Facebook Blogging

Edward Hugh has a lively and enjoyable Facebook community where he publishes frequent breaking news economics links and short updates. If you would like to receive these updates on a regular basis and join the debate please invite Edward as a friend by clicking the Facebook link at the top of the right sidebar.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Facebook Links

Quietly clicking my way through Bloomberg last Sunday afternoon, I came across this:


Facebook Members Register Names at 550 a Second

Facebook Inc., the world’s largest social-networking site, said members registered new user names at a rate of more than 550 a second after the company offered people the chance to claim a personalized Web address.

Facebook started accepted registrations at midnight New York time on a first-come, first-served basis. Within the first seven minutes, 345,000 people had claimed user names, said Larry Yu, a spokesman for Palo Alto, California-based Facebook. Within 15 minutes, 500,000 users had grabbed a name.


Mein Gott, I thought to myself, if 550 people a second are doing something, they can't all be wrong. So I immediately signed up. Actually, this isn't my first experience with social networking since I did try Orkut out some years back, but somehow I didn't quite get the point. Either I was missing something, or Orkut was. Now I think I've finally got it. Perhaps the technology has improved, or perhaps I have. As I said in one of my first postings:

Ok. This is just what I've always wanted really. A quick'n dirty personal blog. Here we go. Boy am I going to enjoy this.
Daniel Dresner once broke bloggers down into two groups, the "thinkers" and the "linkers". I probably would be immodest enough to suggest that most of my material falls into the first category (my postings are lo-o-o-ng, horribly long), but since I don't fit any mould, and Iam hard to typecast, I also have that hidden "linker" part, struggling within and desperate to come out. Which is why Facebook is just great.

In addition, on blogs like this I can probably only manage to post something worthwhile perhaps once or twice a month, and there is news everyday.

So, if you want some of that up to the minute "breaking" stuff, and are willing to submit yourself to a good dose of link spam, why not come on in and subscribe to my new state-of-the-art blog? You can either send me a friend request via FB, or mail me direct (you can find the mail on my Roubini Global page). Let's all go and take a long hard look at the future, you never know, it might just work.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey! You usually are so surprisingly quick with news and Latvian Statistical Office releases, How about this: LETA: Decision of the ECFIN committee regarding the next tranche to Latvia is positive.

Edward Hugh said...

Hi,

"You usually are so surprisingly quick with news and Latvian Statistical Office releases"

Yes. Basically I am waiting to see what the IMF says. But if you want quick link updates from now on, you need to connect into me on facebook. On the public blogs I am going to concentrate on more thorough analysis.

Also, it is holiday time :)

Edward Hugh said...

Latvia 26Jun09 17:12 EU to give Latvia next loan tranche within weeks

BRUSSELS, June 26 (Reuters) - The European Commission will pay out the second tranche of its balance-of payments aid for Latvia within weeks, the European Union executive said on Friday. The Economic and Financial Committee of junior EU finance ministers and central bankers backed the disbursement of the 1.2 billion euro ($1.7 billion) tranche from the Commission and the International Monetary Fund after budget cuts by the Baltic state. "The Commission ... will now proceed with the finalisation of the revised memorandum of understanding for signature by the Latvian government and (Monetary Affairs) Commissioner (Joaquin) Almunia, as well as the technical preparation of the second loan installment which will be disbursed in the next weeks," Commission spokeswoman Amelia Torres said.

Edward Hugh said...

Just for the record. My feeling is that if Latvia devalue now, the short term contagion can be contained. There will be an adjustment in the other Baltic countries and Bulgaria, and pressure on Hungary and Romania, and that's it.

If Latvia wait six months and then devalue, and the EU lose a lot of credibility in the process, then the most likely outcome is that the contagion will jump straight to the south of Europe (in particular Spain, but also Greece) which is the next battlefield where the Commission will be tried and tested, and surely the future of the Eurozone will be decided.

A lot is at stake in this coming IMF decision, and I think everyone knows my views by now.