The inner workings of Facebook have always confused me. The social networking giant seems akin to the Keebler factory, yet with elves more sinister, and a shroud of secrecy that could rival the USSR. The cogs are always turning, and new features come frequently enough, but does anyone really know the factory works inside?

You see, Facebook has an algorithm and I have no clue what it is — a social networking question mark on par with fast food’s secret sauce.

In the olden days, we would trudge through five feet of snow just to comment on a picture, and we liked it that way. Sometimes, we would even be notified if our friends did the same. Of course, things got weird when Johny at Some University decided to comment on a picture that was three years old, because you’d be notified for that too. The powers that be decided this was weird too, and in their infinite wisdom, put an end to all those comments on the past.

The thing is, there are now some weird conditions in place that determine whether you’ll receive a notification on a picture, post or comment. For example…

• You will always receive notifications for comments on things you post.
• But after a certain period of time, comments on photos you have also commented on will no longer prompt notifications. This seems to vary depending on the number of people who have commented, the length of time since the last comment, and other variables.
• To make things more confusing, if you’re tagged in a picture, yet never comment, you seem to receive notifications regardless.

The apparent randomness of these occurrences makes me think that there may not even be an algorithm to comment notifications at all. I’ve heard rumours that Facebook staff use a brand of divination based upon cheese mold and the birthmarks found on baby kittens. It would explain a lot.

Now, this is all purely anecdotal. I’ve gone back to look at the notes and pictures of my friends from months past that have mysteriously acquired new comments – comments that I haven’t been notified for. Some of these comments have even been posted by reasonably good looking women. One might assume that Facebook’s mysterious algorithm is hindering my online relationships with the opposite sex.

But really, I just want my notifications back, and a peek at the the algorithm that makes this social beast tick. Is that too much to ask?

A quick glance outside my window revealed that pigs were flying, and the denizens of hell were enjoying a few cold ones. Much to the chagrin of internet users, it seemed as if Facebook was becoming Twitter – the introduction of @tagging having drawn the ire of each networks most loyal.

But let’s step back for a second. Amidst the hyperbole and seeming rage is really just a subtle and logical change that’s been a long time coming for Facebook. The social network first carved an online niche for itself with the ability to tag friends in photos. Then came notes, and later on, videos. Naturally, the only piece of original, user created content left untouched by our Facebook-tagging overlords were status updates.

What seems to be drawing all the attention is Facebook’s implementation of tags, and it’s very superficial similarity to that of Twitter. So, let’s break this down, shall we?

MATTHEW’S HANDY GUIDE TO SOCIAL NETWORKING AND LIFELONG TEXTUAL RELATIONSHIPS.

1. Twitter’s @ system makes up for the services’ inherent lack of threaded replies. In other words, it’s the only means by which to converse back and forth with someone. Facebook, meanwhile, actually has threaded replies to Tweets. I mean, updates.
2. Twitter allows you to mention anyone. Facebook, as always, will only allow you to tag your friends.
3. Facebook tags are NOT searchable. This is, arguably, one of the most powerful features of Twitter’s mention/hashtag system, and really what separates the two services.
4. And finally, Twitter let’s you tag as many people as you’d like, within the 140 character limit. Facebook limits you to six tags, however. This may be a good thing for Matt Demers.

In a nutshell, Facebook continues to improve and evolve, as it should, and gives a nod to one of its so-called competitors. Far from game changing, I think.

A Twitter clone it is not.

Personally, I think more students need to get into the wonderful world of computer programming. It would mean that we’d get more of this. Only then will humanity lose it’s dependence on strange, mind-altering drugs; after all, as Sir Paul McCartney once said, “Tane is all you need.”

There’s an episode of Stargate Atlantis where scientist Rodney McKay falls prey to an Ancient device that essentially turns him into a walking library. He gains a vast, encyclopedic knowledge of nearly anything imaginable, which, while cool, is eventually revealed to result in DEATH if the condition is allowed to continue. Of course, in the ususal Stargate fashion, some deus ex machina saves the day, and everyone can go eat cake.

But, you know that feeling, that idea that your head is going to explode deliciously-cherry-coloured brains all over the walls if you don’t stop the flow of information? This is how I feel when looking at my RSS feeds. And damn, are there a lot of them. So the question remains – how do I sort all this crap?

At a glance, I can see my Ars Technica feeds, my BBC feeds, Gizmodo, io9, Kotaku, Engadget, The Globe and Mail, The New York Times, and a myriad of other sites and sounds filling up my reader. To be fair, I enjoy reading through them each day, yet it’s no small task going through each to find what I deem worth reading – and more importantly, worth remembering. This has become a little more difficult now that I actually have to keep track of things for the NSH podcast.

So, what’s a writer to do? Flag things, of course. One of the perks of using Mozilla Thunderbird as my primary RSS feed means that I can quickly mark whatever interests me, and then sort it out later when needed. It’s the same sort of system that Thunderbird’s core mail functionality employs, so it’s only natural the same feature make its way over to Mozilla’s reader. Even better, I can make folders to house each week’s starred items, which makes saving important weekly news and reviews that much easier.

I’ve dabbled with Google Reader briefly (who my friend Matthew Demers swears by, might I add), which has similar flagging functionality, but there’s something about having it all there beside my mail that makes Thunderbird’s implementation rather appealing. Sure, there’s better readers out there, and more functional ones at that, but these seems to suffice – for now. At the very least, it’s made it a lot easier to fend off the information overload that attacks me from the shrubberies of cyberspace each week.

That being said, I’m always looking for new ways to keep all my data in line, so if you’re using an RSS reader/plugin/whatever that you think would fit my needs, give me a shout! Suggestions always welcome.

Seriously, Norton. Seriously. This is probably one of the worst movie tie-ins I’ve seen in recent memory. What does Symantec stand to benefit by combining security software with a “real American hero” anyhow?

Either Symantec feels that their userbase is composed largely of children in the 8-and-up crowd, or nostalgic adults who have been deluded into thinking this poor, shoddy remake will be of any value. Or perhaps Symantec feels that G.I Joe’s mission to defend America from terrorism is an excellent parallel for it’s virus protection suite. Whatever the reasoning, it feels incredibly belittling, and totally unappealing to whoever would benefit from purchasing such a product most.

Face, meet palm. Logic fails me.