I was just reading on CNET earlier today that Facebook has now reached 150 million active users worldwide. I'm pretty sure that a number of those who tipped the balance were people from my elementary and junior high schools that I was pretty sure I never wanted to hear from again, but they found me anyway.
I'm only partially kidding, of course.
I'm absolutely certain I never wanted to hear from them again, but they still keep sending those invites.
I joked on Twitter earlier this afternoon that everyone needed to stop Tweeting and Facebooking and get their sorry you-know-whats back to work, that we're in the midst of a major recession-bordering-on-depression, and that we all must be fully productive!
But apparently talking to your elementary and junior high friends on Facebook passes for corporate productivity these days. In fact, only yesterday I was having a Facebook dialogue with some of my close friends from high school, and we were discussing the need for opening an online store where we could sell parachute pants and Spandex.
Hey, that's work related. At least for me, anyway. We were talking about e-commerce. I'll have you know, those are potential IBM customers.
So, fire away. Send me all the virtual Facebook beers and glasses of wine and avatars and flowers you can find!
Send me invites to all the 80s movies quizzes and pictures of your skateboarding bulldogs and "Nader for CIA Director" virtual buttons you can.
Send me all the "I'm a Conservative and I Can't Wait for Obama to Really Screw This Country Up" Facebook group invitations your little heart desires.
I'll ignore most all of them, but don't take it personally.
No, if you really want to concern yourself with something that matters, take your digital self out into the sticks somewhere and help somebody's grandmother install that analog-to-digital converter on her TV set. Because otherwise, she's not going to be able to catch up on Lawrence Welk or Jack Benny.
You think I'm kidding?
Grandmas in the sticks everywhere are seriously in threat of losing complete contact with the world via the boob tube starting on February 17th, the day of the nationwide transition to digital broadcasting here in these United States. There's a video on the YouTubes that demonstrates what happens when your grandmother gets run over, not by a reindeer, but by a convoluted digital TV conversion box.
It's not for the faint of heart. But I was literally ROTFL bigtime when I watched it earlier this a.m. (Again, this is work related video consumption for me, because I HAVE to know what's showing on the YouTubes in order to keep up with my vocational milieu.)
Grandmas everywhere are in jeopardy of entering a special kind of digital hell if somebody doesn't figure out how to mobilize the Geek Squad across the country, and fast!
Me, I think I'll just send grandma a virtual digital TV converter box on Facebook.
But I have a pretty good feeling she's going to ignore me.
I understand your point of the intent. It is very true that there has been a lot of public relations campaigns that began the beginning of last year, but it is also true that many people have not either been "tuned" in, like many of the seniors, or have not been exposed to those programs. The result is that they will be "left out". Should they have been aware - yes, but are they - no.
Yes, it was the public broadcasters that are carrying this out, plus are the beneficiaries. But the coordination with government funding for the public education, coupons, support, etc., has not kept up with the reality and the planned success is falling short.
My point is not to play on fears, but the example of government planning linked with execution many times falls short of the promised goals. Finding better ways to actually accomplish our goals is the solution.
Whuh? Even the slowest of the luddite, media un-savvy had to have heard/seen/read about the DTV conversion -- between newspaper and magazine ads, Oprah's PSAs, municipal government notifications... I think the information campaign and the timeframe have been completely reasonable.
It's also important to note that while this is indeed an FCC mandate (and was subject to the usual public notice procedures of comments and replies), it's actually the broadcasters who are overseeing it. Tagging the government in this debate is an easy out, especially in a time when many Americans fear the creeping shadow of socialism.
I totally agree cmj, someone sure pulled a fast one. Such a deal!
Not only is there the lack of knowledge of the need for a converter box, some areas will require a different antenna because some of the signals will be weaker. So grandma will have to buy and hook-up the converter box and then assess the signal strength of the antenna to get set up to watch her regular programs.
This is going to be an interesting proposition to watch being implemented. I wonder how effective the government will be in running banking, technology, healthcare, etc., if this is an example!
Let's mandate the conversion of analog to digital via a government program! Wow what a brilliant idea. Let's make sure that no one can get the signal without a special box (which they can get for free or low cost if they are too poor to buy it) and then make sure that we need to mobilize a geek squad to touch every television in america to make sure it works.
What makes conversion to digital a good idea? Furthermore, what makes it the governments business to mandate this?
Talk about a conspiracy, man!
I don't know if our TV will work or not after the conversion date. I only hope that grandma doesn't get run over on her way to my place, or that when she arrives, she doesn't run me over getting to the couch!
She's a gem and at her age, still has 95% capacity although her "memory stick" is her walking cane which she uses mostly to still threaten any misbehaving children! It has 6G capacity - "G" here signifying generations - as we await the birth of the first 6G to enter our world.
She has also said that should she have any difficulty Feb 18, I am to pick her up in my car and drive her to my house, where she will take up residency until "they fix that (INSERT ITALIAN EXPLICATIVE HERE) TV thing - TVs a free thing!"
Words to live by - send that to Washington! Cinzani to her!
Steve, your grandma sounds like a grand Italian lady.
I have some good news and bad news.
The good news is twofold. One, President-elect Obama has requested that the government consider putting off the February 17th transition date to give folks more time to acquire the converters. The other good news is that the government had a $1.3B program to give those with lower incomes a $40 coupon to help them purchase the converter boxes.
The bad news is, that program scraped he bottom of the $1.3B barrel this past Sunday.
I'm glad you're grandma will still have access to good soccer matches (I'm a big soccer fan), but I suspect we'll be hearing from a whole lot of other folks who don't yet have their boxes should the Feb 17th transition to digital go forward.
Okay - my only living grandparent is my paternal grandmother at 96 years young. Never has had a drivers license, had an answering machine but "forgot" to plug it in, has cable only to watch Italian soccer and the news in Italian. All other times, the TVs on, volume muted. My grandfather, her husband, dies 40 years ago and she's been in the same apartment since.
She asked me, in Italian - "Is this fancy piece of horse manure really something I need Stefano? or will I still be able to watch good soccer and hear the continued bad news without it" You think she understands the reasons behind the "need" for one and think I understand her absolute terror of hers should her TV go BLACK in a few weeks? No to the former, absolutely to the latter -
"No, Nonni -si andra bene - vi assicuro. Ti amo" No grandma, you will be fine, i assure you. I love you!
If you wanna witness panic, go to the display at your neighborhood Wallmart - average age of purchaser = 70+, cable or not! Like they can afford to spend their fixed income on this!
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