What’s the Big Deal with Facebook?
April 14, 2007 11:03 pm DeveauxStuffMany people I know have been crowing about Facebook, the social networking site that’s been around for a few years but for some reason has caught fire within the last couple of months. I’m not a part of Facebook, I have my own little corner of the Internet right here and I’m quite happy with it, thanks.
What I want to know is what’s the big deal? Some people are saying it’s a great way to find out what people you knew way back when are up to now. Where I come from, that’s called “stalking”. I don’t really care, after all, if anyone wants to know what I’ve been up to (or look at pictures of me or leave comments, everything except for the “grouping” social aspect), they can do it the old fashioned way: Google me. Of course, I’m not as easily accessible as if I were on a social networking site, but then again I prefer the “hiding-in-plain-view” approach, and to be honest, I really don’t need more addictions (see also: why I don’t want a Wii, as cool as they are).
wyn >> Everything is Connected Blog :
Date: April 15, 2007 @ 5:33 am
These waves of sign-ups, if they are indeed real spikes in memberships, are interesting. This one in particular because I feel like I finally know the appeal of Facebook from reading enough articles about it and surfing a bit from my friend’s account. It’s very integrated and *everyone* is on it. But you’re right about stalker-ish and this kind of immature need to boost your popularity. Like you, I’m refraining as I’m highly Google-able and have signed up for a whole bunch of separate and powerful services already (blogging, photo-sharing, music sharing, etc.)
Dave :
Date: April 18, 2007 @ 9:30 pm
I guess facebook is good for people who don’t read blogs or really have their own…I’ve noticed that at least… Me, well, I find it a bit annoying and surprisingly uni-dimensional, despite it’s apparent great social networking. I enjoy using a blog everyone can read, posting photos to a site everyone can read and well, I don’t need to know who’s friends with who to get my social life fix for the day.
Jean-Paul :
Date: April 18, 2007 @ 11:36 pm
I read an interesting post yesterday about the potential virtues of Facebook, that they took many aspects of the Internet that people commonly use (email, IMing, etc…) and brought them together under one banner, and that’s why they’re successful: they’re effectively the WalMart of online apps.
He then went on to criticize some of their privacy policies (i.e., when you post something, it’s not yours anymore, it’s theirs, and they can do with it what they please, including turning it over to authorities should the need arise).
He concluded by suggesting that while Facebook was a great idea, it was somewhat flawed in its execution, and that it’s only a matter of time before someone truly gets it right and makes a lot of money off it.
Nevertheless, what I have works, and I’m not going to buy in to any new fangled sites because “everyone else is doing it”.
*goes back to playing WiiSports*
Dave :
Date: April 20, 2007 @ 10:11 pm
It’s also ripe for privacy abuses, such as all the connections between people, etc. Of course, some people seem to fall into the trap that — if you’re going to post something on the internet, it should be something that you don’t mind EVERYONE reading, because it really is open to everyone. It’s amazing to see what some people think are private converations…