We don’t publish enough book reviews here on Trashwire–possibly because we don’t read enough books–but E L James’ Fifty Shades of Grey is such a ginormous success that it warrants a bit of commentary. Let me start off by saying that I’m no English Lit major and I’m not a big time reader, but I have read my fair share of book-to-screen adaptations and, since this book will soon become a movie, I feel qualified to make a judgement call. This review will contain some spoilers, so consider yourself warned!

As most of you probably already know, Fifty Shades of Grey tells the story of Anastasia Steele, an innocent, bookish virgin, who happens to fall in love with a masochistic, manipulative, handsome billionaire by the name of Christian Grey. Christian’s tastes are on the kinky side and Anastasia is simultaneously frightened and turned on by all the ways he intends to “punish” her as his sex slave in their dominant/submissive BDSM relationship.

At first, things are interesting and even a bit tantalizing. Christian’s mysterious and charming, but we know he’s got a dark side, we just don’t know how very, very dark that side is. He’s rather inexplicably taken with Anastasia, much as Edward Cullen is captivated by the blasé, underdeveloped Bella Swan in Twilight, which inspired the Fifty Shades trilogy. We’re drawn along with her in her journey to find out more about this extremely wealthy, extremely handsome and, it turns out, extremely twisted individual. There’s a little bit of a power play between the two, but it’s the kind of flirtatious intimidation one expects in a relationship. He’s so staggeringly perfect, at least to her, and she struggles to match him in wit and confidence.

The graphic sex scenes are also much-discussed, though they get a bit boring since Anastasia and Christian are banging every few pages. Anastasia’s “inner goddess”, the devil on her shoulder, keeps rearing her ugly head and her little insights get a bit tiresome. Really, none of this stuff is anything you couldn’t read on the internet or in one of those $.99 eBooks on the Barnes & Noble Nook store, so it’s only riling people up because these books are actually popular. Still, Anastasia seems to be having fun exploring the world of crazy, wild, impulsive sex with her super hot beau.

Things get a bit weird when Christian reveals that he’s into spanking, whipping, caning, and tying up women to get his kicks. For some reason, Anastasia is down with this, mostly in an effort to make him happy as opposed to a genuine interest or desire to be someone’s submissive. Even then, it’s kind of amusing to hear the couple negotiate rules and “safe words” and all sorts of parameters for their relationship. Anastasia’s email exchanges with Christian are particularly sharp and quite funny.

And then it gets darker.

Christian wants Anastasia to sign a contract (specifically noted as being legally unenforceable, likely in an effort to make him seem less of a monster) that gives him control over most aspects of her life including her wardrobe, diet and the amount of sleep she must get each night. To her credit, she proves to not be a completely idiotic character and offers up some negotiations, though all her limits seem rather hollow as it’s clear in the first few pages that this girl will do absolutely anything her wealthy sadist wants.

Let the “punishments” begin! Christian is a fan of spanking, but not in that tee-hee playful kind of way. He likes hurting her, leaving her sore and crying. And, incomprehensibly, this girl keeps going back for more because she decides she can put up with the floggings since the sex is so good. I’m calling bullshit right here. Now, I’m sure there are girls who would dig this kind of thing, but the way Anastasia’s character is set up leaves no real explanations as to why she’s so willing to accept this kind of abusive relationship. Sure the innocent girl and the dangerous guy are common literary and cinematic traditions, but it seems like most of these romances are about the bad boy’s transition into a good boy, a loving boy, a boy who no longer wants to do any type of damage to his leading lady. Fifty Shades seems to be about a girl’s transition from interesting, intelligent, compelling character into obedient, brainless, easily manipulated servant. What’s up with that?

What disturbs me the most about this series is its popularity among women, particularly bored housewives and soccer moms. Maybe it’s a need to indulge in a fantasy world that’s very different from their own, maybe it’s a curiosity for kink without actually having to go out an buy whips and chains, but I sincerely hope it’s not because of a desire to be physically and emotionally harmed in a relationship. Love isn’t about tearing the other person down and making them feel cheap, worthless, confused and sore and our literary and cinematic objects of desire shouldn’t be about it either. In the time of birth control debates and GOP-fueled threats to women’s rights, what does it say about our gender if we want to be in a relationship where a man controls us and abuses us?

I know people in the BDSM community have had issues with the book as well, claiming that it doesn’t accurately depict the nature of that lifestyle. I don’t think those people would call what they’re doing dangerous abuse, not even the submissives in the relationship, but that’s what it all boils down to in Fifty Shades. Christian is abusive. Christian is manipulative Christian physically injures Anastasia. Christian emotionally destroys her. But somehow that’s ok?

Maybe I’m just the kind of mouthy, headstrong, boss-lady type of woman who Christian Grey would love to break in his “Red Room of Pain”, but I just don’t think a relationship should be based on suffering. Simply put I don’t find anything particularly appealing about the relationship between the two characters. In fact, I find it troubling that a nation of women are digging this and are identifying with Anastasia. I’m on the fence about reading the remaining two books in the trilogy. Part of me is appalled, but part of me is intrigued at how bad this thing could actually get. While I may have a slight masochistic desire to finish the other books in this series, I’m not exactly going to let someone bend me over their knee and spank me with them.

There are a million different ways to watch TV these days. You can record a show on your DVR, watch it on-demand on your cable box, view it on your computer or iPad using Hulu, Amazon Instant Video or Netflix and even go old school and buy it on DVD and Blu-Ray. And these are just a few of the available options! Unfortunately, each of these methods carries its own inherent limitations. Netflix, which was my preferred on-demand video source for years, restructured their prices and it was recently announced that Starz, one of their largest content providers, would be pulling the plug on their selection of streaming videos in 2012. Limited selection is the primary downfall of all these services, but what if you could get access to all a network’s programming in one place? That’s exactly where HBO Go comes in.

Unlike Xfinity’s on-demand or Netflix’s streaming, HBO Go offers all episodes from all seasons of popular shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm and True Blood. So, instead of only being able to see Larry David try to court a bisexual girl or get spooked by an ice cream truck, you can also relive the time he became a car salesman, or when he befriended a rap star, or the episode where he was going to star in The Producers on Broadway. HBO Go is perfect for catching up with your favorite HBO series or re-watching past episodes before a new season begins. Forgot how Margaret and Nucky’s relationship began? Get caught up with all 12 episodes of Boardwalk Empire before the new season starts later this month. Can’t remember how Eric met Godric? Go back and watch season two of True Blood before season four concludes next week.

The best part of HBO Go is that it’s HBO, a network with some of the best original programming around. You don’t get as many Emmy nominations as they have without having quality content and they’ve raised the bar for TV.  Their documentaries are moving, their series fascinating and their specials entertaining. They’ve got the goods and now you can too, whenever and wherever you want. They own the content and they can distribute as much of it as they want on their app.

The only downside to this wonderful dream is that you have to subscribe to HBO through your cable or satellite provider to use it, which means you’re still tied to those dinosaurs and their bundled packages and tiered price structures. Pay-per-view services from Amazon or Apple TV offer good competition, but so far, if you want the full TV experience in one place, you’re stuck with a box in your living room.

HBO Go is a step in the right direction and will hopefully lead the industry to wake up and see that consumers are ready for a new kind of TV. With more people watching shows and movies on mobile devices and laptops, TV isn’t even TV anymore. And that’s why HBO is thriving. It’s not TV, after all, it’s HBO.

The music video for “Na Na Na”, the first single from the upcoming My Chemical Romance album Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, marks a welcome departure from the gloom and doom of The Black Parade with bright colors, a fun low-budget attitude and a new narrative style.

Frank Iero, Mikey Way, Gerard Way and Ray Toro of My Chemical Romance

The general narrative for The Black Parade involved a character named The Patient, who was dying of cancer, being ushered into the afterlife by a goth Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The music video for the first single had Gerard Way, Mikey Way, Ray Toro, Frank Iero and former drummer Bob Bryar as the band leading the parade of the dead through a dark, ash-colored world of rubble and wreckage. Additional videos, for singles “I Don’t Love You”, “Famous Last Words”, and “Teenagers”, kept with the narrow color palate and more somber subject matter. While “Famous Last Words” had an uplifting message, it was delivered through a video that saw the band performing in the midst of the flaming wreckage of the parade float from the “Welcome to the Black Parade” video.

The Killjoys fill up their Trans Am

Members of the band have stated in several interviews that, while The Black Parade was their most successful album to date, it was also the force that nearly destroyed the band. Instead of being guys from New Jersey who were lucky enough to play music for a living, they felt trapped by their own creation and they were no longer enjoying what they were doing.

It was at this point when they started to record a new album with the goal of doing the opposite of The Black Parade. But, when all was said and done, they weren’t happy with that either. They started from scratch all over again and the result was Danger Days.

The first single, “Na Na Na”, shows a change of tone from the get-go with a catchy chorus and amusing lyrics. It’s more of a return to the punk vibe of early MCR. There’s no more morose theatrics and the song certainly won’t be classified under the dreaded “emo” category. Instead, it’s up beat and, most of all, it’s fun.

Gerard Way as Party Poison

The video, co-directed by Roboshobo and Gerard Way, is superb! It’s like a Spaghetti Western meets a post-apocalyptic low-budget sci-fi. It’s what a movie about the future would look like if it was made in the late 1970s/early 1980s. Like Heavy Metal meets Mad Max meets Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, the gritty video takes place in a desert landscape with the MCR gang joined by a cute multi-culti little girl as they cruise around in their Trans Am and blast bad guys with laser guns. Each member of the band takes on a different Killjoy persona with Gerard as Party Poison, Toro as Jet Star, Iero as Fun Ghoul and Mikey as Kobra Kid. Comic book writer Grant Morrison stars as the bad guy, leader of the masked enemies who are out to kill the Killjoys. Gerard has cited Morrison’s work, particularly Doom Patrol, as an inspiration both for the band and for his own comic, The Umbrella Academy.

Very unlike the videos from The Black Parade, “Na Na Na” is filled with color, right down to Gerard’s bright red hair. Shots of Mikey doing karate kicks or Iero teaching the little girl to shoot a bazooka add a light-hearted spirit not seen in recent MCR videos and the overall feel is fun and vibrant. This also marks the band’s first video that doesn’t feature any performance of the song. Instead, the song serves as a soundtrack for the narrative, adding depth and making the video seem more like a short film.

If “Na Na Na” is any indication, Danger Days will be the perfect turn for the “new” My Chemical Romance.

View the video below or on the Trashwire Blog.

From Anthony Michael Hall in Sixteen Candles to McLovin, Hollywood loves nerds. Typically, nerds in movies are portrayed as people who have been wrongly rejected by their school society, but are really great human beings underneath their acne, glasses and knowledge of all things Star Trek. The Social Network is different in that billionaire nerd and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg (played to perfection by Jesse Eisenberg) seems to be a social outcast for a very good reason: he’s a jerk.

The opening scene perfectly sets up the film. Zuckerberg’s girlfriend (Rooney Mara) delivers a breakup speech saying that he may believe people don’t like him because he’s a computer nerd, but in fact, people don’t like him because he’s an asshole. This sentence rings true as we watch him dupe wealthy, handsome twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer) into believing he’s creating their social networking site, Harvard Connection, while he’s actually taking their idea and expanding it into the site we all know and love, Facebook. While screwing a couple of entitled future Olympians might not be so bad, we see how deceitful Zuckerberg can be as he teams up with sleazy Napster co-founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) and ousts his former best friend and true Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) out of the growing company.

While the true story of the social networking giant is incredibly intriguing, what struck me most is the way this film completely flips the typical geek rags-to-riches story. The movie could be about a brilliant nerd who outsmarts the exclusive elite and becomes the world’s youngest billionaire, living proof of the American Dream. Instead, we are given a hero that is truly unlikeable and our sympathies lie unexpectedly with the privileged Harvard kids that Zuckerberg swindles along his path to fame and fortune. Usually it’s the opposite: everybody is The Geek, but no one is Jake Ryan.

Getting completely wrapped up in a story is a testament to good actors and there are definitely some outstanding performances in The Social Network. Eisenberg plays Zuckerberg as an intellectual who alienates his friends and colleagues by talking down to them and believing he is always the smartest person in the room. There are times when you despise him, when you feel sorry for him, and even a few where you appreciate his quick humor. Hammer’s Winklevoss twins are the snooty rich kids you’d normally loathe, but he brings a certain vulnerability that makes them more than just upper-crust caricatures. It’s hard to get an audience to hate Timberlake, but he manages to play Parker with the perfect level of Hollywood douchebaggery normally reserved for the cast of Entourage.

The standout is Garfield, who is the true hero of the film. He is the one who takes audiences on an emotional journey. We’re with him from his initial excitement at creating a site that takes off like a runaway train to his pain when his former best friend betrays him. Though Zuckerberg is the subject, we see the world through Saverin’s eyes and Garfield goes an amazing job of bringing us there.

Inevitably, the film carries with it a bias against Zuckerberg and paints him less as a shrewd businessman and more as a deceitful know-it-all. Saverin consulted on the original source material, author Ben Mezrich’s book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal, so it can only be assumed that the film would side with him. Still, Facebook has been riddled with controversy since it’s infancy and the story certainly makes you think twice about Zuckerberg’s motives and methods in building the site.

I joined Facebook in it’s early days in 2004 and seeing The Social Network made me wonder if I was part of the problem, part of the masses who gave Zuckerberg his possibly undeserved power. Still, I just can’t not use the social networking site.  In that sense, Zuckerberg is like a drug dealer who makes a profit off the addiction of his customers, but we don’t care because we just can’t live without that sweet sweet Facebook.

By the time I had joined Facebook it was already passed the stage were it was only available to college students. Now it’s even more readily available to folks than it was when I got on board. It feels as though literally everyone has a Facebook profile. It’s much more than a social networking website. It’s a cultural phenomenon. Facebook is a bonafide business and one worth billions.

The Social Network, from director David Fincher, is the story about how Facebook got its start. Created in a Harvard dorm room by founders, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), the site quickly exploded with over 500 million users and a few lawsuits.

Who actually came up with the idea of Facebook seems to be what’s under investigation here. Fellow Harvard students Cameron and Howard Winkelvoss and Divya Narendra claim Zuckerberg tricked them into thinking he was creating their site while he was actually stealing their idea. Zuckerberg says one guy that makes a chair can’t sue everyone else that makes a chair.

Whether the facts and events are one hundred percent accurate, I don’t know, nor do I care. What I do care about is how The Social Network stands on its own as a film, and it stands very well. Fincher was able to create a film, along with writer Aaron Sorkin, that is nothing short of marvelous and easily one of the year’s best.

Zuckerberg is played perfectly by Eisenberg in what could be a career defining role. Despite what many are saying, I found that The Social Network actually shows Zuckerberg as a good guy. While he may come off as a jerk from time to time and seem condescending, he’s not doing it on purpose. He just tends to overanalyze things and situations. When asked a question that others might see as simple and harmless, Zuckerber may look into it too much.

Sometimes I think people fail to realize how hard it is for some people to interact with others. Zuckerberg seems to have that problem, in large part because of how smart he truly is. Eisenberg is superb at portraying this and I wouldn’t be shocked in the least if he earned an Oscar nod for doing so.

Justin Timberlake also stands out as Sean Parker, co-creator of Napster, and the one character I felt was noticeably a bad person. Parker seems to be all about the money and extravagant lifestyle and he doesn’t care who he has to step on to live that way. It’s Its because of Parker’s actions and influence that Zucerkberg ends up removing Saverin from the company and turning their friendship into a  mess that ends in a lawsuit.

Fincher’s direction here is his best to date. There’s a rowing scene in particular that, while it has little to do with the overall plot, is shot beautifully. Fincher’s visuals along with the excellent score from Trent Reznor make this scene jump out like none other.

With strong supporting performances from Rashida Jones and Brenda Song adding to overall perfection of the film, The Social Network is definitely a treat. I could go on and on about how great this film is, listing all the individual performances and nuances that made it so, but the only way to truly understand it, is by getting out there and experiencing it for yourself.

At the San Diego Comic-Con this year, DC Entertainment premiered the trailer for their upcoming film Red, based off the 3-part limited comic release from Homage Comics.

Admittedly, I know nothing about the mini-comic series so my thoughts on this movie are based purely on what I’ve seen from the trailer and upon first viewing I’m definitely intrigued.

The premise of the movie looks to be similar to that of The Watchmen. A former crime fighting crew, this time CIA members, are off enjoying retirement (REDS – Retired Extremely Dangerous) when they realize someone is trying to kill them. Upon this realization the gang gets back together to stop their attempted killer.

Again, this is all based on what I took in from the trailer and little tidbits I gathered online so my idea of what the film is about could be way off. Regardless of the plot however, the movie looks to have a lot of promise.

The cast should be stellar headed by Bruce Willis and John Malkovich. Anytime a movie stars Malkovich, my interested immediately peaks. Add in Morgan Freeman and Ernest Borgnine and I’ll be first in line. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Brian Cox, Richard Dreyfuss, Helen Mirren and Mary-Louise Parker are all along for the ride as well.

Anyway, enough of my rambling about what I think Reds could be about. Check out the trailer below and see what you think for yourself.

Today at Comic-Con, I got to kick back and enjoy a few panels–which was lovely considering I’ve had about four hours of sleep since I got here. I had fun hearing about writing Invincible Iron Man and Avengers, saw some of the most ridiculous comics ever, learned about creating effects for Avatar and found out Gerard Way’s favorite fictional bounty hunter.

Early in the morning, I attended the Marvel Comics Writers Unite! panel, which featured Brian Michael Bendis, Matt Fraction, Chris Claremont and Mark Waid. They talked about writing within the “rules” of a predefined universe and some of their least favorite artist-writer parings. They were really engaging and had the audience cracking up.

After that, I got to check out the Spotlight on Gerard Way panel. That was very cool to see because Gerard Way, Gabriel Ba and Scott Allie talked all about the Umbrella Academy. Of course, things tend to drift pleasantly off topic during the Q&A and Ba told the audience about watching 90201 all the time growing up in Brazil. He mused that the show was one of his favorites as a kid and as he got older he realized, “that show is about nothing.” Way talked about everything from adopted-sibling love to his daughters favorite book to his favorite fictional bounty hunter–he chose Dog–and had amusing little anecdotes to fan questions. He also briefly discussed the next My Chemical Romance album and quickly mentioned the upcoming Umbrella Academy film.

Later on, I stumbled upon the Oddball Comics pane. Scott Shaw presented a slideshow of “the craziest comic books ever published” with absolutely hilarious commentary. The show presented the covers for gems from the past like Rainbow Batman and Doll Man. Shaw’s collection of useless superheroes and promotional comics was outstanding.

Next up was The Winston Effect. The panel was all about the special effects of Stan Winston and included Winston’s son Matt. The accomplished effects artists talked about creating characters, not relying solely on green screen and the new Stan Winston School of Character Arts. Winston’s work was astounding, so it was really fascinating to hear about it from people who were right there with him making it happen.

Today also featured two celebrity surprises. I spotted Joel McHale as he was exiting the G4 stage and saw Adrienne Curry in an absolutely perfect Leeloo costume.

After roaming the exhibit hall for another hour, I was ready to pass out and had thoroughly enjoyed my first Comic Con. I’m definitely planning to come back next year to see if it could possibly top the fun of this experience.

Follow @trashwire on Twitter because Alexis will be tweeting live from San Diego Comic Con! Make sure to swing back by Trashwire regularly for blog posts, pics, videos, interviews and lots of other Comic Con stuff that just won’t fit into 140 characters.

Not on Twitter? (Are you crazy?!) No worries, because you can read Alexis’ tweets right here in the @trashwire Twitter feed…

After years of world-record-setting podcasts and best-selling audiobooks, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington have returned with a brand new entry in their “Guide To…” series, “The Ricky Gervais Guide to…THE FUTURE”. Though it’s hard to top their previous “The Ricky Gervais Guide to…LAW AND ORDER”, delving into the realm of the future offers countless opportunities for Pilkington to muse on such things as internet-connected computer chips implanted in the brain, a new strategy for winning on quiz shows, and the evolution of the little finger. Thankfully, Gervais and Merchant are there to take the piss out of everything Pilkington says.

For newbies to the series, Gervais and Merchant are the creators and writers of the original version of The Office and HBO’s brilliant showbiz comedy Extras. Before they were huge, award-winning stars, they had a radio show in the U.K. and Pilkington was assigned to them to be their producer. Soon they discovered the wealth of comedy that was Pilkington’s idiocy and some of the funniest radio in history was born. The trio continued their show into the realm of podcasting, where they had the most downloaded podcast of all time, as certified by the Guinness Book of World Records. Eventually, they realized how much money could be made from this enormous hit and began releasing audiobooks for sale in the iTunes store. Their “Guide To…” series has covered such topics as medicine, the arts, society and others areas that have allowed Pilkington to ramble on nonsense as Gervais and Merchant try not to die laughing.

In this episode, Pilkington shows his apprehension when it comes to technology with an undercurrent of fear at the new ideas Gervais and Merchant propose. Having a chip connected to Google in your head? Terrible idea because people won’t utilize their own knowledge anymore. Relying solely on a navigation system to give you directions to your destination? Takes away the fun of getting lost. He even muses on trousers becoming extinct as people wear lower rise pants. Pilkington sums it all up by saying, “The future: it’s a scary place.”

If you’re one of the few people who still haven’t listened to The Ricky Gervais Show podcasts or picked up one of Pilkington’s many books, you are missing out on some major comedy. I remember listening to the podcasts on the Metro on my way to class in D.C. and laughing out loud like a psychopath at some of the thoughts that pop out of the mind of Karl Pilkington. If you’ve never listened to the podcasts, you can start with the first series on audiobook or jump right into the “Guide To…” series as it’s not too hard to get into the vibe of the show. Definitely pick up the “The Ricky Gervais Guide to…THE FUTURE” out now on iTunes or Audible.com.

Advertisement: The Ricky Gervais Guide to…THE FUTURE The eighth episode in this new series ruminates on the shape of things to come….

While browsing updates on Twitter today, I came across a link for this article about Myspace losing it’s grip as the dominant social media outlet. One particluar statement that caught my eye was, “MySpace suffered a drop in visitor traffic last month and is now less than half the size of its younger rival, Facebook.”

The article continued to say:

MySpace’s loss of status as the cool place to be is an object lesson in the notoriously fickle internet, where today’s cultural icon is tomorrow’s passing fad. From humble origins in 2003, the site led the so-called “Web 2.0″ revolution in which users could create their own profile pages and share content with friends. Murdoch’s purchase of MySpace for $580m was seen as a masterstroke as membership continued to soar, with celebrities and politicians joining the craze.

But then came Facebook, founded by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, which soon snowballed with an older and apparently more affluent demographic to steal MySpace’s crown. Gradually newspaper coverage of social networks switched from references to “MySpace and Facebook” to “Facebook and MySpace”. The rise of Bebo also undermined MySpace’s dominance, while Twitter is among the latest novelties eating into users’ attention spans.

I think it’s pretty telling that I found a link to an article about the decline of Myspace through Twitter.

I got to thinking about it and I completely agree that Myspace is a thing of the past. Aside from the web interface itself, even their iPhone app seems clunky and cluttered. The most professional and well-designed Myspace profiles aren’t sleek or streamlined and sometimes profiles can take several minutes to load. It can also be extremely annoying to click on someone’s profile only to be bombarded with an annoying song. Most of us browse the internet at work and when your computer starts blaring “Womanizer” at full volume, it’s a dead give away that you’re screwing around instead of staying on the grind. Facebook’s clean design and the absence of annoying add-ons just seems more organized than the Wild West-style free-for-all that is Myspace.

I don’t think Twitter and Facebook are really in competition with each other because they seem to serve very different functions. Facebook has profiles: pictures, favorite movies and music, quizzes, detailed school or work info, and a collection of friends and acquaintances. Despite the recent (and widely despised) Facebook redesign, which was clearly Twitter-inspired, I feel like Facebook is still valuable as a database for the collection of a person’s online presence. The photo feature, in particular, serves as a good example of the kind of thing that Facebook offers that makes it so much more than just a collection of status updates.

Twitter offers the unique experience of online “conversation” in short 140 character bursts. It never takes a zillion years to load a page and doesn’t overload you with information. It offers one function, status updates, which create an environment where people can talk to each other. I’ve always described it as a combination of a message board and a text message because it’s about public dialogue between two or more people and has a heavy emphasis on mobile integration. This makes it fun, easy and addictive. You can tweet from anywhere and knowing that you can do it sometimes makes you want to do it all the time. The sparse and immediate nature of Twitter, combined with the growing market for Twitter apps, puts it in a different category.

The rapid rise in these new outlets leads me to believe that they’re not just a passing fad. After all, many of us have been using Facebook for years since way back when it was only available to students. We’ve watched (and often protested) the modifications to the user interface, additional features and apps, and changes to the Terms of Service. We’ve watched Facebook grow from fledgling network to gigantic condor as MySpace seemed to go extinct like a social media pterodactyl.