Social Network Web Sites

[tyketime]

Porn passed over as Web users become social-author - Yahoo! News
(the word "porn" appears in Headline and in article, so perhaps NSFW)

After reading this article, it has prompted me to ask how my fellow FOFCers actually use these "social networking" sites. I am in my 40's, but I consider myself fairly computer savvy. But I don't "get" the point behind these sites (I suppose I am assuming these are sites like Facebook, MySpace, etc.). So I will give myself some homework to learn more about these sites.

But how do you use them, interact with them? My oldest son is now asking for an IM account (which I do have some experience with), so I can only imagine these sites won't be too far down the road in our future.

Thanks for your responses...

[Young Drachma]

Social networking isn't just Facebook/Myspace though, there are tons of sites out there.

I don't use IM anymore and I realize I'm a minority in that. I used to, but since college, I don't have much use for it or see a need to talk to people when I don't want to and would rather call them when I have something to say.

I do use Facebook to connect with old friends from the past (college, military, HS, childhood, summer camp, etc.) but deleted MySpace a while ago. The other social sites are really a matter of what you're interested in, etc. I mean, social music sites like last.fm are great for finding out information about what shows are coming up, etc., as well to listen to new music or find out what your friends are listening to.

I use GoodReads for the same thing, but for books. LinkedIn is Facebook for corporate folks, essentially. It could be a useful networking tool, I haven't decided if it is yet, but it's proven its usefulness in recent weeks more than I anticipated.


Twitter has useful applications, I just haven't found a particular use for it, yet.

I think the "what would a kid use these for" is a different scenario that the more informed parents here can speak to. Seeing young people work at it, it seems the idea is just to stay connected, to stay "in the know" on their social sphere.

[KWhit]

Facebook has been a great way for me to re-connect with old friends form college and highschool. I learn a little bit about their lives, see pictures of their families, etc. And the connections aspect of it has worked wonders in tracking down people that seemed to fall off the face of the earth. Someone will know someone who knows someone who just happens to have an email address for someone that you lost touch with but would love to reconnect with.

[Kodos]

Ditto what KWhit said. Just yesterday, I got the e-mail from an old high school buddy through his sister, who I found on Facebook.

[Passacaglia]

Similar for me. I started using facebook just so I could play scrabble, but then started getting back in touch with old friends through it. Scrabulous ended up getting blocked at work, then got rid of, but I'm still around to keep in touch. I have thought, "now that I'm in touch with these people, why don't we just e-mail?" but it's still nice to be able to see what's going on with everyone in a quick one-page glance (and really, there's not that much to e-mail about after a few messages each, anyway). The way people on this forum use these sites are probably different from the way your kids will, though.

[tyketime]

Originally Posted by KWhit

Facebook has been a great way for me to re-connect with old friends form college and highschool. I learn a little bit about their lives, see pictures of their families, etc. And the connections aspect of it has worked wonders in tracking down people that seemed to fall off the face of the earth. Someone will know someone who knows someone who just happens to have an email address for someone that you lost touch with but would love to reconnect with.

Do you learn about former folks because they have posted blogs or other personal information? In other words, do people just arbitrarily post pictures and information about themselves on these websites? I understand that some of these sites have a "friends" concept that supposedly limits who has access, but the concept just seems foreign to me.

For me, I send pictures via EMail or a direct link to my family and friends. But I don't think I would just post this information on a website that anyone could access.

So you post info about yourself in hopes that other people find your life interesting? I don't mean to be belittling... but is it an ego thing? Or do you (and I don't mean just you KWhit... any user in general) sincerely hope that by posting the information you will reconnect with old friends?

Obviously this is the next progression in communication.

Hmmm...

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by tyketime

Do you learn about former folks because they have posted blogs or other personal information? In other words, do people just arbitrarily post pictures and information about themselves on these websites? I understand that some of these sites have a "friends" concept that supposedly limits who has access, but the concept just seems foreign to me.

For me, I send pictures via EMail or a direct link to my family and friends. But I don't think I would just post this information on a website that anyone could access.

So you post info about yourself in hopes that other people find your life interesting? I don't mean to be belittling... but is it an ego thing? Or do you (and I don't mean just you KWhit... any user in general) sincerely hope that by posting the information you will reconnect with old friends?

Obviously this is the next progression in communication.

Hmmm...

facebook is really good for the "2nd tier" friends and family. Your immediate family and close friends, you'll talk to frequently or EM pictures or whatever.

but that cousin in Idaho? or the old buddy from high school that you don't have daily contact with? fb let's you update them on your life without you actually having to do much work.

[Draft Dodger]

and, fwiw, I didn't get why facebook would be of any value to me, but I'm really glad I took the plunge a few months back. It hasn't changed my life or anything, but it's been cool to see what my old friends have been up to.

[Kodos]

It's like Cliff's notes for what's going on in your friends' lives.

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by tyketime

Do you learn about former folks because they have posted blogs or other personal information? In other words, do people just arbitrarily post pictures and information about themselves on these websites? I understand that some of these sites have a "friends" concept that supposedly limits who has access, but the concept just seems foreign to me.

For me, I send pictures via EMail or a direct link to my family and friends. But I don't think I would just post this information on a website that anyone could access.

So you post info about yourself in hopes that other people find your life interesting? I don't mean to be belittling... but is it an ego thing? Or do you (and I don't mean just you KWhit... any user in general) sincerely hope that by posting the information you will reconnect with old friends?

Obviously this is the next progression in communication.

Hmmm...

I post things about myself so that the circle of friends in my network can see what I'm up to. For the most part, at least on Facebook, strangers that you haven't accepted as friends can't see your posts or pics (except your one main profile pic). The people who you know from the past (or present) can find you by name or email address and then request to be connected as a friend.

The great thing about this is that once someone has newly reconnected with somebody, it's a viral type thing where all of that person's friends see the connection made and say "Hey, I know that guy too!" and also reconnect with him. It's a cool way to connect with people you had totally forgotten about and didn't even know you missed.

We posted a couple of college class photos on Facebook that generated a huge thread of replies about the good old days at college and some of the crazy things we did. Stupid stuff, but a really great trip down memory lane with people that we hadn't communicated with in 15 or more years. Pretty fun stuff.

[Subby]

I don't think there is anything to get. If you spend any time thinking about it, then it probably isn't for you. You just do it.

[MJ4H]

I definitely didn't think facebook was worth the time to set up an account but I was wrong. I'd say if you aren't sure, try it anyway. You can always delete your profile.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I use Facebook and MySpace so I can post pictures of myself on the internet without spamming FOFC.

[Fidatelo]

I signed up for facebook a year or so ago, but I've never gotten into it, and rarely if ever even check it. What I discovered is that I just don't care about any of the people that it allowed me to reconnect with. I guess that's why I was no longer connected with them in the first place.

[korme]

Facebook runs my freetime

[tyketime]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

What I discovered is that I just don't care about any of the people that it allowed me to reconnect with. I guess that's why I was no longer connected with them in the first place.

That nicely sums up some of my thoughts on that particular strand as well.

[Godzilla Blitz]

I've only been messing around with Facebook for a month now, but I love it. It's great for seeing what's going on in friends' lives and for connecting with that second level of friends.

Having said that, it's benefit doesn't kick in until you get a critical mass of friends connected to your account. I remember when I got invites a year or so ago. I'd log on, look at my one or two friends, and think, this is lame. Once you get enough friends that are actively using their accounts, the level of activity in their lives brings your account to life.

[Autumn]

There was a great article in the New York Times recently (by Clive Thompson I think?) about sites like FAcebook and Twitter. It explained well the counterintuitive allure to them, I think. I've found, like some of the others here, that it has benefits I didn't expect and couldn't quite explain.

The News Feed on Facebook gives you a quick, one glance, visual of what all your "Friends" on there are doing (who they've connected to, pictures they've posted, new interests). And so it has none of the investment of time of e-mail, but allows you to discover connections or things you're interested in. This is superior, in my mind, to writing a long letter to everyone you have ever casually known in order to find out if you have things you want to talk about. Instead you can see that they went to the David Hasselhoff concert and write them about what a fan you are.

I think it provides another layer of connection that was missing from the Internet, more passive and casual than IM or e-mail (which is intentional and one on one), but more personal than, for example, forums like these.

[tyketime]

Originally Posted by Autumn

There was a great article in the New York Times recently (by Clive Thompson I think?) about sites like FAcebook and Twitter. It explained well the counterintuitive allure to them, I think. I've found, like some of the others here, that it has benefits I didn't expect and couldn't quite explain.

Thanks for this info. I did find the article, linked here, and it certainly provides good insight to the whole phenomenon. I laughed when the article said this whole concept is probably absurd to anyone over 30, but it went on to explain many of the "benefits" to it. Good reading!

[Travis]

I utilize Facebook in a bit different manner than most in the sense that I primarily use it for organizing the different sports teams that I'm running. Their setup for group pages/related events has been invaluable to me in that I can check on there anytime to see who is and isn't able to make it to a game (basically for each of my teams I create a group page and then create a related event for each game). It's cut down tremendously on the number of calls/emails I field as to when/where games are (the provided maps are a great feature) and has kept my email a whole lot less cluttered.

I'd like to see them improve their support for non facebook user email notifications (as it doesn't seem to work all that well from our tests), but while I haven't exactly connected with new people due to the site, it's been a nice bonus as 95% of my players use the site anyway.