Moderate Mormon Petition To Love Gays, NYC Prep Top Drawer, Twitter To Transform Into Instrument Of Capitalism, Facebook Wants To Dominate

A new petition launched by a more moderate faction of the Mormon, many of whom did not participate in the LDS’s role in defending and passing Proposition 8, is urging Church elders to “soften the stance” taken towards gays in general and Mormon gays in particular. The online petition – available here at www.ldsapology.org – asks in part for an openness to forgiving and understanding. And as you might have guessed, those two tenants of Christianity are not ones the more vocal members of the Mormon Church are interested in, with outcries that no one has anything to apologize for already loud and clear.

I know that I should resist, but what with sexual confusion, trust funds, and the Upper East Side, it seems futile, so Bravo’s NYC Prep, debuting tonight, you already own me.

Truthfully, I fail to understand Twitter. It seems cheaper and less personal than texting, a lazier, less focused Facebook, a tool mostly seized upon by middle aged men who work the murky waters of marketing and research. And the more popular and recent thought that the Twitter is in fact a conduit of social change feels just like that – an undeveloped thought. When, last week, everyone was encouraged to change their location to Iran it seemed widely reminiscent of last year’s movement on Facebook to include Hussein as a part of their name. I think, ultimately, Twitter is about promoting you and little more, and as a weapon of self-promotion, Twitter is random and effective, and a lot like spam, or phish, except that maybe for the moment the cool kids do it.

News that Twitter needs a business model and quite quickly, to raise funds and be, well, profitable, and that the plan will involve promoting itself as a means for others to do the same should not be surprising then, Bloomberg News reporting Tuesday that Twitter is planning, for a price, to allow companies like Dell Computers, Nike, Starbucks, and Whole Foods to utilize the whole understanding of micro-messaging to millions in a more, well, capitalist way. So those lonely middle management marketing men, forced into early retirement, who make up the base of all Twitter users now have hope.

Meanwhile, Facebook and Google – both of whom still haven’t found what they were looking for: the illusive online advertising bonanza – are in a bit of battle, one that is likely to make a mess, leaving a mark.