From My Informant: The Perils of Socialcam
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 1:15 am
I received an intriguing PM earlier this afternoon. "I have something that you might find interesting," this person told me. A couple of small arrangements were made, and a remarkable screencap came into my possession. Now, I debated for a while on whether or not it would be a good idea to post this. Ultimately, I decided that there were several reasons why posting would be worthwhile. First of all, this will hopefully warn other people about the potential problems associated with using the Socialcam Facebook app. Secondly, I'm hoping this will serve as an opportunity for the FAIR Mopologists to rethink their use of people's Facebook material in their FAIR Wiki articles. (I'm looking at you, Trevor Holyoak.) Third, RayAgostini has been calling for more "humanization" of the Mopologists. Fourth, this may provide deeper inside into the Mopologist mindset.
In any case, this was the screencap I was sent:
(Moderator Note)in real life picture and Facebook caption removed.
Now, my first reaction was to chuckle. After I wiped away the tears of mirth, though, I began to doubt the authenticity of this image. Surely this was just somebody have a bit of fun with Photoshop. (This in spite of the utmost reliability of this informant.) Just as I was ready to shrug the entire thing off, however, another PM appeared in my InBox:
Aha! So that's it. He wasn't just watching a salaciously-titled video of Jennifer Lopez all the way through to the end out of his own prurient interest (and hey: Ms. Jennifer Lopez is, after all, a lovely woman)--no, he was actually looking out for some mysterious "friend". Well, now, Dr. Peterson: there's no shame in watching videos like this! Then again, I'm sure all of us can understand why you might not want to announce to all of the world that you were watching a video about J.Lo and "boners." (Even if it was just out of curiosity/concern for your friend--sort of like those TBMs who claim to be looking at porn for the sake of "research.") What I can't quite wrap my head around is what he expected to find "funny or significant" in the film: did he expect it to conclude with some kind of edifying gospel message? And I suppose the unanswered question here is: Who was the "friend"? Will Schryver? It sort of makes you wonder if the L-Skinny crew is sharing videos like this on a routine basis.
Regardless, let this serve as a fair warning to those who are using the Socialcam app!
In any case, this was the screencap I was sent:
(Moderator Note)in real life picture and Facebook caption removed.
Now, my first reaction was to chuckle. After I wiped away the tears of mirth, though, I began to doubt the authenticity of this image. Surely this was just somebody have a bit of fun with Photoshop. (This in spite of the utmost reliability of this informant.) Just as I was ready to shrug the entire thing off, however, another PM appeared in my InBox:
Informant X wrote:3 minutes ago he posted this:DCP wrote:I've just learned something new. "Socialcam,"of which I'd never before heard, announces on Facebook if you've watched something on it. I got a Facebook notice earlier today that a friend had watched something that seemed . . . er, questionable. Surprised that he would watch it, but REALLY surprised that he would (as I thought) choose to ANNOUNCE that he had watched it, I watched it, too, to see if there was something funny or significant in it that would lead him to want to announce it to all of his Facebook friends. (There wasn't.) And now I find that I'VE seemingly chosen to announce that I watched the same thing -- which, at least, helps me to understand what happened to my friend (but is, otherwise, slightly embarrassing and quite irritating). My apologies. I've got lots of shortcomings, but this kind of stuff isn't among them.
Aha! So that's it. He wasn't just watching a salaciously-titled video of Jennifer Lopez all the way through to the end out of his own prurient interest (and hey: Ms. Jennifer Lopez is, after all, a lovely woman)--no, he was actually looking out for some mysterious "friend". Well, now, Dr. Peterson: there's no shame in watching videos like this! Then again, I'm sure all of us can understand why you might not want to announce to all of the world that you were watching a video about J.Lo and "boners." (Even if it was just out of curiosity/concern for your friend--sort of like those TBMs who claim to be looking at porn for the sake of "research.") What I can't quite wrap my head around is what he expected to find "funny or significant" in the film: did he expect it to conclude with some kind of edifying gospel message? And I suppose the unanswered question here is: Who was the "friend"? Will Schryver? It sort of makes you wonder if the L-Skinny crew is sharing videos like this on a routine basis.
Regardless, let this serve as a fair warning to those who are using the Socialcam app!
