Monday, November 5th 2007
Too much 'social' networking?
Is this whole social-networking thing going too far?
Can’t people just talk to each other or meet in a pub over a pint instead of this crazy world of super-poke and friend-request confirmation!
I read that fans of Kylie Minogue can now join KylieKonnect allowing them to social-network with like-minded Kylie fans.
This is too much! Surely this social-networking thing works when there is one massive meeting point for people of diverse interests and backgrounds ie: Facebook
A meeting place of people with identical interests isn’t really networking is it?
Right, that’s it. I’m off to start my own social-network of people that ride bikes, like a bit of surfing, camping and use a Mac, but don’t like prunes, celery and budgies. There I’ll talk to loads of people who are, er… just like me?!
Maybe I’ll nip down the pub.
Posted by Richard on Monday 5th of November 2007 at 1:11pm
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There's an interesting (well, a bit geeky but still quite interesting) movement to try and streamline the whole 'making friends' part of social networking which is currently quite clunky and intrusive. Remember, this is me who doesn't have a Facebook or Myspace account for reasons previously expanded on this very blog...
Anyway, developers are now realising that rather than clumsily asking people to be your 'friend', you already use technology that 'knows' who your friends and colleagues are - your Outlook address book, mobile phone directory, local government census, workplace employee list and so on. The thinking here is that social networking sites should somehow read all your other devices and relevant databases and organically create connections between people as they make genuine, real life connections. This will be done with one-way encryption so that in theory privacy is maintained and civil liberties aren't challenged.
This might actually remove the unpalatable self promotion aspect of social networking - the common situation where the most prolific posters aren't people who are doing anything necessarily interesting, just people who rather conceitedly assume everyone wants to know every little thing about their banal lives.
In my opinion, some elements of online social networking are to be applauded but only if they support the real world and make communicating with people you actually know and like more effective.
Posted by Simon B5 on Wednesday 7th of November 2007 at 4:39pm