Let’s face it, we’re addicts. We live for the Internet. We can’t function without the Internet. It controls us. But whatever, it’s awesome. We’re all curious by nature, but with the Internet, it breeds a much higher level of curiosity. I love how I can discover ANYTHING with a simple tap of my finger. It just feels so good in the morning when I have a hot cup of coffee and I make that anticipated double click to see what’s going on in the world—and by “world,” I mean Facebook, e-mail and a little CNN. Because of my addiction, I can’t resist a mindless Internet activity. So while browsing a friend’s profile on Facebook the other day, I found a new web obsession for all to enjoy: yearbookyourself.com

I’ve always wanted to know what I would have looked like in the past, especially since there were so many hairstyles that were out of whack. I mean, how could I, Jordan, a girl with curly hair, look good with a short bob? I don’t know how I would have been able to go steady with someone. Anyway, this website made all my dreams come true. It granted my wish of seeing what I’d look like with the popular hairstyles and fashions through the decades. Needless to say, I’m happy with my current look. However, in 10 years, I’ll probably think I looked like a poodle.

As entertaining as it is, the real purpose of yearbookyourself.com is to partner with malls around the country to promote their participating stores. Malls like Los Angeles’ popular Beverly Center use yearbookyourself.com to compare and contrast today’s styles and trends with those of the past. Yearbookyourself.com explains what was popular then and what’s popular now to direct the viewers to the participating stores where they can get that style. My favorite is, “Fanny packs were stylish in ’88 (no joke). For today’s more tasteful accessories, head to: Tumi, LeSport Sac, Kipling.” They probably figure that since we get the opportunity to see ourselves in different decades explaining the past and present trends, that it will motivate us to update our wardrobe.

It’s an interesting approach, because yearbookyourself.com invites us to the past to capture our attention. Considering the amount of Facebook profile pictures I’ve seen from the website, I’d say mission accomplished. However, I just don’t know how effective the partnership is because we live in a narcissistic era. People will be paying more attention to themselves rather than what stores they could visit to get a particular style. At least yearbookyourself.com can guarantee traffic and exposure due to the website’s popularity.

So, if you are up for a little photo upload, time traveling and a good laugh, I highly recommend you check it out. If you’re like me, you’ll upload a picture to see yourself as the opposite sex, too. Or maybe I’m just weird. But hey, what can I say? The Internet controls me.

Jordan Sullivan is a marketing director for Chick-fil-A.

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Just when I thought social websites, such as Facebook, were attempting to provide a little more security by tweaking the adjustability of the privacy settings, I began to take note of the sponsored link ads that creep along the sides of my homepage and the pages of other unsuspecting users and wonder just how confidential my profile actually is.

Facebook knows my name, my sex, my educational background, my e-mail address and my face, literally. But just because I am a 21-year-old female does not mean I need to visit a website to meet a man, apparently of my dreams, or review a casino’s website with hopes to spend the wads of cash the typical college student has hidden under his or her dorm mattress. Should I take offense to the airbrushed images flashing on the screen promoting weight loss? Hmm, who knew simply taking a weight-loss supplement could make any girl centerfold worthy?

Is it ethical for a website to require such user information and then allow its users to be hounded with what advertisers deem relevant to our being based solely on keywords found scattered amongst our online identities? And it’s not just social networking websites. My e-mail accounts are being bombarded with sponsored links containing keywords evidently scouted out from my e-mails as well. Sure, we have the choice to sign up for such services, but should we not have to give consent for our online personalities to be analyzed and solicited?

I can accept search engines tracking my queries and on some level understand and appreciate the effort and help. Facebook and Gmail stalking my habits and statistics could be seen in some circles as abusing their rights to my personal information, and I don’t think I can get on board with it. I suggest a course of action be taken towards more privacy before many decide it may be time to defriend Facebook and put Gmail in the trash.

Leah Mitter is an intern with the Electronic Retailing Self-Regulation Program.

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New media evangelism in the direct response industry begins to remind me of biblical tales of woe, the Old Testament tales where prophets are slaughtered or exiled or something along those lines. Or at least roundly mocked. It’s part of my personal story and also part of the state of the industry, and it’s truly unfortunate.

For those of us who embrace risk and are joyful and passionate in our approach to new media, evangelism can be the most grueling, frustrating part of the game. Trying to make a twitter proselyte out of someone who can’t figure out e-mail attachments? Yeah, it gets old.

Time after time when talking to DR agency folks, I’ve run into an impenetrable wall of mythology about new media. It’s fear-based, it’s preventing progress for all the worst reasons, it’s causing forward-thinkers to be punished, and it’s simply untrue. The mythology includes the ideas that mobile commerce isn’t functional, that social media isn’t measurable, that R&D can’t lead to ROI, etc.

Recently, an agency CEO quipped about media/tech adoption, “You can lead a horse to water…”

Alright, so publications such as Electronic Retailer are leading the DR horse to water through education. Firebrands such as Marty Fahncke, Dana Todd, and a slew of others are leading the horse through sometimes-rabid evangelism. Research firms publish data saying that consumers are ready for new media. Clients are beginning to ask for more creative digital solutions.

I do begin to wonder: What’s it going to take to get that horse to drink…Damn it.

Jolie O’Dell is a mobile, social and evolving search enthusiast.

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I have this little theory that social media (e.g., blogs, forums and social networks) open up a whole new behavioral change where it’s acceptable to be a little personal, a little less professional and more “off the cuff” with thoughts, comments and ideas. Facebook is the “great experiment” in which we are all now trying to figure out how much of our personal lives to share with who we allow to be friends.

It comes back to the transparency element of social networking in that you must be transparent and real about your level of communications. If too contrived or too rigid, it just does not work.

So, my conclusion is: it’s about time! We all have enough stress in our lives and really do not need any more when it comes to communicating amongst peers. So, let’s be ourselves, be comfortable with that, recognize every once in a while that we’ll have friends post things that are less than appropriate and all accept it for what it’s worth.

Do you agree? 

Aaron Kahlow is managing partner of BusinessOnLine and chairman of the Online Marketing Summit. He is a regular columnist for Electronic Retailer magazine.

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