One of the stories making its way around the web this morning is that of the Associated Press obtained a draft by the Homeland Security Department for a plan that would reduce the current five color terror alert system and replace it with only two levels of warnings, elevated and imminent.

It would also allow for the use of Facebook and Twitter to relay terror warnings to the public.

Does anyone else see problems with the last bit of this plan?

The document itself is reportedly marked “For Official Use Only??? and is dated April 1st. Taking that into consideration, it is possible (in my mind) that someone may have been pulling a fast one within the office. That’s my hope, at least, where the use of Facebook and Twitter are concerned in regards to relaying information or warnings to the public at large.

There’s not only the potential for abuse by prank playing co-workers (as the graphic hints at) but there’s also the fact that many people have a hard time believing anything they may read on Twitter or Facebook as being actual fact. There are those of us who just assume anything related to world news via those mediums is a prank or someone trying to get a rise out of their friends.

Plus, seriously, how do you actually go about getting fans or followers for a Homeland Security account?

Gritskrieg – End of Line

The dilemmas of social media

Social networking has become very popular in the last few years. It seems that everyone and their grandmother has a Facebook or Twitter account. Hell, some people still use MySpace. This increasing popularity raises many questions of etiquette regarding when and what to share and who to friend or follow. So, where do you draw the line? My first instinct is to advise use of common sense, but I don’t believe that the answer is that simple. It really does depend on the individual, but there are many considerations to be made before you post something.

Did you know that businesses are now taking to the web, especially social media sites, to stake out potential employees? Next time you’re punching up your resume, think about punching up your Facebook page and maybe dropping those pictures from that pub crawl you did last month. Sure, some employers are going to think that you’re fun and colorful; however, this is not likely.

It’s not just those seeking new employment that need to take this into consideration; these social media sites actually give an employer the right to check up on your personal life. I’ve worked in large offices for many years and there are plenty of things about my personal life that I did not wish to share with anyone in my workplace. So, is this invasion of privacy? Though some may disagree, I say absolutely not. If you put something on the web, unless you turn your privacy settings up to the max, you’re putting your information out there for anybody see. Should they do it? Once again, you may disagree, but I say it depends on the situation. Many people post their work information on their profiles and some employees’ deeds may be bad for business. Can you fire someone for something they posted online? Yes, and it’s perfectly legal.

This brings to mind another question. Do you friend your co-workers or even your boss? This is where it gets hinky. Security settings will allow for an innocuous friendship, so you can avoid the awkward decision of whether or not to accept your boss’ friend request. Accept it, but lock them out of what you’re actually posting. Or, you can choose to leave work at work and keep your social networking fun to between you and your buddies. If you do choose to friend your boss and/or co-workers, take caution. They might not care that you were dancing on the bar or doing body shots off of a stripper; but, when you’re playing hookie, you might want to stick to that story you used when you called in sick that morning. Don’t mention how you went to the zoo, or whatever it is you do when you play hookie.

Then, of course, there’s whether or not you should recommend that your friends like your business. Maybe this is a personal endeavor or it’s your day job. Discretion is key here. Personally, all of my friends are subject to these suggestions. Most of the people on my friends list understand who I am and what I do, so they either like it or ignore it. If you have a small business or you’re promoting your band, cast a wide net. If you don’t want to impose, don’t impose. But, think about this, why are these people on your friends list? Who are they to you and how do you know them? You don’t have to suggest it to all of our friends, think of those who your suggestion may benefit most and start there.

It all comes down to discretion. Why are you on Facebook and/or Twitter? Social media is imperative in today’s tech-dependent society. What better way to get the word out? Social media today is the equivalent of standing on top of a soap box in a town square eighty years ago. Some people are going to stop and listen while others continue on their way. This is your voice with a much bigger amplifier.

Michele is an indie author and publisher from Austin, Texas. She loves roller derby, tattoos and science fiction. She is the founder of Cowgirlie Publishing and is currently working on a three-book sci-fi series due out in 2011.

website: www.michelejhale.com
twitter: www.twitter.com/michelejhale

Twitter’s had a couple of things going for it this week, announcing the addition of business ads in the forms of Tweets. The ads will run as featured Tweets and will be presented in the usual 140 character limited format in what will be called “promoted Tweets???. But co-founder Biz Stone says the company is more interested in getting the advertising right than in raking in the dough.

Typically, before the announcement, companies offer specials to Twitter users by having them follow the company’s Tweets. As such, the offerings have been limited to those already following the company or those searching the Twitter site with specific keywords. By presenting users with the “promoted Tweets???, Twitter hopes to reach more effectively reach potential customers without the intrusiveness of more conventional ad space.

On top of the advertising deals currently in the works being announced this week was the news that the Library of Congress would be archiving the full history of Twitter messages back to March 2006. This means if you’ve ever sent something out on Twitter, you’ll now have a small bit of immortality with the inclusion of your Tweets in the Library.

Historians and academics will be able to access the public database to research just how the dissemination of news has come to rely on the social networking site as well as doing trend analysis of past events. Just think, your message about how you were Tweeting from the john will soon be available for future generations to read.

I don’t know about you guys but I wonder what the reaction will be when the database is discovered 1000 years in the future by an alien species who will wonder just who this Justin Bieber was and why there were so many people talking about him.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

Coming to the PS3 and PC, both downloadable episodes for Grand Theft auto that were once exclusive to the Xbox 360 only are now coming to computers and a Sony console. March 30th, they’ll both be available for the expensive price of $20 per episode or if you want to get the Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City, you can pick it up for $40.

Officially announced via @RockstarGames, Rockstar later posted an article on the official website putting this announcement into more detail. The Lost and the Damned, the first DLC, tells a the dark story of Johnny Klebitz with this biker gang. The story seemed to be weaved in with the original story of Niko Bellic. The Ballad of Gay Tony is lead by Luis Lopez, moving through the fast-paced nightclub lifestyle with a little bit of base-jumping on the side.

In an interview with Kotaku, Rockstar representative Sam Houser said this: “It’s been a long time coming, but we are proud to finally deliver Episodes From Liberty City for the PC and PlayStation 3. We appreciate the patience of our PlayStation 3 and PC fans worldwide, and we look forward to putting the games in your hands this March.”

Rockstar says there’ll be new activities that weren’t playable before, but the question arises: is this new content that isn’t available for the previous versions of the DLC or is it just new for the PS3 and PC? I guess we’ll have to wait for March 30th to find out.

Last week, XBOX LIVE released 4 new features to their entertainment dashboard. These features are meant to take your XBOX from high end gaming console, to your one stop entertainment shop. The features: Facebook, Twitter, Last FM, and Zune HD Video were highly anticipated, and now that they’ve been around for a week… Just how do they stack up?

For this, I had BG send me a 360. (Yes up until recently I did not own one… and yes… there are more people like me in the world.) So after a few days of using the XBOX… the verdict is in… I use the new features probably more than anything else.

I admit it, I’m a sucker for technology and new features. I am the ultimate busygamer. Between writing for these guys, my own writing projects, playing in an indie band and being an all around badass, it’s hard to squeeze in gametime. My games are limited to casual gaming on the PC and (on the occasional sick days from the office) a big ol’ MMORPG splurge once every few months. But as a writer and musician, one thing I am always doing is trying to stay connected. The Facebook and Twitter features (which are the most used apps on the Iphone) were particularly interesting.

FACEBOOK: Myspace? Yeah we got one, but honestly we don’t use it as much as good ol’ FB. In fact it seems like every 3 years a new social networking site pops up (we’ve been noticing the great migration from MS for some time now) Facebook is so streamlined, and thankfully, all those annoying glitter graphics that plague MS are gone. On the XBOX LIVE experience, FB is pretty cool. You can view friends statuses and comment pretty easy (if you don’t mind using a controller to scroll through the virtual keyboard) Another cool feature is the fact you can view your (and your friend’s) photos on your TV. Trust me folks there’s nothing like looking at a Gamette’s photos on the ol’ big screen. It does have some drawbacks though… for one, typing is not fun, unless you buy a keyboard accessory. All in all though, it does save you from logging into your computer or using your phone…. And like I said, the picture thing was probably the most fun to use (but then again we have cool pictures)

TWITTER: The king of the microblogging status only services strikes back with an XBOX LIVE feature. While this is pretty much what you expect, it does lack a little. You can do basic things, it is fun to tweet that you are updating from your console, but honestly, I use about 4 apps just for twitter on my Iphone (twitter is serious business when your in our line of work) The apps spoil me, they all have their strengths so I use them all, for XBOX I guess the strength is that… well.. it’s an XBOX

LAST FM: Probably the thing I thought I would like the least is the one I fell in love with the most. LAST FM reminds me a lot of Pandora radio, only as far as I can tell, I can skip songs a lot more. IT gets smarter the more you use it, and it shows a slideshow of the bands playing on your TV when the music is going (perfect for a party). I fell in love with it so much, I use it now on my computer and my Iphone (Pandora has been neglected)

ZUNE HD VIDEO: I got to admit. I have Netflix and the first thing I did was activate it to the console. I can’t see paying for a movie when I already have Netflix and can stream unlimited movies (for free) through the console. This one didn’t get used, even after I have had time to play with the whole system. Maybe I will download it to see what all it can do, but at this point, I don’t see it.

The biggest thing to me is probably the time it steals. Sure its fun, but after day one after talking through a headset via party mode with Crutchboy, I realized we had been on for six hours. Where did the time go? I mean sure I was connected with friends and business contacts, but probably could have done lots more. That’s life of a busygamer for you.

(VG247 & VG247) After Geoff Keighly posted a tweet saying that there are “around 10 games still unannounced“, people have begun speculation of which companies these games have come from. On Daniel Roy’s Tumblr account, he has a post saying that he is indeed a Senior Producer on an unannounced original IP.

As for speculation on what kind of game that it is, it will most likely a shooter since he has worked on previous games such as Splinter Cell: Double Agent and Ghost Recon 2 from Ubisoft according to his LinkedIn. With the recent release of Dragon Age: Origins, now more workers from Bioware will have time to focus on this new project. But speculation still rises: will this secret game be revealed at the 2010 VGA’s?

During the mandatory service update landing November 17, your Xbox Live experience will get a lot more social. This addition to the current Xbox Live NXE dashboard will be implementing social networking tools such as Twitter and Facebook, along with music/video streaming capabilities through Zune, and Last.FM. With this, you will most likely be seeing automatic updates to your Twitter/Facebook, listing what games you are currently playing, achievements unlocked and what songs/video you are streaming. So in other words, you will soon be mashing (if you are not already) your gaming life with your social one.

New Xbox Live Experience as from the official release from Microsoft:

Last.FM
Xbox LIVE Gold members can select their music preferences to explore and discover new songs and artists from a library of more than 3.5 million songs. Skip, “ban,” or “love” tracks to tailor the radio station to your tastes.

Facebook
Facebook and Xbox LIVE join forces to connect you with your friends as you interact with the largest entertainment and gaming network on TV. Share real-time status updates and photos with your friends on Facebook, or share your favorite gaming moments on Facebook right from your television.

Twitter
Keep connected to your friends and family by reading and posting “Tweets” on the Twitter service from the comfort of your living room via your Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE. You can quickly and easily read, reply, and post updates online right from your Xbox 360.

Zune
Zune comes to Xbox LIVE to deliver instant-on 1080p HD streaming video on your Xbox 360 console. It delivers the selection of a video megastore, in the highest possible clarity and with the convenience of cable. Watch the movies and TV shows you want, when you want them, with instant-on 1080p streaming video and 5.1 surround sound with no downloads and no delays.

News and More
Get news, sports, weather, horoscopes, and more from MSN right through your Xbox 360.

- Crutchboy Out

(Reuters) – Twitter has no plans to put advertisements on the popular microblogging site this year, co-founder Biz Stone said on Tuesday, amid a growing push for the 2-year-old Internet sensation to begin making money.

Stone, who said Twitter was “pretty good right now” with regards to funding, stressed the company’s immediate focus was on building out features ranging from an improved search functions to paid-for commercial accounts.

“Any kind of approach toward advertising is going to be awhile … We’re not thinking about that just yet,” Stone said at the 140: Twitter Conference in Los Angeles.

Privately held Twitter — known for its 140-character, stream-of-consciousness blogs — has received plenty of venture funding, but Stone declined to disclose the amounts or valuation.

TechCrunch recently reported that a new round of funding would value Twitter at $1 billion.

Still in its infancy, the fledgling company has rapidly become a cultural phenomenon, but Twitter and other social networking Web sites have yet to show investors how they will start earning a profit.

To that end, Stone said Twitter aims to offer premium features for commercial account users this year.

“We wanted to show people that we’re here to stay and here we are making money,” Stone said.

Those features, which could debut in test form, are envisioned as for-pay features and potentially could include “light analytics” tools that allow commercial users to gather data on their followers, he said.

Citing security concerns, the Pentagon has ordered a review of the military’s use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The primary concern is not use of the sites but of potential holes that could expose the military’s digital backside to hackers.

While no ban has been issued by the Pentagon for the sites among military personnel, some branches and divisions, notably the Marines who have long prohibited social networking sites from being accessed while on duty, have done just that.  It was done in a proactive effort to restrict any security issues from arising. The Marines do, however, allow waivers for the use of the sites for “operational needs”, such as investigations and recruitment of new personnel.

William Lynn, the deputy defense secretary, has asked the Pentagon’s chief information officer to present not only a threat assessment for the potential security risks but also for official policy guidelines for the use of networking sites.

Lynn stated there would be policies in regards for the sites in place by the end of September. But  in regards to whether they should prove to be more of a risk than a boon, there is very little information on what actions might be taken to restrict personnel from the sites.

Personally, I’d like to know if a soldier ever Tweeted, “I’m in your base, killing your d00dz” while in the middle of combat.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

[Source]

(CNN.com) – A 127-character tweet about a moldy apartment in Chicago could end up costing @abonnen $50,000.

On May 12th Amanda Bonnen, who has since deleted her Twitter account, responded to a friend with the tweet, “@JessB123You should just come anyway. Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay.???

@abonnen only had about 20 followers that directly received the message, but her profile was set to public, and Chicago-based Horizon Group Management discovered the tweet.

Chicago Now reports the company then filed a defamation lawsuit alleging Bonnen, “maliciously and wrongfully published the false and defamatory Tweet on Twitter, thereby allowing the Tweet to be distributed throughout the world.???

Horizon is seeking $50,000 in damages.

If @abonnen’s statement is determined to be false and tweets are considered a legitimate form of publishing, she could be held liable for damages to Horizon’s reputation.

[Full article at CNN.com]