What do we think about Social Networking?
So, I've been talking to a few different people about the whole social networking concept. We have LinkedIn, Facebook, LJ, Twitter, Blogger, Wordpress, and countless others (I'm not counting MySpace, because I hate it). We have Email, AIM, ICQ (okay, I know it's rather defunct, now) MSN Messenger, Yahoo, Jabber (G-chat and many others), Skype, and even more. On top of all of those, we have more ways to merge those into other things... Facebook has it's chat, as does LJ, MySpace, and Gmail.
When it comes to the IM world we have programs that will merge all of the IM's into one convenient interface, such as Meebo.com (If you don't want to install anything) Trillian (trillian.cc) that will allow for a ton of plugins, and of course my new favorite Pidgin if you're on the PC, and Adium if you're on a real OS (Mac) -- I'm sure there's an equivalent for you Linux users out there. Each of these programs make it easier to communicate with one another, especially when people claim that they only like talking on AIM or only on Y! or only on MSN due to work restrictions... blah blah blah... On top of all that we have other forms of communication being the Telephone and perish the thought, snail mail.
There are a number of things that we don't like to discuss on these sites. There are many things that we don't truly want to share with the population of the world that can read our missives. I don't talk about my "personal" life, in this medium. Many companies are implementing a "Blogging" policy, that will limit what people should reveal on their personal blogs. This is not a bad idea, honestly, as there have been quite a few leaks of proprietary information to resources that should not have them. I for one worked on a project to train folks on how to use these social networking sites for anti-terrorism. You'd be shocked to know what some people put in their MySpace pages. If you have kids, I would HIGHLY recommend that you look at what they are posting. My job actually asked me to think like a bad guy for a bit to come up with how to use information against people... although it was fun, it also made me a little extra paranoid about what we post in these environments. (Hence why the only name I post on the internet is TroyFish)
All this being said, something that I've noticed is that more and more people are getting fed up by the concept of them all. That is your prerogative, but you should at least do yourself a favor and ensure that whatever you do, you do for the right reasons. Although, I haven't been posting to my website, or LJ, or even Facebook as much as I would like, I do prefer these mediums to getting information out. I can write one note in Deepest Sender, and have it posted to over 200 people. More in time, I'm sure. If there is a party going on, I can send out the one note and have people respond there. I can log into YouTube, and after seeing a cool video I can press a button (or 2) and have it posted on my website, or other sites for other so share and bask in the glory or commiserate in the death of a little part of your soul.
I like the immediacy of IM. I like the fact that you can immediately look at a list of people and say, "Ohhh, I have a quick question" I've heard it said, Why not just pick up the phone and call? Well, how about the fact that when you do that, a quick question can easily turn into a 1 hour conversation on the latest rumors of who is sleeping with who... Who got fired... Why does my car make this sound... How was your day... What's for dinner... do you like beans... you get the idea... when all you really wanted to know is what was the name of the guy that played Bishop in Aliens? (Yes, I know it was Lance Henriksen). We don't like to talk on the phone because our lives don't allow for it. We don't want to get into it, at a moment's notice, and we may not be able to. We can however send a quick SMS to someone and be patient in the amount of time it will take to reply.
I do also like face to face converstaions, but those are harder to come by given the distances that many of us have between us. However, when we do, it's great... but it becomes increasingly difficult to have dinner with different people every night. I am one of the most notorious people that will do "group" activities. This is because I like ALL of my friends, and most of my aquaintences. I would LOVE to spend more time with each one, but I just can't allow myself that opportunity as often as I'd like. I've learned a lot from many of my previous mistakes, and I am happy to report that I doubt I'll make them again, afer all, there is a plethora of new mistakes to make, and I'm not even 35 yet.
So... now I open the floor to you... What do you think of Social networking sites and communication mediums
When it comes to the IM world we have programs that will merge all of the IM's into one convenient interface, such as Meebo.com (If you don't want to install anything) Trillian (trillian.cc) that will allow for a ton of plugins, and of course my new favorite Pidgin if you're on the PC, and Adium if you're on a real OS (Mac) -- I'm sure there's an equivalent for you Linux users out there. Each of these programs make it easier to communicate with one another, especially when people claim that they only like talking on AIM or only on Y! or only on MSN due to work restrictions... blah blah blah... On top of all that we have other forms of communication being the Telephone and perish the thought, snail mail.
There are a number of things that we don't like to discuss on these sites. There are many things that we don't truly want to share with the population of the world that can read our missives. I don't talk about my "personal" life, in this medium. Many companies are implementing a "Blogging" policy, that will limit what people should reveal on their personal blogs. This is not a bad idea, honestly, as there have been quite a few leaks of proprietary information to resources that should not have them. I for one worked on a project to train folks on how to use these social networking sites for anti-terrorism. You'd be shocked to know what some people put in their MySpace pages. If you have kids, I would HIGHLY recommend that you look at what they are posting. My job actually asked me to think like a bad guy for a bit to come up with how to use information against people... although it was fun, it also made me a little extra paranoid about what we post in these environments. (Hence why the only name I post on the internet is TroyFish)
All this being said, something that I've noticed is that more and more people are getting fed up by the concept of them all. That is your prerogative, but you should at least do yourself a favor and ensure that whatever you do, you do for the right reasons. Although, I haven't been posting to my website, or LJ, or even Facebook as much as I would like, I do prefer these mediums to getting information out. I can write one note in Deepest Sender, and have it posted to over 200 people. More in time, I'm sure. If there is a party going on, I can send out the one note and have people respond there. I can log into YouTube, and after seeing a cool video I can press a button (or 2) and have it posted on my website, or other sites for other so share and bask in the glory or commiserate in the death of a little part of your soul.
I like the immediacy of IM. I like the fact that you can immediately look at a list of people and say, "Ohhh, I have a quick question" I've heard it said, Why not just pick up the phone and call? Well, how about the fact that when you do that, a quick question can easily turn into a 1 hour conversation on the latest rumors of who is sleeping with who... Who got fired... Why does my car make this sound... How was your day... What's for dinner... do you like beans... you get the idea... when all you really wanted to know is what was the name of the guy that played Bishop in Aliens? (Yes, I know it was Lance Henriksen). We don't like to talk on the phone because our lives don't allow for it. We don't want to get into it, at a moment's notice, and we may not be able to. We can however send a quick SMS to someone and be patient in the amount of time it will take to reply.
I do also like face to face converstaions, but those are harder to come by given the distances that many of us have between us. However, when we do, it's great... but it becomes increasingly difficult to have dinner with different people every night. I am one of the most notorious people that will do "group" activities. This is because I like ALL of my friends, and most of my aquaintences. I would LOVE to spend more time with each one, but I just can't allow myself that opportunity as often as I'd like. I've learned a lot from many of my previous mistakes, and I am happy to report that I doubt I'll make them again, afer all, there is a plethora of new mistakes to make, and I'm not even 35 yet.
So... now I open the floor to you... What do you think of Social networking sites and communication mediums