I don't think I get a lot of social networking sites on the Internet, I'm told they are really good but much like the image of Mr T doing his taxes I just cant visualise it. Ive had people try and explain this cyberplague to me before, but the hybrid bulletin board/chat/blog/photo gallery/messaging all on a one page is a lot like Homers website giving the user a certain level of option paralysis.
Perhaps I'm looking for more then they are.. are they just prefab websites for the technically inept? I agree the Internet is big. Really big. Hoff in pre-fall of Berlin Wall Germany Big. But that doesn't mean you have to cut it down into bite size chunks for easy digestion for fear of needing an Heimlich should you take too much in at once.
Browsing the Internet is a lot like a good meal, it has courses and is sectioned. You start with an appetiser, generally something just to start the palette such as your home page. This could be a news site you set it to just so you know whats happened outside your parents basement bunker for the last 2 weeks since you last saw sunshine. Or maybe something simpler like Google as you always change what you might want to start your day with.
Following this you persue the wine list and maybe choose a nice bodied red to enjoy with your main meal and some light conversation. By the time your main has arrived your taste buds are open for business and rolling around naked in the flavour. If the Internet is a selection of food then facebook is a poptart. Its like going to Sizzler and dragging your chair up to the all-you-can-eat bar to construct a banana split using Sheppard's pie and prawns, too much in too small a space.
I do think theses sites have a certain purpose, I mean they are a pretty good promotional flyer on [Your Brand Name Here], but they just don't grab me in terms of a personal stamp on the Internet. I know people like to personalise their stuff, put stickers on their skateboard, pot plants on the patio, swords on the wall - but adding tomato sauce to your cheese sandwich doesn't really make it a completely new revolutionary type of sandwich, its just a cheese sandwich... with sauce.
If you want a blog then get a blog. If you want a place for your pictures then use flikr or something of that ilk. If you want to message your friends then use an instant messenger. The moral here is when your packing the car for the beach you dont shove in the snow shoes. If you want a website you should have one that reflects you and what you want, not some tracer version - ticking the box to get one with the lot (which looks a lot like your friends but totally different as you use that full sick font... dude).
Until someone can explain to me why these are good, which isnt that they take a whole lot of existing stuff and repackage it with a new bow in one place - I'll be staying away. Because at the moment they come off as the new electronic version of crack.
Andy. Man without a Facebook page.
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2 comments:
Andrew Andrew Andrew...
Facebook and Myspace are tools, purpose built tools infact. For social interaction via this interweb thingy.
Did you put up this much resitance to your old friend the Mobile Phone or MSN Messenger?
Lets talk facebook (mainly because I think MySpace is a pile of poo). Facebook isn't about haveing your own peice of the internet, most people don't allow you to see anything other than their name, it's a tool for staying in touch with people you know, in this super busy scociety in which we live, and in my humble opinion, it's a damn good one. People can log on, punch in some details, and stay in touch with friends with minimal effort, and that seems to be what people want to do.
In the same way that most people who drive a car don't have the skills to build one from the ground up, most people who use the internet don't have the skills to build a Webpage/Blog/Photo gallery.
This blog is built on blogger, does that put you in the technically inept class cause you didn't code the website yourself? No, it doens't, blogger lets you do what you want to do, that's blog, so that the whole world can read it.
Facebook lets people stay in touch with people they know. That's all it's for. It lets you share the things people like to share, with the people they like. You could say it's kind of like a 24/7 365 day a year christmas letter. Instead of catching up on what people are doing once a year, you can do it whenever you choose.
In the same way the Family First MP's can switch off the tv for Californication, Joe Blogger can delete a Facebook Friend request email :)
Seems like Im not the only one who is unimpressed with these things - you should know the author if you watch Top Gear
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