Facebook is Not a Protestor’s Friend

Faux Facebook Revolution: Facebook has been getting a lot of praise in regards to the Egyptian uprising. However, Gawker’s Adrian Chen says not so fast. As Chen points out, Facebook’s censorship policies were yet another obstacle in the protesters’ way. In many instances, Facebook was less than helpful to Egyptian protesters: Facebook deactivated protest groups’ pages and has a problematic real identity policy that bans pseudonyms. Furthermore, while Twitter and Google took public stances against repressive forces in Egypt, Facebook remained neutral. So don’t give Facebook too much credit when it comes to social and political revolutions. Gawker

Twitter Trends: So today for the first time ever, while updating Digiday’s Twitter account, I actually checked the “Trends” section. This area — well, really most areas and features on Twitter — is something that I regularly take no notice of, but for some unknown cosmic reason, today I was compelled to glance over to the right side of the page, and under “Trends,” four items down, I saw, in blue text, two words, a name really: Nigel Thornberry. It took me a moment to place this familiar name. A family friend perhaps? Or a Discovery Channel show host? Then it hit me. Of course! Nigel Thornberry! The Nigel Thornberry of Nickelodeon’s animated series The Wild Thornberrys fame. Thank my lucky stars! It’s been so long, Nigel, since I’ve seen your pronounced nose or heard your delightfully garbled voice; but now look, here you are all over the interweb, inspiring memes and dedicated tumblrs. What a random and awesome gem from the Nickelodeon nostalgia vault. Never thought I’d say this, but thanks, Twitter.