The Twitter and Fa$ebook Mafia
p2pnet news view Advertising | P2P:- I’m getting all kinds of Fa$ebook and Twitter messages to join various peoples’ Mafia families.
Mafia Wars is from a company called Zynga.
For me, there’s nothing amusing about the Mafia and there’s no way I’d join anything which bases itself on a deeply evil gang which depends for its existence on extortion and terror.
(Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music’s RIAA, anyone?)
“You have 8 friends playing Mafia Wars!” says social advertising company Fa$ebook. “They are now in your Mafia!”
My Mafia? WTF is Fa$ebook talking about? I haven’t joined or signed up to anything.
But according to Fa$ebook, I’m ‘Don’ Newton.
Picking up – sorry, ”browsing’ – single girls
When I took my first look at Zynga’s Mafia thing today, immediately alongside was an ad for another Zynga-like Fa$ebook parasite.
It’s called Zoost and it promises me I can use it to ‘Browse single women’ and, “instantly browse profiles and chat with single local girls for FREE!”
Wow!
Just think of the possibilities!!
I wonder if the woman in the pic on the right gave Fa#ebook and Zoost permission to use her in this way?
Or is she a pro model hired for the purpose?
Where kids can pretend to get drunk …
Not at all incidentally, “YoVille is a world where you can buy new clothes for your player, purchase items for your apartment, go to work, and meet new friends,” said a p2pnet post, quoting Facebook, and going on “It’s also a place where kids can pretend to get drunk and where they can be picked up by sexual predators, says Emma Newton.”
YoVille is another Zynga ‘product’.
Emma is my daughter. My wife, Liz, and I home school her and at the time, Emma was 12.
In The Real YoVille, posted in the story cited above, “Topics: Alchohol on YoVille / no age limit / pedophiles and people asking for ‘cam shows’ / no chat filter / cyber bullying / Bikini bottoms are thongs / Gambling is encouraged,” she wrote, going on »»»
YoVille is a world where you can buy new clothes for your player, purchase items for your apartment, go to work, and meet new friends,” says creator, Zynga. Sounds fun, and completly kid friendly right?
But to make a long story short, it’s anything BUT kid friendly! There is an extreme lack of a chat filter, allowing the “F Word” and others just as bad to be said freely, often in the presence of kids as young as 10!
Okay, so maybe they have a SMALL chat filter — IE if you say the full word (shit, for example) it gets blanked out as “yadda”. But if you put a space in between any of the letters (s hit) it gets through.
I think there should at least be an age limit for it (18+?), given how it’s easy for sexual predators to lure victims in, giving them YoMoney and items in return for this.
I have come across several people (usually men) as old as 43 trying to get girls as young as 13 to role play sexual acts via the game, and give so-called “cam shows”.
These basically consist of you giving them your cam adress, and stripping on cam.
I myself have been asked more times than I can count. Whenever I got asked, I basically told the person involved to go jump off a cliff.
Feel like getting drunk? Just head down to the all ages Sky Nightclub and grab a martini! Because they make it so FUN to get drunk!
Or feeling lucky? Just head down to the Casino!
There is no age limit for this game, making it possible for people of any age to be on.
In the Dating section of the Events page, there are usually sex parties. I once even saw one called “14 and under sx party”.
It’s a breeding ground for pedophiles and the like. I think that it’s best if kids don’t go on it at all.
I hope that by writing this, parents who have kids on YoVille will take a closer look into whether or not they REALLY want their kid on this.
Thanks for reading my rant 
Stay safe!
Emma Newton
No way, Jose
But I digress again and right about here, I need to make a confession:
The only reason I’m on Fa$ebook at all is because it’s another way to spread the message. But I’ve never liked or endorsed it.
I was impressed by Twitter when it started because I thought micro-blogging was a really interesting and intriguing concept. But of late, every single direct message I’ve had from Twitter — and I do mean every message — has been advertising or promoting something.
The novelty wore off some time back and although I still think the concept behind it is brilliant, I’m waiting for something else to come along …
Back to the point, I don’t use Fa$ebook or Twitter for any ’social’ purpose(s) and although I try to respond to people when they send me a message from either one, it stops there.
For me Fa$ebook is a shabby and tacky advertising come-on and Join the Fa$ebook Mafia is definitely an offer I can refuse.
Cheers!
Jon Newton – p2pnet
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
p2pnet – Is Zynga’s YoVille OK for kids?, March 17, 2009
September, 2009
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September 13th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Just quit facebook.
September 13th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
yes he’s right : quit that shit (from france)
September 13th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
facebook is for whiny crybabies who cant take personal responsiblity…i.e. its perfect for the whiny crybaby author of this article.
” i use facebook to spread the message, whatever that is, but i dont endorse facebook.” heres a good definition for the word hypocrite for all you kids out there in t.v. land.
you also come across as a shrill and bitter person because your twitter blogs only contain advertising and nothing substantial to boost your shattered self esteem.
”mafia wars is disgusting” hey its just a game that you can choose not to play and it doesnt even depict actual graphic violence. i get the impression that your an unhappy unfulfilled has been who takes anything and everything out of context and just likes to here themselves complain cuz it makes you feel like your smart and youve got morals and standards.
i hate facebook,the people on facebook,and i think i hate you even more. this article is completely ridiculous.
September 13th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
@Jon:
(One thing’s for sure… *Someone* certainly is “whiny, shrill, bitter, self-esteem-shattered, unhappy and unfulfilled, and likes to here himself complain.”!)
(Cheers!)
September 13th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
@ deadboyblues
You could always start your own site.
That’d be a treat!
Cheers!
September 13th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Erasebook. Leave-no-tracebook.
September 14th, 2009 at 1:11 am
Shut your Facebook!
September 14th, 2009 at 2:57 am
Emma, your dad raised you right. Homeschooling definitely means you have more sense than most of those who go to the public endoctrination centers (public schools). When it comes to the $, even the so called moral Republicans lose their direction. Keep up the good work and stay safe in this evil world.
September 14th, 2009 at 8:08 am
There is no such thing as a free lunch out there folks if your dealing with a commercial concern, and if you subscribe to these “social networks” you only have yourelves to blame when the junk mail and associated paraphenalia of pressure marketing rears its ugly head.
September 14th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
@jon, Well buddy you must be doing something right. Everytime we turn around some shill is trying to make you out to be the bad guy here. Keep up the good work!! And of course you’re right, sites like these are BS traps for kids to meet predators, I for one hope they all go, as the Brits say, tits up.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
can’t stand mafia wars, pirates rule the caribean was ok for a bit…. same with farm town… don’t like farmville… new addiction on it tho is my zoo and resturant city
but yeah, zynga seems kinda shady with their use of stuff, prob could use a spank from the canadian privacy commission… i agree with the comments for things like youville and stuff, should have an age limit since console games require ratings too. but still, a game is a game is a game… and wether or not someone likes it or thinks its dumb, is all subjective