“Facebook seems to want to pull everything in to its playground,whereas Google seem rather more inclined to make their toys show up wherever you already are. Sometimes,anyway –although I sense their thinking about all this is probably as confused as mine is.” One of Michael O’Conner Clarke’s excellent Thoughts on Google+ this morning.
Which is certainly more human of Google. Being confused. Though it feels odd to say so. Engineer-brain and Zo-brain being worlds apart. I know, I’ve got a Senior Civil Engineer son (remember: childbirth at 12) … and sometimes I just want to rap him upside the head, which I am certain will jolt his head into switching hemispheres. Or else.
Google is one big experiment, always has been, there’s always another idea on tap. I know, I know, they brought in somebody “normal” to make them focus on the real world. Guy’s got a tough row to hoe: the Google universe is, fundamentally, only its own. Whereas Facebook, hell, we all know that story, inside and out. Glengarry Glen Ross? It’s the killer, business-sociopath style. People who know no better than to walk over anyone in the single-beam of its vision. Use anything, steal anything—look, let’s be honest here. Once they are successful, it doesn’t fucking matter. Isn’t that the point? I know these guys. So do you. Funny, Bill Gates seems like small potatoes these days. He and his youthful cohort, who shall remain nameless or I’ll get all hung up in Ballmer jokes. But right and wrong, I guar-un-tee you, are the last thing on the corporate mind. It’s interesting, though, that that Facebook’s efforts are so embarrassingly transparent.
The origins of a thing are important; the roots tell so much. I’m sure Google would like to rule the world too, but you get the impression they are happy inventing and tweaking. In a way, this represents the great divide before us now, in American life: the Corporation, determined to Friend us all into revealing as much personal data as humanly possible, and the other … Google. Harder to define. But for some reason this is important: I can picture Larry Page having a giggle.
Come to think of it, I can’t imagine Teh Steve giggling, not since he gave up dope … that’s an entirely different story, I hasten to add. I’ll tell you one thing, you don’t think Zuckerberg wants to restore our sense of childlike wonder, do ya?
Alright, so Apple could buy the planet. Nevertheless, neither Apple nor Facebook are driven by the Corporate doublespeak in which you are not simply lied to, but for your own good. What was that old Coke jingle—in the old days, they used to have a new one every summer (til Michael Jackson came along and made Pepsi rule, but I digress.) I can almost hear it in my head … “I’d like to buy the world a home, And furnish it with love. Grow apple trees and honey bees. And snow white turtle doves.” (had to look it up) Not sell us a shitload of carbonated beverages. No fuckin’ turtle doves at the diabetes doctor, honey. No honey bees at the dentist.
After all that, I’ll still probably stay on Facebook for a while. Farhad Manjoo described Google+ as having all the pleasure of making a wedding seating chart online.
True or not, I’m taking the easy way out. And trying to lure my aged friends back with LEON RUSSELL videos …. from 1970-1971!
Or maybe that’s just the women. (Beware the ending …)
Honey, you can lure me back with Leon any ol’ time! I recently loaded up a multi-CD changer with everything I had–and there was a lot!–for a long, lovely Leon Russell marathon. What prompted it was a new CD and concert series launched by Elton John, feat. Russell. Except for one number, it was an insult; Leon was allowed to mutter a phrase or two here and there. In the couple of video clips I could find, it was Elton’s show and Leon was the monkey who sat on his shoulder. Someone said that Leon is too fried at this point to do more, that Elton John was trying to honor what’s left of him, but it just pissed me off so I had to go back to the source.
As to FB v. Google+, thanks for saving me some time. I got an invite to G+ from an ex (there’s recommendation for you!) and just let it sit in the inbox; scared to touch it lest it explode like a mogwai in a microwave. I have a couple of nice friends on FB who link to my blog from there and leave me comments, so I’ll stick for a bit longer. Otherwise, it’s only served to get me in big trouble with my DIL. Okay, maybe that’s another reason to stick for a bit.
Whereas Facebook, hell, we all know that story, inside and out. Glengarry Glen Ross?
O’ no vinegar is better than that :-)