[LINK] "Facebook, meet the locals"

I'd like to thank orlandobr for linking to Douglas MacMillan's article in Business Week, "Facebook, meet the locals", a piece that examines the ways in which different online social networks meet different receiptions and exist in different forms in different cultures.

Victor Donselaar, a Dutchman living in Helsinki, Finland, finds the social network Facebook useful for staying in touch with new friends and business contacts from across Europe. But when he wants to connect with old buddies from the Netherlands, his social network of choice is strictly homegrown. "In Holland, none of my friends are on Facebook," Donselaar says. Instead, he notes, they're on a popular Dutch site called Hyves.

As U.S. social network growth slows, sites including Facebook and rival News Corp. (NWS)-owned MySpace have shifted their attention overseas. But while these leading Western sites have seen steady adoption in key countries, they've been met with indifference in markets like the Netherlands, where comparable domestic sites are entrenched. International expansion is key to growth for sites that have struggled to make money from users who would rather socialize than click on ads or make purchases from a profile page.

Language is one barrier. Facebook and MySpace both introduced many of their foreign-language versions only in the past year, and many translations are still imperfect. But in many cases, the local sites cater to the sensibilities of local cultures in ways that are difficult for the U.S.-headquartered sites to match. "In the U.S., people use social software pretty much the same way nationwide, while different parts of Europe have different uses depending on culture," says Loic Le Meur, a French entrepreneur who moved to Silicon Valley to launch the video-sharing site Seesmic. For example, he says, "Latin-culture countries such as France, Spain, or Italy tend to share and blog a lot, often under their [own] names, while Germanic cultures tend to share more anonymously."

Hyves (its name being a play on the English word "beehives") says it has signed up 7 million Dutch residents, or almost half of the country's population of 16 million, since launching in 2004. On the site, users post photos and videos, customize their personal profiles, and connect with neighbors in nearby provinces. One of the most popular users is Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, who boasts about 150,000 friends and sometimes invites people he meets on the site for a visit to his presidential office.

"The local tone of voice of our Web site is very important," says Hyves co-founder Raymond Spanjar. "Both MySpace and Facebook have been translated into Dutch, but as is usually the case, the translation is rather clinical and doesn't really compare." For example, Facebook's "Wall" feature, a personal guestbook where friends can leave comments, in Dutch is called a "prikboard," the literal translation for bulletin board. By contrast, Hyves created an original name, the "krabbel," for its comparable feature. "It is now a very popular word, and might even be added to the Dutch dictionary," Spanjar says.

This sort of thing also comes into play within Canada. Back in March, I noted news reports that observed that Facebook usage in Québec lagged significantly lagged significantly behind the rest of the country.

[URBAN NOTE] Catch and release

Earlier, while I was browsing through the classic Sonic Boom music shop, a vast warehouse full of music located at the storied intersection of Bloor and Bathurst Streets, I heard two people talking to each other.

- Hey, they still have your Shakira album, one of them said to the other, sounding a bit surprised.

(I managed to snag a 2003 re-issue of Fischerspooner's #1, in its original cardboard even, for $C4.95. I'm pleased.)

[LINK] "Gay bishop to say prayer at Obama inauguration kickoff"

This news item caught my attention.

A gay Anglican bishop, Gene Robinson, is to give the opening prayer at festivities to kick off president-elect Barack Obama's inauguration, the organizing committee said Monday.

The selection of Robinson for the opening party on Sunday came after weeks of criticism over Obama's choice of conservative pastor Rick Warren to deliver the religious invocation on Tuesday, January 20, the day Obama is sworn in to office.

Robinson, who is the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican Communion, will pray at the star-studded event to be broadcast on national television from the Lincoln Memorial on January 18, the inaugural committee said in a statement.

"Our intention is to root the event in history, celebrating the moments when our nation has united to face great challenges and prevail," said executive producer George Stevens, Jr.

"We will combine historical readings by prominent actors with music from an array of the greatest stars of today."

Robinson, who announced his inclusion in the event in an email to friends that was printed in part by US media, said he believed his role was an important one.

"It's important for any minority to see themselves represented in some way," Robinson said in an interview with the Concord Monitor, a newspaper in the state of New Hampshire where he worships.

"Whether it be a racial minority, an ethnic minority or, in our case, a sexual minority. Just seeing someone like you up front matters."

I can only imagine how some conservatives will react to this.

[URBAN NOTE] Dread winter, ten years ago

CTV Toronto reminds us that, ten years ago today, Toronto was beseiged. By what? By winter.

January 1999 was a brutal weather period for Toronto, with a 40-centimetre dump of snow starting things off on the second and third days of the year.

Ten days later, another snow system promised to bring another 15 to 25 centimetres of snow, with more to come. Winds gusting to 40 kilometres per hour made the -10C temperatures feel like -40C.

And so Mel Lastman, then the city's mayor, made a decision on Jan. 13, 1999 that still causes smirks from Victoria to St. John's -- he called in the army.

"I remember as never seeing so much snow come down in my life at one time," he told ctvtoronto.ca.

"I remember going out with my driver and taking a look at the old city of Toronto and driving south of Queen (Street) ... and seeing narrow streets, and cars parked on both sides of the streets, and ruts in the centre -- and wondering how the hell an ambulance would ever get down there.

"And I remember looking out my window at City Hall and not seeing any cars or anything driving along Queen Street.

"I said to myself, 'Myself, what the hell am I going to do now?'" he said.

"I called the head of the army and said 'what have you got ... because this city could be in a lot of trouble'," Lastman said.

[. . .]

Over 15 days, almost an entire season's worth of snow had fallen -- up to 118 centimetres. A typical January in Toronto at that time would see about 35 cm for the month, with 124 cm for an entire winter.

It would be described as the snowiest two-week period for the city since 1871.

There were more than 5,000 kilometres of roads to clear. GO Transit trains were shut down for two days, and the TTC was barely functioning, with fistfights breaking out between passengers frustrated by delays.

[. . .]

While people remember the army, don't forget the volunteers from Prince Edward Island who brought out snow removal equipment to help remove the massive piles of snow from roadways.

Other crews from London, Bracebridge, Montreal and Ottawa also helped out.

The snow emergency was declared over at 3 p.m. on Jan. 18, 1999, although the cleanup would continue until month's end.