My Island of Social Networking
Posted by Chris
I'm a big Facebook fan. I've been known to dabble with MySpace, Squidoo, Mash, and others. My current 'social portfolio?' That would be Facebook, Pownce, Flickr, Shelfari & Twitter. The point? I like the idea of social networking. The problem is - I really don't like the dailyness of attempting to keep up with all of the plethora of options out there (a list that is ever-increasing each day).
The good part of social networking is that it helps connect you with people in your life (both past & present) and introduces you to new people as well. Sure, you're not likely to become best friends with any of your newly found Facebook Friends - but friends come in all shapes & sizes and I believe these surface social friendships have their place. I like learning more about the people in my life. I like connecting with old friends as well (I just found more college friends on Facebook this week - hi, Neil & Faith!).
On the other hand, Twitter is a good example of the problem I face. I have had a love/hate relationship with Twitter - an off/on friendship which spans the last year or so. When I first signed up for this 'let everyone know what you're doing' service I used it like crazy - sometimes posting multiple updates an hour, depending on my mood. The fact that I could link up my cell phone (to make mobile updates while I was out), and that Twitter would message me & let me know when I hadn't updated in awhile made this even easier.
The problem? With other sites I was attempting to keep up with I found that it was becoming too cumbersome to deal with - especially since many of the other sites were wanting me to do the very same thing. So I quit. Then I got a second wind a couple of months ago. Then I didn't keep up with posting my status updates. And here I sit again in a familiar place.
Why can't we all just get along?
Why can't I update my status on Twitter & have it automatically show up on Facebook? Why can't I post a blog entry (like this one) and have it show up on my MySpace profile? Why can't I post a set of photos on Flickr and have some of them show up on my Pownce page? After all, most of them have basically the same idea behind them. The problem is that they don't play very nicely together - each wanting you to come mainly to their site & not all the others (that's how they make there money).
The good news is that some are beginning to place nicer (in a very, very limited sort of way). The bad news is that this cross-posting bliss only works in a handful of situations & sites.
So I'm left with uplifting Facebook as the main island in my social networking world - venturing off on other excursions to Pownce or Flickr or the like only when the more rare occasion arises. Until someone figures out how to create a social networking graph that leverages on all the others.
The good part of social networking is that it helps connect you with people in your life (both past & present) and introduces you to new people as well. Sure, you're not likely to become best friends with any of your newly found Facebook Friends - but friends come in all shapes & sizes and I believe these surface social friendships have their place. I like learning more about the people in my life. I like connecting with old friends as well (I just found more college friends on Facebook this week - hi, Neil & Faith!).
On the other hand, Twitter is a good example of the problem I face. I have had a love/hate relationship with Twitter - an off/on friendship which spans the last year or so. When I first signed up for this 'let everyone know what you're doing' service I used it like crazy - sometimes posting multiple updates an hour, depending on my mood. The fact that I could link up my cell phone (to make mobile updates while I was out), and that Twitter would message me & let me know when I hadn't updated in awhile made this even easier.
The problem? With other sites I was attempting to keep up with I found that it was becoming too cumbersome to deal with - especially since many of the other sites were wanting me to do the very same thing. So I quit. Then I got a second wind a couple of months ago. Then I didn't keep up with posting my status updates. And here I sit again in a familiar place.
Why can't we all just get along?
Why can't I update my status on Twitter & have it automatically show up on Facebook? Why can't I post a blog entry (like this one) and have it show up on my MySpace profile? Why can't I post a set of photos on Flickr and have some of them show up on my Pownce page? After all, most of them have basically the same idea behind them. The problem is that they don't play very nicely together - each wanting you to come mainly to their site & not all the others (that's how they make there money).
The good news is that some are beginning to place nicer (in a very, very limited sort of way). The bad news is that this cross-posting bliss only works in a handful of situations & sites.
So I'm left with uplifting Facebook as the main island in my social networking world - venturing off on other excursions to Pownce or Flickr or the like only when the more rare occasion arises. Until someone figures out how to create a social networking graph that leverages on all the others.
Comments