Opinion: Why I'm not surprised people are bored of Facebook!

facebook-pic-100.jpgJonathan Weinberg writes…

You can have too much of a good thing, isn’t that how the saying goes. Who wants sex, chocolate and alcohol every minute of the day? Eventually you’re going to getting a little tired of the same old daily routine.

I speak as a self-confessed Facebook addict when it first launched. I spent ages on there, ensuring I had more friends than everyone else on my friends-list, updating my status every five seconds, adding new pictures and sitting there transfixed by what my increasing social circle was up to. It’s like voyerism, only legal, and without the naughty stuff.

Why did it bothered me X was visiting the farm, or Y was updating their profile from their mobile while sitting on the toilet? I’ll tell you why, because it was new, it was innovative and it was a distraction from everyday life.

But since Facebook has become my everyday life, my interest has waned. I’ve not changed my status in nearly a week, last put snaps up before Christmas and my Blackberry battery is staying juiced-up for longer as I neglect to check it while on the move.

So it doesn’t surprise me that Facebook’s user numbers are falling. So-called “Facebook fatigue” has been highlighted with a five per cent drop from 8.9 million unique visitors to the website in December to 8.5 million last month. But it’s still 712 per cent higher than a year ago and nine per cent higher than three months ago….

20 things to do online on Christmas Day

Should you find yourself at a loose end on Christmas Day, with nothing but a laptop and Internet connection, then here are twenty things you could do to pass the time until the Boxing Day sales start and you can go and buy yourself a new sofa. Though I think Zara might have something to say about “>not being geeky on Christmas Day

1. Find as many ways of watching the Queen’s Christmas Day speech as possible

Yes, yes, it’s on BBC1, ITV1, BBC HD, and Sky HD, but this year it will be sent out as a podcast, will be available on the BBC News web site, and will no doubt appear on YouTube at some point – probably by some geek testing out his new laptop.

2. Download the lyrics for as many Kylie Minogue songs and start singing them at 6.50pm

Yes, Kylie’s in Doctor Who, and you can ruin the whole experience by singing “I Should Be So Lucky” as the Titanic goes down.

Opinion: Vodafone gives us an early Christmas pressie and unwraps Social Networking on the move

Jon_small_new.jpgJonathan Weinberg writes… I saw a quick demonstration of this yesterday and it certainly looks like being a brilliant idea that I hope other mobile networks follow. With Internet prices dropping like stones across all the mobile firms thanks to bundled ‘unlimited’ data and use of social networking growing by the millions in the blink of an eye, it makes sense to match up the two.

Vodafone has designed a downloadable application that sits on your handset connecting you to Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and Bebo. Nothing majorly new there, because you can surf them at present and many have their own download applications too like the excellent Facebook program for Blackberrys…

Yahoo! launches Finds of the Year 2007: vote on best UK websites of the year

yahoo_finds_of_the_year_2007_logo.gifYahoo! has launched its search (ahem) for the best, most creative, innovative, and amusing websites within the UK, with The Finds of the Year 2007 awards.

Now in its sixth year, there are around 40 sites broken down into eight categories that will be voted upon by a panel of experts. The public can also vote for The People’s Choice award, with the winners being announced on 16th January next year.

The eight categories are charity, educational, ethical, innovative, social, shopping, travel, and weird and wonderful. The People’s Choice will decide the overall winner.