image: Martin Schoeller for TIME

Dear Mark,

Last week, everyone was talking about Facebook filing its S-1 to go public. While I don’t necessarily know what that means, I get the basic idea. You are getting more investors, more stakeholders, and essentially, more money. $5 billion to be exact.

That is great, Mark. Really. You worked your tail off, and you deserve it. Let’s face it, you changed the Internet in a major way. TechCrunch writes that “Before Facebook it was nearly impossible to actually find people, you could “google” them but finding the person you wanted within one search wasn’t a given.  We now take it for granted, but that extension of people search and connecting them was certainly evolutionary.”

However, can I be honest? I’m a little nervous, Mark.

So, if I may, I have three questions I’d like to ask you.

Nothing too big or controversial. Just simple questions that affect me, the Facebook user.

1. How will the average Facebooker be affected by the influx of Marketers and brands looking to advertise on Facebook?

My fear is that in the coming years, Facebook will be inundated with marketers to the point that original content will be sparse. Facebook has become a huge part of my life, connecting me with friends, family and everyone in between. But throughout the years, it has become a bigger player in advertising and marketing. Now, I have ads on the side of my screen but will these ads eventually make their way to my news stream? Do you have new ideas on how ads will work in the Facebook Timeline?

2. How are you planning on making the world open and more connected?

In your letter to your shareholders, you stated that “Facebook was built to accomplish a social mission – to make the world more open and connected.” But now, with your IPO filing, you will have board members and stakeholders to answer to. Won’t those additions make it hard for you to do exactly what you want? Will their private interests affect you and Facebook?

3. What is your vision for Facebook in the next 5 years?

You don’t have to spill your entire game plan (although you could! I won’t tell!) but I’d like to know what you have in general in terms of updates and Facebook functionality. $5 billion is a hefty amount of cash to raise and the opportunities for growth with Facebook are endless. Will there be more video content? How are you going to keep your users with competition like Google +? Will brands have better fan pages? Can you just give me a slice of what’s going to happen?

Well, that’s about it, Mark. I know you are a busy man but if you could get back to me soon, that would be great.

Photo by: Nando Alvarez-Perez

Being that mobile blogging has just started to erupt in the world of fashion blogging, I couldn’t wait to try out the new Windows Phone 7 operating system, an OS that is totally integrated with your digital life.  With the release of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 OS the company has achieved a minor miracle in the contemporary cutthroat mobile phone market: they have developed a mobile operating system that is almost as easy, almost as friendly, almost as intuitive, and almost as fast as Apple’s iOS4.  The operative word in that sentence is, of course, “almost.”  This newest iteration of Microsoft’s previously hideous Windows mobile OS (if you remember the Motorola Q from a few years back then you probably remember the hellaciously unfun Windows OS that came installed on it and you may also remember the absurd amounts of spackling paste you purchased to fix all those holes in your wall that the Q left after you threw it there) is indeed a major upgrade over Microsoft’s previous forays into the mobile phone market.  As has been my experience with many Windows operating systems in the past, however, my initial glee with my new toy turned out to be short-lived as I discovered more and more of the WP7’s capabilities (or lack thereof).  Despite WP7’s limitations, though, Microsoft has certainly created a quality product that can only get better with time and after spending a weekend with the phone here are some ways in which it may be (or may not be) beneficial for your blog and social media needs:

PROS FOR BLOGGERS:

• Feloniously easy to set up: a few button presses and your’re making calls, a few more and you’re integrated with Facebook, a few more and you’re receving push notifications for your email (especially easy compared to the iPhone’s infarction-inducing email setup).
• Super sexy and hyper-minimalist “Metro UI” is just you and your content.
• Touch functionality that is as fast and accurate as the iOS4’s and the AndroidOS.
• Surprisingly robust first-party apps are included: an excellent stills and 720p video camera with a host of manual functions, a gorgeous Maps app with Bing integration to get both GPS navigation and user reviews for your favorite spots, and a mobile version of Microsoft Office (for free!) that includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint so you can write your posts when you’re on the go.
• You can quickly search  and share links from all of your favorite blogs.
• A quick and easy to navigate Marketplace for apps.
• XBox Live integration for all of your games.

CONS FOR BLOGGERS:

• Great camera, but no Instagram!
• The homepage’s two parallel columns of “tiles” cannot be further expanded into a grid and the page thus quickly grows to unmanageable length (as will your app list).
• WP7’s “Hubs” for People and Pictures (as opposed to a Contact List or Pictures Folder) are over-integrated with Facebook and lack content filters.
• Lack of compatibility with Apple products means that you need to download a free Windows program in order to put music, movies, and pictures onto your WP7 phone if you are an Apple user.
• Lack of multi-tasking with third-party apps means you’ll be spending a lot of time looking at loading and start-up screens.

Overall Microsoft has done a more than commendable job with its newest Windows mobile operating system.  The WP7 OS is fast, sleek, and, for the most part, very well configured for user interaction.  Despite this, however, the OS suffers from some pretty glaring flaws, most notably from its over-integration with Facebook and its lack of a multi-tasking feature.  All told though, this is an excellent place for Microsoft to start and if they fix these small (but frustrating) issues in subsequent updates they will soon have an OS that can match Apple’s iOS4 for simplicity and functionality.  I highly recommend the WP7 OS for all of your blogging needs.