It’s doubtful that “Buzz”, Google’s newly announced social component of Gmail, will pose any significant threat to Facebook’s dominance. I was nonetheless gleeful at the prospect of a having a viable alternative to the world’s largest “social network”.

My excitement about Buzz correlates precisely to my increasing disillusionment with Facebook. What once seemed like a dynamic social forum is actually just a stream of disconnected, shallow, narcissistic chunks of bullshit from people I sorta know. There is no dialogue on Facebook, only monologue. Like most Facebook users, I only interact with a small percentage of my “friends”, while the majority are more like an audience than a group of people with whom I wish to converse (or who wish to converse with me).

Buzz, by contrast, should consist of people I do wish to engage in conversation, since the friend list is based on my email communications. It supports existing services (such as Picasa and Twitter) without any need for clunky applications and APIs. And best of all, I won’t have to sift through dozens of game results, horoscopes, and notices about people joining cleverly named groups. Incidentally, the people who join these groups will never actually participate in them. They simply join as another means of expressing their individuality.

Facebook offers the promise of socialization, but it is really just a platform for self-expression. It’s like blogging on training wheels. We get to “publish” our thoughts to a safe audience, free from fear of exposure to the entire internet. Unfortunately that safety is derived from the fact that most of your “friends” don’t care about your musings and won’t even read them, much less comment on them. So Facebook fails both as a social network and as a mechanism for public expression.

Now, mockery would not be be an unreasonable response to my complaints about Facebook. Indeed, accusations of hypocrisy would be quite justified. If I’m so dissatisfied with this “social network” then why don’t I just delete my account? Why do I persist with logging in each day, sharing links and photos, and commenting on people’s posts?

I guess the answer is that, like many people, I enjoy socializing online. Sadly, Facebook leaves me feeling hollow. It fails to deliver on the promise of a true social network.

I simply refuse to accept that Facebook is the future of the web. A buggy, walled-in platform can’t be the answer to sharing and socializing on the web. If I want conversation, I’ll use email, chat, Twitter, or hopefully Buzz. If I seek an audience, I’ve got my website and blog.

People may not leave Facebook in droves and flock to Buzz, but if Google’s new foray into social networking lives up to its promise, I certainly will.

After months (and months, and months) of enduring Rupert Murdoch’s noise and the news industry’s anti-Google rhetoric (including accusations of vampirism), we learned today that The New York Times will charge for content beginning in 2011. Their plan is to allow a limited number of articles on NYTimes.com to be accessed for free each month, and a fee will be charged for unlimited access. Seems as reasonable as any paid content scheme, which is to say it’s fraught with problems, but hey power to ‘em for finally putting their money where their mouth is.

And thank God!

Ever since Murdoch began yammering about this I prayed the news industry would follow his lead. Like most people, I will never, ever, pay to read articles on NYTimes.com or any other website, so this kind of thing is exactly what I need to keep from inadvertently consuming news, which has brought me nothing but heartache and misery.

Don’t get me wrong, I like to know what’s going on in the world, but I can do without the “in depth reporting” and “insightful analysis”. Usually a few words (y’know, like those found in a tweet) is sufficient to let me know what’s happening. I don’t need the high definition photos either; a shot from a camera phone is just fine. The vast majority of “news” articles out there are just so much blather. Am I a better person for “being informed”? Nope. Would I have acted differently if I hadn’t “been informed” during those years I was addicted to news? Probably not.

Sure, keeping up on current affairs, analyzing them, and debating the issues is a nice exercise for the brain, but unless you have some direct connection to the story that’s pretty much all it is. You’d be better off trading in the New York Times for Sartre, Camus, or Lao-Tzu.

And let’s face it, most of us, most of the time, don’t have that direct connection with news stories. Will your familiarity with the current health care debate cause you to take actions you wouldn’t otherwise have taken? Do your daily obligations change depending on Obama’s standing in the polls? Has Google’s decision on China resulted in any change in your behavior? I’m guessing the answer is no.

I say good riddance, NYT. Hopefully other news organizations will follow suit and the internet will be cleansed of their drivel.

In an age of banal status updates, recycled quotes, retweets and shared links, I want to take a moment to salute the content creators – the thinkers, artists, musicians, writers, philosophers, coders, and everyone else who contributes original content to our digital lives.

Cheers to the bloggers, webmasters, wiki editors, copywriters and all who add substance to the web.

Cheers to the tweeters with something meaningful to say.

Cheers to the forum members and commentators who listen, reply, and carry on a dialogue.

Cheers to the programmers and designers who put flesh on the web’s bones.

Cheers to the artists, photographers, and videographers who feed our eyes’ appetites.

Cheers to the musicians who crank out new material, knowing we may or may not pay for it.

Cheers to anyone and everyone who conceives an original thought, offers unique insight, or shares a novel idea.

Cheers to those who give us something new.

Welp, I’ve had about enough of 2009. Frankly the whole last decade is passé at this point. It’s time to put the past behind us and move forward, so I’ve compiled a list of things I hope to accomplish in 2010. Next to each item is the probability that it’ll actually happen. These figures were determined using a sophisticated algorithm factoring in past experience, motivation cycles, financial scenarios, and many other variables. Trust me, it’s sophisticated.

Mattdude’s Goals for 2010:

1. Stay More in Touch with Friends & Family – 98%
2. Stay Current on Utility Bills to Avoid Late Fees – 47%
3. Visit Mikedude in Colorado At Least Once – 99%
4. Get a New, Newer Model Blue Lumina – 2%
5. Redesign Mattdude.com – 97%
6. Perform Better at My Job – 74%
7. Read Some Books – 25%
8. Never Login to Facebook – 0.4%
9. Hold My Own with Patchdude in a Quake Live Duel – 7%
10. Be Nice at Work – 51%

Seek praise and it will always elude you.

Feign expertise and you’ll appear ignorant.

Deflect blame and it will land squarely on your shoulders.

Be everyone’s friend and you will be alienated.

Avoid labor and suffer twice the hardship.

Tinker with everything and you will accomplish nothing.

…

The work is all that matters. Do your work and rewards will follow. Humble yourself and you will be elevated. Accept blame and you will be admired. Be true to yourself and you will attract others. Confront your duties now and avoid suffering later.

Focus on your task and achieve greatness.

“Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.”