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The Creator of Facebook's Most Annoying App Explains Himself

wired.com — [Q] What do you do with all the data? [A] We go to marketers and say, "Here are a couple million people into music, and here are a couple million into movies." We're working with American Idol, Green Day, TNT, a lot of large brands.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 21, 2009

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  • dvsbastard, on 07/21/2009, -0/+151That's not as annoying as all the retarded quizzes, with completely ridiculous results that are showing up...

    e.g. "Which Twilight character are you?" Are you *****' serious?!
  • mrpunman, on 07/21/2009, -0/+59I wish I could poke him to death
  • Leezus, on 07/21/2009, -1/+35I love that app!

    I need to remind my friends often how vastly superior my tastes and opinions are to theirs.
  • brim4brim, on 07/21/2009, -8/+41What happend to you Greenday, you used to be cool.
  • raptorlightning, on 07/21/2009, -3/+31Anyone else think this guy sounds like a complete toolbag?

    "I'm making money, and annoying the ***** out of people, because they don't understand how greed works and don't know they should just say no to these questions. I don't see anything wrong with that."
  • Duffle, on 07/21/2009, -0/+26LivingSocial just reminds me of all the ***** people actually like.
  • TheMu, on 07/21/2009, -1/+20Question: What do American Idol, Green Day, and TNT have in common?

    Answer: They're both things that I ***** hate, and that the average Facebook user can't get enough of.
  • ChromaVita, on 07/21/2009, -4/+22Dookie.
  • TheMu, on 07/21/2009, -1/+16Apparently I am Bella. My life has been exceedingly enriched by this information in ways I don't even know yet.

    /s
  • anonymous10, on 07/21/2009, -1/+15Dugg just for pointing out how cheesy Green Day are, and that they are in fact marketed in a similar way to crap like American Idol.
  • splicerslicer, on 07/21/2009, -0/+13those three things are both things you hate? But I fully agree about hatred for them all.
  • mrpunman, on 07/21/2009, -1/+13I think that's rabbit poo
  • WolfHook, on 07/21/2009, -0/+11Such an informative interview, and so well written as well.

    Do I really have to add one of these /S, or is irony totally dead now-a-days?
  • inkswamp, on 07/21/2009, -4/+15Green Day. Punk for people who don't really like punk.

    Don't know why anyone is surprised. They had a few catchy tunes, but always struck me as corporate types jumping on the anti-corporate thing in the 90s. I'm surprised they've maintained that facade this long.
  • inactive, on 07/21/2009, -0/+11What about that speed dating app that I NEVER signed up for continually sending me messages. I finally found it and had to block it because it wouldn't remove.
  • FluffyArmada, on 07/21/2009, -1/+12It's ok... I like(d) green day too. You are not alone.
  • Black6x, on 07/21/2009, -0/+10English, *****! Do you speak it?
  • mareksoon, on 07/21/2009, -3/+12I thought Facebook in itself was the most annoying app.
  • ProfessorSYM, on 07/21/2009, -2/+11FTA: "We wanted something that made it really, really easy for people to form opinions and then share them with everyone."

    He's saying you are dumb, people. And so far you have proven him RIGHT.
  • artfiend77, on 07/21/2009, -0/+9My favorite was "Which Ethnicity are you?"

    No joke.
  • RubberBinder, on 07/21/2009, -6/+13I actually find those "living social" things entertaining although I only partake in them when incredibly bored or.....nope that's it, only when I'm incredibly bored.
  • hmemcpy, on 07/21/2009, -0/+7http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/44459
  • zjbird, on 07/21/2009, -0/+7I see what you did there.

    But no, no I don't.
  • jesusisapervert, on 07/21/2009, -0/+7I'm like "WTH are you talking about" right now. More details or it's a pointless anecdote.
  • mrpunman, on 07/21/2009, -4/+11Greenday was awesome, bro
  • UncleAsriel, on 07/21/2009, -0/+6I enjoy mucking with these things. Entering in completely uncharacteristic data so lovingly skews the data collected from my demographic.

    "Our target market of twentysomething men are like semiautomatic weapons, baking, BDSM, needlepoint and watch the Gilmore Girls and Jackass. They drink margaritas, live in polyamorous relationships with other men, and collect antique bottles and chocolate tins."
  • inactive, on 07/21/2009, -2/+7"We're working with American Idol, Green Day, TNT, a lot of large brands."

    I thought Green Day were a "band", not a "brand".

    ***** capitalist "punks".
  • neillawson, on 07/21/2009, -0/+5Tell me more about these porn star orgies.......................
  • SoCalDissident, on 07/21/2009, -0/+5back i middle school, I didn't give my email address to girls either (because nobody had an email address).

    and I didn't talk to girls :'(
  • Chaotyk, on 07/21/2009, -19/+24Green Day? Cool?

    Really?

    I must have missed that.
  • svivian, on 07/21/2009, -0/+5Sorry but does no one realize what an UTTERLY ***** article this is? "We put Tim O'Shaughnessy in the hotseat"... like ***** you did, you asked him 5 questions and he replied with single-sentence answers. GREAT INSIGHT!!
  • heresy_fnord, on 07/21/2009, -0/+5So he's the creator of that ***** "Farmtown" ***** that I get all the time...

    No?
  • Maxwell1234, on 07/21/2009, -1/+6All famous people/bands are brands.
  • donkevin, on 07/21/2009, -0/+4Am I the only one who actually hasn't seen this on fb yet? I hear "most-used", but none of my friends have it.
  • legendxx, on 07/21/2009, -0/+4What's with the trail of dots?
  • adamward, on 07/21/2009, -1/+5What kind of purpose would Facebook buying Twitter serve? They're both essentially the same thing, except Facebook allows more user-to-user communication (photos, videos, etc). Facebook even now has a "trending topics" sort of section (Highlights on the right side of the page).
  • phogasmic, on 07/21/2009, -0/+3If you don't know that people offering free apps are selling your data to marketers then you should shut off you Intertubes right now. Unless an app explicitly says they are not selling your data then you should assume that they are. Nothing is free.
  • Threlly1, on 07/21/2009, -2/+5Kill him...kill him until dead....then kill him again and again.

    I'm going to quote the Rev. Bill Hicks "Anybody here in Marketing or Advertising ?......Kill yourselves..."
  • j035u5, on 07/21/2009, -1/+4How is twitter for buisiness? I use them for similar things but theres less idiots on twitter. You can do everything that you can do on facebook on twitter with all the third party services like twitpic, I don't really see what there is to hate.
  • WootZoot, on 07/21/2009, -1/+4I like LivingSocial. Sometimes You just really want to let your friends know what you miss most about the 90s. (Pogs, The Monika Lewinsky Scandal, MTV still had music videos, Steven Spielberg Cartoons and Amy Jo Johnson)
  • Anunnakki, on 07/21/2009, -1/+4I agree, there's something kind of off-putting about how deadpan serious he is when he says, "Yeah, I'm taking complete monetary advantage of this, and it's your fault."
  • inactive, on 07/21/2009, -1/+4Green Day blows ass.
  • SoCalDissident, on 07/21/2009, -0/+3That's such a Samantha thing to say.
  • BryanTravers, on 07/21/2009, -0/+3No, I don't. He's being totally straight in this interview. He wasn't looking to change the world, he was looking to make a few bucks and it's working. He's capitalizing on idiocy without screwing people out of their money. Seems pretty alright to me.

    EDIT: I see the marketing quote from Bill Hicks down there and I agree. But some people are consumer whores and don't care about having the information used to sell them more things. In this situation nobody loses. Technically.
  • Capand, on 07/21/2009, -0/+3"I think people understand that if something's free, there's some form of monetization involved."

    - I don't think people understand that. They are certainly NOT that aware.
  • zip000, on 07/21/2009, -1/+4Oh hey, I was wrong - Dookie isn't even their first album. It was just the first I'd heard of and I made an assumption. My bad.


    (am I the only one that still says "My bad"?)
  • Mutt76, on 07/21/2009, -0/+3as someone else pointed out above:

    http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/44459
  • Super6, on 07/21/2009, -0/+2If I wanted twitter and facebook in once place I would just give Facebook status updates, my twitter friends are generally more tech-savy and, as such, what I tweet is of a different variety than the stuff I update on facebook.
  • schavira, on 07/21/2009, -3/+5Compared to nearly every other app out there Living Social is nothing. I do enjoy seeing what people like, too.
  • amitait, on 07/21/2009, -2/+4***** quizzes!!

    I hate them so much!
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