Some quick chum items from a quick skim o’ the news, before I do some lunchtime studying:
- From the “Oh, It Is Your Grandmother’s Facebook” Department: It seems that folks over 55, in particular women, are joining Facebook in record numbers. Evidently, Facebook has become the way to keep up to date with your far-flung-family. There are now about 1.5 million female users older than 55 on the site, roughly a 550% increase over six months ago. By comparison, membership among people younger than 25 grew by less than 20 percent over the same period.
- From the “C’mon, Forward Me That Email” Department: Today’s LA Observed “Morning Buzz” has some good links regarding snopes.com: a pointer to a large article on the site’s founders from Readers Digest, and a debunking by factcheck.org of a claim that the Mikkelson’s are excessively liberal or biased.
- From the “Better Check Those Facts” Department: USA Today has an interesting article about how rumors about retailers can be very bad news for the retailers, for once the rumor is out, you can’t pull it back. We’re all seeing that today with the bru-ha-ha about Amazon and rankings. So what does Amazon have to say about it: no malice, just a technical glitch. It always helps to remember the adage: never blame on malace what you can blame on stupidity.
But wait, there’s more:
- From the “It slices, It dices” Deparment: USA Today has an interesting book review of a new book about the infomercial industry. It reveals how these infomercials use the same tried and true tactics as the barkers and demonstrators at the county fair demonstrations. Sounds like an interesting read. I understand operators are available and ready to take your order now.
