The End of Facebook?

The social networking giant, Facebook, just went public. It's currently trading around $38, although it opened for nice healthy $42. I'm not a stock market pro, but I can tell you this: this most recent week probably marked the beginning of my leaving Facebook.

It will take months probably, since I still need to pop in here every now and again to pick up mail and look at some old pictures. But each time I log on, its usually a boring and annoying experience, littered with ads that are completely irrelevant to me, and a strong feeling that this just isn't as useful as perhaps it once was.

Enter Google+. I have been working at Google for around 9 months now, and since the start it was clear that G+ is really important to the company. They have recognized that social platforms are really engaging for users and that the Google products needed some kind of cohesive front page. Google+ is to be the platform that harnesses all the powerful Google products under a singular account. A social boost to Search. Its not been a hit with the masses yet.

But for the last week or so, I've started leaving Facebook, and found myself more engaged on Google+. I'd like for you to join me. I thought Facebook had it clinched (and I think everyone thinks Facebook has it clinched). Their valuable advantage is in the fact that all your friends are already here, and most of them are not on Google+. I am astonished to find that this actually wasn't a problem over the last week. Until you get down and make some circles you want to follow, its hard to get this. For instance, I've got a "News" circle. I'm effectively treating my stream as an RSS reader, but with the added social benefits: +1s and comments. This is cool, and this is not as great on Facebook. its about social, but social on the broader web.

The biggest reason to start engaging more with Google+ is probably Hangouts. Thing is, there is a social network in there for us to use, and Hangouts are the reason to use it. It's crazy how much we use these at work, and just how brilliant it is. There isn't any other way as accessible to have so many of your friends or coworkers come together at the same time to either have a giggle, some banter, or work on a project together. Hangouts are the real future of VC, and they are the real future of hanging out online.

So yeah, let's leave Facebook guys! You should try Google+ a little more this week. Add some websites you read (Lifehacker is a great one to follow), perhaps some celebrities that you like to follow on Twitter (Richard Branson posts good stuff), and maybe even some companies or sports teams you are into (I have a circle called Ad Agencies that includes companies I have dealt with at work. It's interesting to see what they are working on and what new ideas they are working on with their clients). See if you don't like the simplicity, the Circles, which are much more effective than Groups, and maybe start a Hangout with me.

Glee and Muppets

Saturday night, me and the lady are heading back from a late matinee showing of The Muppets. The film was pretty darn hilarious, taking me by surprise. Taking me even more by surprise was the fact that I didn't enjoy Jason Segel's performance. He was not able to interact with the muppets in a realistic way, and seemed to be aware that he was talking to a hand the whole time. I think these movies call for much more cartoony performances.

Anyway, while strolling down Lower George's Street, quoting the funnies and having the lols, we stumbled upon a simple poster for The Glee Experience. "Why the hell not?" said the little voice in my head.

The show was fun, energetic and a good chance to watch Glee without actually having to watch Glee. There is no way I can commit hours of my life to a teenage soap opera about jocks and geeks and all that farce, but the songs themselves I have enjoyed, and seeing them performed by such talented kids was great fun. Check them out around Dublin over the next couple of months - it's well worth your €15. Ticketmaster is currently showing no dates, but they have some booked in that they plugged at the show, so I would watch this space.

Super Mario 64 DS

I am a winner - I got Mario for Valentine's Day! :D

This game is great. Nintendo have made several changes from the original on N64 (which I never got a chance to complete as a child) including playing as Yoshi from the beginning and some new stars to collect. Only had a change to nab 19 of these fuckers so far, so will shed more light on my progress later, perhaps.



Most of all, I love that I'm still using my DS Lite after all these years. I think the 3DS is the crappest idea Nintendo have ever come up with, and I appreciate that it's priced reasonably low. As a company, I'm sure there is a fair amount of panic going on with the rising popularity of smartphones, and consumers downloading games for their smartphone. Companies have started making fortunes making games that sell for as little as £0.79. On my iPad right now, I'm playing Kingdom Rush - an absolutely wicked tower defence game. It was less that a pound. Not even £1! A bus ride costs more.

I predict that Nintendo can't keep up this farcical strategy of handheld gimmicks for too much longer. The days of the Game Boy have surely started to fade away already. And with their new WiiU project looking equally daft, their presence in the home looks... unpredictable. I'm looking out for the new console, but I'm nervous. I will miss Link, Mario and the rest of the Smash Bros, but might have to let them go if it means buying all that hardware - when my phone and tablet do so much gaming for so much less.

Will Piracy Kill The Music Industry?

My girlfriend wrote a great little piece for tha-one.com called Will Piracy Kill The Music Industry.

I love this debate, and I really wish I had time to investigate it closely and recover the data on this. It's interesting how the Internet affects industries in this way, and the media industry is one of those fighting back hardest. Stacey talks about how the Internet interrupts the workflow for the middle man, and offers power to come straight from artists. Alex Day is her example of this, and his attempted Christmas number one in 2011, where he climbed all the way to number 4 - the first to get so far without a record label.

Training Week

I've had load of training this week, and it was all meant to be stuff I already knew. It has been enlightening, and cleared up so many gaps in my knowledge. I love these moments where you realise that as much as you think you know about something, there are so many better ways to go about it. Well I have already been told - "Don't stop learning." Far too early to be stopping right now.

New AdWords Help Center

This is the latest I have ever been in the office, and it's a quiet place.

I've decided that while I consider the tuna and sweetcorn sandwich next to me, I'd better make today's contribution to this blog. Today I've picked out nothing to share with the world, so thought I'd pull together something simple.

Did you know: Most of the problems you might be experiencing with AdWords (or anything else for that matter), chances are someone else has run into it and has posted something about it on the internet. Honestly, the amount of knowledge hidden somewhere in the webosphere is incredibly close to 100% of all human knowledge. Most of the time, the trick is just knowing where to look, or where to ask.

The AdWords Help Center was just revamped. It now has more easily accessible pages, more explanation of complex problems and navigation is more streamlined. And if not here, there are also frequent posts on Google blogs. Here is a list of challenging questions that really can't be explained in a clearer way:

Linking Analytics to your AdWords account
Segmenting your data, to show specifically what you are looking for
Just about everything on Quality Score
Remarketing: How to do it for beginners and advanced

Just waiting to go home... train is coming in 26 minutes! :D

In my spare free minutes at the end of the business day, I tapped in some Google Maps directions to local DART stations following my trip to see Star Wars 3D tomorrow night. I'm going to have a decision to make - either run and hope I make the last train, or preemptively concede defeat and wait for the bus, a much longer trip home.

Either way though, Star Wars eh? Fucking excited.