Facebook and China compared

The Tyranny of Facebook: have you ever thought about it? I have several times, in fact, and my two-week trip to China solidified the idea for a comparison of the two. (Disclaimer: Of course, 2 weeks doesn't make me anything close to an expert on China, but I did learn a few things from what I have read and personally observed.) For those of you who use Facebook, you'll understand my examples, even if you aren't particularly familiar with Chinese government and its restrictions, so read on:

1) The requirement to agree with the changes made without the ability to voice objections or questions. Anytime Facebook makes a change to the format (that is, the user interface), you are forced to use it. You aren't asked (anymore) if you like it. Sure, when Facebook made the big change to the "new" Facebook, you were given the option which you wanted to view, but eventually, everyone had to deal with the New version. And okay, some changes made were better in the long-run: having a feed of friends' activities on the home page is the main way I acquire social info on FB, even though when the feeds were first introduced, I didn't like them at all.
But a recent example of this that really bothers me is the change from listing the names Friends On Chat Now to showing the profile pictures of the people online. Having to look at the tiny thumbnail of someone's picture (which often change) simply isn't as fast as reading their name (which almost never change) nor do the "active" sage green dot versus a pale blue "inactive" dot contrast nearly enough. Sure, more pictures in the tyranny of white-and-dull-blue of Facebook are nice, but it's just not practical. Personally, this is the equivalent of someone giving me a pictures-only book instead of a novel. I can read, Facebook designers, I promise!
So where is the Complaint Box of Facebook? No matter how huge the company is, isn't it a bit egotistical to assume you know what's best for the user?

Similarly, China is technically "The People's Republic of China" but the opportunity for input by the average person is simply not given. There is no lobbying, no voting, no public surveys... So when there are changes, people must go along with them, no questions asked.

2) The ability to demonstrate or use creativity is severely limited.
Certainly the company of Facebook is large enough to do a study on consumer preferences and to know what the best arrangement of elements on the page is. But that "classic" White and Dull Blue got old years ago. There are groups petitioning all sorts of things, related to Facebook and not, including the "Petition for Colored Facebook Profiles" but after at least a year of the group's existence, I doubt anything will actually change. (Actually, that dull blue which reminds me of the blue-dominated Microsoft, which also bothers me, and not just because I am a Mac user.)
So one's self-expression is limited to what you post within that bare-bones frame: pictures, status, About Me, and whatever 3rd-party applications you choose to add.
But I suppose that's the trade-off for the clean, professional and homogeneous look of Facebook versus the colorful, open-ended and often-amateurish feel of MySpace.

And so you could make the case about creativity in China. I read a book this summer called "China Road", written by Rob Gifford and which I highly recommend even if you don't plan to visit China (although I recommend that too!). In the book, Gifford argues that China's restrictive government is a major factor for why the top artistic and linguistic innovators have not come from China, even though with their population, the odds are in their favor: banned books, websites and other intellectual resources about the rest of the world hinder people from developing new ideas (especially if they're controversial), theories, and even artistic creations. Sure, you can paint and write books in China, but publishing or displaying any work is subject to scrutiny. And sure, many excellent people who have contributed to the world have come from and, even now, live in China. But Gifford's point (as well as mine now) is that the governmental policy to restrict the people's access to certain information does not foster the ideal creative environment in which to raise up Greats.

3) "If it bothers you so much, then stop using it!" you say. And fair enough. I could simply stop using Facebook and go back to email, MSN Messenger and photo sharing sites, to make up for what I have been using Facebook for. But the sum is greater than the parts, I believe, since the feed feature works so well and the professionalism truly does supercede MySpace. It's called a monopoly, and there's a reason that Facebook has blown every competition out of the water. (Small, related fun fact: I learned last week that every single student in my Public Relations class this semester, which has over 100 students on the attendance list, raised their hand saying that they have a Facebook profile. Is that monopoly on college students, or what?!)

No, no one just stops "using" China, but getting out of the system, is nearly as difficult... Visa rules are tough for residents, not just foreign visitors.

As always, I remain your thoughtful blogger, ever frankly yours,
Ellen P.

P.S. Maybe Facebook's combination of activities that I used to do with separate programs--chat, photo-sharing, email, and more, also lends itself to comparison to Wal-mart, another "tyrannical" company that bothers me, since photo developing, food & clothing & electronic shopping all can be done there now. (As well its use of--again!--the ubiquitous blue, albeit a different hue.)

Say it with me now--"Wordle!"

A Wordle. To Wordle. I'm not sure whether it's a noun or a verb, but it's sweet and my latest new hobby. Basically, you paste in any bunch of text at www.wordle.net and it gives you a group of words, size according to how often they appear. This is particularly cool for chapters or books of the Bible.

Check out the one I did for the whole book of Philippians. Very cool and aesthetically pleasing!

Now if only I could do one for my written journal--wonder what that would look like?

--Ellen P.

Little Things that Make My Day Brighter

Riding my bike down a long hill, coasting the whole way with no cars in sight.

Putting my iPod on shuffle and getting the very song I was in the mood for first.

Warming cold toes in the sunlight spot on the carpet.

Waking up a half hour before my alarm and getting to fall back asleep again.

Improvising a recipe and getting a good result.

Waking up and my hair falls just right.

Overhearing strange bits of conversation by others.

Cold water available to drink at any time of day.

Finding a forgotten dollar in a pocket of my jeans or coat.

Laughing so hard that it makes me cry.

Finishing a poem or doodle that I really like and making a clean, final copy.

...Can you relate?

Things to Do Before I Graduate

Things I Would Like to Do at College Or I Wish I Could Do Before I Graduate:

• Publicly protest tuition costs and get other students more involved in fighting tuition hikes
• Develop a working relationship between Spanish majors (like myself) and the international Spanish-speaking students so they can learn from each other
• Participate in all the dance clubs: Swing, Ballroom and Hip Hop
• Make a High School Musical spoof, only it's called "College Musical"
• Make out in some corner or tier of the library ;-)
• Sleep on Central Campus
• Be in the big spring musical
• Perform at Open Mic Night at the Union
• Submit an article to the student newspaper
  
• Solve the entire crossword in the student newspaper, all by myself
• Tell the gospel in a class presentation or graded essay... (Oh wait, I can already check that one off! It even pertained the topic! *grins*)

Okay, so some goals are loftier than others but that's alright. To be honest, most of these just won't happen in the space of two semesters, and I'm not sure how hard I'd try to accomplish all of them anyway. My point is now that I'm a senior, I'm starting to look back and figure out if I'm proud of how I've spent my time. If the funny memories soften the difficult ones. If the hours of studying and good grades were lightened with enough fulfilling activities of other sorts... For the most part, I'm quite content with what I've done and whom I've gotten to know and how I've grown as a person. These are just some more ideas, for an ideal world and if I were, perhaps, a bit more courageous. Hm. Worth considering anyway.

Yours frankly,
Ellen P.

What does your waterbottle say?

Waterbottle.
I know somebody who swears that the British say that word as "Woh-oh-boh-ul", totally cutting out the T's. So how they say it is a dead giveaway where that person is from. Well, the fact that I have a waterbottle may or may not be a dead giveaway that I'm from Colorado. And I mean, the kind of waterbottle one takes everywhere, not just your athletic waterbottle and not one that doubles as a juice container.

My waterbottle is a pink, translucent, plastic Nalgene with the requisite carabiner with which to hold it. (Yeah, a plastic Nalgene. Don't worry, I haven't died--yet.) I take it with me everywhere. Seriously, I'm a diehard personal waterbottle user now, ever since I moved to Colorado and experienced the torture of sitting through a whole class period without water. Started feeling like I was stuck in the middle of a desert... So, ever since, I take one with me.


...Does that make me the opposite of a camel? I am nearly always thirsty, sometimes to the point of intense distraction. Even without indoor heating on to dry out the air, I wake up every day and the first thing I do is Drink Water...

You'd think I'd be back to my pre-Colorado self now that I live in the Midwest again, but not so. And that's what got me thinking about this in the first place: I think I realize how "Colorado-y" it is to have a waterbottle at all times now that I'm back at college. Now, don't get me wrong, nearly everyone wears a backpack to classes, and many of them have waterbottles with them, but waterbottles are not ubiquitous like they are in the Rocky Mountain State.

As you can see from the photo, no stickers on mine--yet. Two friend's waterbottles have stickers from favorite establishments and companies... many of which are in Colorado, despite the fact that neither of them are from Colorado... Go figure. But none for me yet. By looking at mine, maybe you can tell that I'm from Colorado (instead of pretending to be!) and you can definitely tell that I don't hate pink (but I'm not pink-obsessed, not by a long shot), but nothing overly obvious about me. Although, now that I think about it, I should probably put my name on it, in case I lose it...

Ever see the movie Stranger than Fiction? Remember the part where the guy is in the guitar store, and the author is describing what each one said about itself? I'm kind of thinking that this waterbottle phenomenon is like that. So, do you have a waterbottle? If so, what does yours say about you?

Yours frankly,
Ellen P.

P.S. On a related note, I think disposable waterbottles are really lame except in out-of-country situations. Don't bottle water if you have to, and definitely recycle the bottle if you're gonna buy one but I'm into the Reuse One for Years thing in this case. Anyway, I'm done with my soapbox moment now.