don’t go crazy with the attachments.
8. Use a clean structure & layout
9. Don’t mark everything as “high priority”
10. Don’t write in ALL CAPITALS
11. Don’t omit the message thread
12. Read every email before you send it; once it’s gone, it’s too late to fix.
13. Do not use “Reply to All” unless you really, really mean it.  And finally,
14. Don’t be one of those people who forwards chain letters to everyone!  That is super duper annoying.

Remember, once you click “send,” whatever you typed is going to be completely out of your hands.  Don’t wait until it’s too late to  say what you mean, concisely, and with great attention.  There is nothing like looking back at a sent message and discovering that you made a very big mistake that can’t be repaired.  Another thing people hate is finding out that they have to append the first email with a second (and sometimes even a third one) just to explain what went wrong with the original message.  For busy people who have to answer a lot of email on a daily basis, this sort of thing is an accident waiting to happen.  There is a very good chance your “explanation” email might be overlooked as a duplicate or a mistake.  That is why it is so important to say what you really mean the first time, and get it right.  Email messages are so short, why not spend a few extra minutes making sure they clearly state what you intended, and are understandable?

So, with these things in mind, make sure you stick to just a few basic email conventions, and you will have a lot less to worry about.

In 1998, the Federal Trade Commission signed into law the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, making it illegal for websites to collect information from children under the age of 13.  Since then, we have become so used to entering our birth dates each time we sign up for any free or paid online service that we hardly blink about it anymore.  One obvious problem with this legislation is enforcement:  all you have to do to get an account somewhere if you are under 13 is just enter an acceptable birth date when prompted.  There is no real way to ensure that pre-teens will not sign up.  But if they do, at least the company is not held liable for any damages that may ensue because of someone’s dishonesty.

Legal implications aside, I find Zuckerberg’s stated reason for wanting kids younger than 13 on Facebook to be absurd.  The still boyish looking Facebook founder believes that his social network bears some educational merit, and that the restrictions currently in place present a barrier to learning.  His statement implies that education is not working in its current form, but by freeing younger children to sign up for Facebook accounts, we could collectively discover what works.

Oh really, Mr. Zuckerberg?  What educational authorities did you confer with to arrive at this conclusion?  Yes, we know you had dinner with Steve Jobs and Barack Obama earlier this year — but let’s Face it, their credentials in education are not working, either.  Let’s just admit that this has little (if anything) to do with a genuine concern for education, and more to do with expanding the Facebookverse.  I’m not saying that’s a bad idea;  just that it isn’t something that needs a contrived reason to work towards. Maybe the world needs a special haven within the hallowed halls of Facebook, where they can be safer and not have their data collected by you at all.  That would be generous, but dangerous, because then, people could sign up as “kid” accounts who aren’t really kids, etc….

There are all kinds of problems with implementing the letting in of a younger demographic, and I don’t think Facebook is going to pioneer the way through that tangled maze of legality, morality, and plausibility anytime soon.  Getting back to the point I made earlier, kids younger than 13 are already all over Facebook using dishonest birthdates.  My nephew is one of them. He’s 8 years old.  His step-mother completely backed him signing up, and she is a high school principal.  What sort of message is this sending our young people?  That people on the Internet aren’t real, so it doesn’t matter if you lie to them?  That people on the Internet are somehow less imminent than people you encounter each day, so you never have to worry about them getting very involved in your life?  That if being dishonest gets you what you want and doesn’t appear to do any tangible harm, it’s perfectly fine?

We need to consider all of these aspects of the education we are really giving our kids and have open discussions about them, rather than dismissing federal laws just because people break them all the time anyway.  This sort of moral relativism is paving the future of the world.  Now, that’s education.

And then, it happens.  You log on to Facebook only to find you’ve been tagged in a lot of photos since yesterday.  A LOT of photos.  By several different people.  The panic starts to set in as you click your way through last night’s many forgotten indiscretions:  that picture of you licking some other guy’s kneecap, the Tiffany lampshade/hat you were sporting while doing the Macarena on the table in the dining hall, and yes — even the moon shot.  And there’s more.  And more.  And more.  Everyone seems to be getting a bigger kick out of this than you are.  And don’t these people realize your mom and grandma read your Facebook page?  Is there anything you can do to right this situation?

Actually there are some steps you can take to quickly restore your tainted reputation (“My reputation, Iago!”) and all of them involve diplomacy, and maybe even some bribing.

The first thing you will want to do is untag all the pictures of you and remove them from your profile page. Next, try to immediately contact all the people who posted and taggd these images of you, and tell them how embarrassed you are about last night and ask if they will please take them down.  You’d be surprised at how compliant your real friends will be, and you might sadly find out some people you thought of as friends are actually not friends at all.

If some people refuse to take down the photos, either chalk up your escapades to poor judgement and vow never to do it again and get over it — or hack that person’s Facebook and take down the pictures yourself.  While you are in there, you can even get a little revenge by fixing them up with a few problems of their own to deal with.  Either way, it all promises to be lots of fun.  If you don’t feel comfortable hacking into someone else’s profile, not only are you a good man, but you also have one more option:  bribery.  Offer to buy the person lunch at his or her favorite restaurant.  Or write his next paper for English Lit.  Or do his math homework for a month.  Sometimes, even real jerks will respond to bribes.

The worst case scenario is The Sudden Disappearance, wherein you completely shut down your Facebook page until the crisis passes, or indefinitely.  Some people return later with another user ID and just never tell the offending “friends” from before what it changed to.  There are several ways to make a disappearance and later, a comeback.