Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

...the proliferation of social networks makes it hard to keep your brand under control.

At least I'm not that popular a brand, so reserving my usual "sbisson" on Facebook wasn't hard. I think there are maybe three Simon Bissons online, and the only one who might also be wanting my usual username is an up-and-coming Canadian ice hockey player in one of the minor leagues. It's not surprising that social media consultants make a decent living handling things like that for big name brands - cybersquatting is at best an annoyance, at worst an act of sabotage.

Even so, the act of setting it up using a mobile phone so many thousand miles from home was slightly nostalgic, reminding me of warm summer evenings in the courtyard of The Lamb with the folk from cix:bofh registering our domain on a (then) brand shiny new Libretto and a direct connected Nokia phone while drinking a decent pint or three.

Ah, the heady days of the mid-1990s. Will we ever see their like again?

What if Socrates had used Facebook? After all, he was a great one for sitting around and talking about himself. And isn't that what Facebook is for?

The one and only Verity Stob treats the whole subject with her own inimitable style...

Extract from Plato's The Banana Republic.Socrates and Glaucon are discovered in the Facebook group called'Philosophy is the new iPod'. Socrates has created a new thread.

SOCRATES has 6 friends in the network Philosophers.

SOCRATES:I thought I would kick off a new one on the nature of human companionship. 'Be slow to fall into friendship; but when you are in,continue firm and constant' as a great man once said. Oh yes, I did.

GLAUCON: Nice one, Socco. Talking of friendship, I hear that Catherine Tate is all set to return to the Tardis to reprise the role of Donna. My heart is sore.

SOCRATES: And how does this bear on the nature of friendship?

GLAUCON: My reasoning is thus.

In the first place, Donna's grating voice and her sarf London accent– apparently a prerequisite to getting hold of a Tardis key these days,by the way, no matter how many hearts you possess – offends my ear,even so that my enjoyment of The Mill's special effects is disturbed.

In the second place, this seems to be a continuation of Russell T Davies celebrity obsession, which is running wildly out of hand. Tate, Kylie, that actor off of 'Life on Mars'. What will he do next?Reintroduce Bonnie Langford?

And in the third place, why couldn't we have that posh blonde out of the scary statues episode? That would make more sense in terms of continuity.

Read on for more philosophical social networking hilarity...