On Facebook
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
OK, I think I get Facebook now. Kind of.
A couple of months ago, I asked if anybody could explain Facebook to me. It was being touted as the Next Big Thing in Media, and since my job involves trying to stay on top of such things, I was hoping somebody could clue me in on how that actually works.
Also I joined. As of this morning I have 32 friends. And I find myself checking it three, four, five times a day. By Internet standards, that doesn’t seem too obsessive, but it has become part of my “I’ve got a free moment and I’m using a computer” routine.
This is what I like: It lets me stay abreast of what’s going on with my friends in quick and efficient fashion. It’s allowed me to re-engage old friends that I’d lost touch with. And it lets me let them know how I’m doing.
But I suspect that I like Facebook, in part, because I’ve been somewhat ruthless about the whole “friends” thing. The people on my friends list are, by and large, people I know — though some mainly through the blogosphere — and like. I’ve steadily ignored requests from people I don’t know who are apparently trying to get their friend count up. Which makes Facebook useful to me, as opposed to a vomitorium of information about strangers.
So it’s useful and enjoyable, but it doesn’t seem all that revolutionary. I’ve experienced something similar on a YahooGroups listserv with some old college friends for about a decade now. Yeah, there are a few more bells and whistles — it’s easier to let people know of my love for Gogol Bordello — but I’ve also kept the bells and whistles to a minimum. I’ve resisted adding the “superpoke” feature that allows you to “throw pillows,” etc., at your friends.
So what’s revolutionary about Facebook then?
As far as I can tell, Facebook allows advertisers to access me more directly than the old YahooGroups ever did. Which, since I don’t ever recall having seen an ad on YahooGroups, means it’s infinitely better for marketers.
I don’t begrudge that (though it’s mildly annoying to be reading through friend updates and be interrupted by an announcement for the latest show on ABC) because, once again, my job is dependent to a great extent on advertising. But what that means is that Facebook is revolutionary as a marketing machine, less so for me as a user.
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Posted by alm77 (anonymous) on October 16, 2007 at 10:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I still think myspace is easier to use. I've experienced some information overload on facebook, and so I only check that like twice a month. I don't really care that one of my friends added a friend and I'm not sure what a "poke" or "superpoke" is, but it doesn't sound good. And once, someone offered to let me tickle them, that really weirded me out. I know myspace gets all the bad press, but facebook seems more creepy to me. I also have the "people I know in "real life"" rule on myspace with a few exceptions.
Posted by Joel (Joel Mathis) on October 16, 2007 at 10:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Without having done MySpace, alm, I'd always heard that it was the other way around ... that you couldn't really "choose" your friends or your level of interaction with them.
Posted by alm77 (anonymous) on October 16, 2007 at 10:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
They're very similar in many aspects. Both allow you to find and "approve" or "deny" friends. Both allow you tell about yourself and to blog. But on facebook, I get these constant updates I either don't really understand or don't care about, I don't know which. And like I said the "interaction" on facebook is a little too close for comfort. I also like the ability to customize my profile with different backgrounds, I don't think you can do that on facebook, at least none of my friends on there have. I can even set my profile to "private" if I only want my friends to see what I have up. That's handy when looking for employment etc. I don't know if facebook has that feature or not. Its just my preferences I suppose.
Posted by chewyfally (Falestine Afani Ruzik) on October 16, 2007 at 11:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The youngins like facebook. A lot more private (which means less likely to get in trouble with your employer). Of course, anyone who doesn't set their myspace to private while posting drunky pics is an idiot anyway...
Posted by alm77 (anonymous) on October 16, 2007 at 11:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"anyone who doesn't set their myspace to private while posting drunky pics is an idiot anyway..."
HA! YES!! I can't believe some of the things I've seen on there. And then they wonder why a) they can't get a good job b) they can't get a date or c) there's so much gossip about them. Some people's stupidity is astounding.
Posted by matt (Matt Armstrong) on October 16, 2007 at 11:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Uh oh, we better check with the site admin. They accidentally posted one of your old blogs. Looking at the subject, it has to be from around 2004.
Posted by Joel (Joel Mathis) on October 16, 2007 at 12:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
... (sigh.)
Note to self: Must. Be. Hipper.
Posted by thomgreen (anonymous) on October 16, 2007 at 12:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"anyone who doesn't set their myspace to private while posting drunky pics is an idiot anyway..."
The good thing about my boss is he knows I have superior work ability, and doesn't really give a damn what I do in my free time. I really don't worry about him seeing pictures of me dominating at beer pong.
Posted by beatle919 (Marcy McGuffie) on October 16, 2007 at 12:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm with Alm...definitely prefer Myspace and find it easier to navigate. I'm always flabbergasted when my younger friends tell me Facebook is soooo much better. I was introduced to Facebook during my brief stint in grad school and still use it to keep in touch w/my friends who aren't as fond of Myspace.
I get a lot more random friend requests through Myspace...but, it's really simple to change the settings to private (I haven't yet, but it's crossed my mind a time or two).
I'm not too obsessive about either Myspace or Facebook...but, they are both decent ways to keep in touch with friends and acquaintances. I really like Myspace for staying up-to-date with my favorite local bands! If it weren't for Myspace, I probably wouldn't have realized for awhile that Split Lip Rayfield was playing at the Replay this weekend (I'm slow). That shiznit can't be missed!
Posted by DOTDOT (anonymous) on October 16, 2007 at 12:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
My wife joined facebook, and one thing after another, ended up with my nephew (the same nephew that actually photographed us atop the WTC) as a friend. No big deal, right? But there is a picture of him smoking a cigarette. No big deal, right? Well, you don't know my sister-in-law. Now, I don't care either way, but I hold that "friends and family" traditionally has been, and should be, a carefully constructed labyrinth of social partitions. These social networking sites threaten all that. Who knows what peril lies ahead.
Posted by OnShakedown (Chris Tackett) on October 16, 2007 at 1 p.m. (Suggest removal)
joel,
i can't recall, but may have made a similar comment when you last posted about facebook, but i'd rather repeat myself than bother checking.
anyway, i think to get a good idea of how facebook is revolutionary would be to check out what Robert Scoble is doing.
To put it in the simpleist terms, facebook will eventually be the main feed (rss and otherwise) for ones life.
People using google reader can add their shared items to their profile, same w/ del.icio.us, flickr etc. So the main feed on the facebook home page is already able to be a 'super rss feed' but also containing updates of your friends lives, thus becoming your friend feed, as well.
But where it gets interesting is w/ Scoble. He is using it to spread google reader shared items, flickr photos, but also his journalism (videos, articles, blog posts) thus expanding his audience. And w/ the ability to customize which friends updates show up on your homepage feed, as more media outlets and figures like Scoble start using facebook in the same way, you'll eventually have a customized media feed similar to a standard rss reader AND a way to keep up w/ friends. It's not quite there yet, bc there aren't enough media folks using it to this degree. But i think it'll get there.
Then consider the open source and third-party applications, and facebook is really like an internet within the internet. this may not seem that different than some other social networking sites, but i think those differences are becoming more apparent every day.
*i may not have all this right, but it's why i think it's revolutionary.
Posted by OnShakedown (Chris Tackett) on October 16, 2007 at 1:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
and for the discussion of myspace v. facebook, here's an interesting paper on the differences between users: http://www.danah.org/papers/essays/Class...
Posted by DOTDOT (anonymous) on October 16, 2007 at 1:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"The good thing about my boss is he knows I have superior work ability, and doesn't really give a damn what I do in my free time. I really don't worry about him seeing pictures of me dominating at beer pong."
The good thing about your boss is that he doesn't give a fuck about his insurance premiums.
Just saying.
Posted by Joel (Joel Mathis) on October 16, 2007 at 1:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Chris: Thanks for the Scoble info. I'll check into that. It does bring to mind, though, Walter Kirn's essay on multitasking in Atlantic Monthly. How many things can a thing be asked to do (and a mind be asked to absorb) before it becomes Too Much? I can barely keep up with my GoogleReader RSS as it is. I frankly LIKE that it's in a different place than my Facebook account.
But The Audience may have different thoughts, you're right.
Dotdot, you actually raise an interesting point. I've decided to limit my "friends" to, well, friends and some same-generation relatives. I've seen that a number of my colleagues have Facebook accounts, and I've largely refused to try and "friend" them. I can't help but notice that they've also not tried to friend me. And I'm fine with that: I'm in full agreement with you that some partitions are good and necessary things.
Posted by jonathanholley (anonymous) on October 16, 2007 at 1:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Joel:
You've gotta change the camera angle of your picure if you want teenage girls to flirt with you online! That angle's so sharp up it's actually cutting the lawrence.com banner in two.
Jay
Posted by Joel (Joel Mathis) on October 16, 2007 at 1:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What? I thought the chicks would dig the jowls.
Posted by alm77 (anonymous) on October 16, 2007 at 3:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Chris, thanks for the link. I have noticed, and almost said earlier, that my college friends are on facebook and my high school friends are on myspace. A few, like me are on both. Its weird to think that facebook is somewhat of a status symbol seeing as how both sites have so many similarities and both are free to anyone. Interesting commentary on American culture.
Posted by OnShakedown (Chris Tackett) on October 16, 2007 at 8:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
alm77, i thought that was interesting, as well. there have been some other good papers written on the topic and a nice discussion on npr last week, though i'm struggling to find links right now.
though, now that facebook is open to anyone, those distinctions may become less noticeable, however, just this weekend i had a few friends mention that they hadn't signed up for facebook bc they didn't have college email addresses. so it seems the openness isn't widely known.
Posted by godjilla (Jill Ensley) on October 16, 2007 at 9:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Not having read any other comments....
Facebook is not revolutionary so much as it is refreshing. Not having to stare at poorly-designed, graphics overloaded MySpace pages, often flashing and/or making noise, is nice. Then there's the whole Rupert Murdoch thing.
Not that this was a contest between MySpace and Facebook, but that's usually where it goes.
Plus, Scrabulous.
I CHALLENGE YOU, JOEL.
Posted by Joel (Joel Mathis) on October 17, 2007 at 7:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
OK, Jill. I'm going to:
• Add "Scrabulous" to my Facebook page.
• Try to make you my Facebook friend.
The challenge (raises eyebrow) is met.
Posted by Joel (Joel Mathis) on October 17, 2007 at 7:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
(Now would also be a pretty good time to mention that, while I love Scrabble, I also kinda suck at it.)
Posted by PatrickJoseph (Patrick Giroux) on October 17, 2007 at 8:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I highly doubt that you're bad at Scrabble, Joel. You work in the business of letters and words!
Posted by Joel (Joel Mathis) on October 17, 2007 at 8:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
That's why it's so humiliating to suck at Scrabble. Everybody expects me to do better.
Posted by Joel (Joel Mathis) on October 17, 2007 at 8:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Nonetheless, I have opened a "Scrabulous" game with Jill. I started off with "signs." I'm awaiting her move.
Posted by godjilla (Jill Ensley) on October 22, 2007 at 2:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
My ten-point lead will be your DOOM!
Your DOOOOOOOM, I say!
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