For me, Facebook is an interesting little toy and always has been. It's fun to build up a list of people and do silly things with them. But it isn't useful, it isn't an effective communication tool. It isn't even a good social networking tool.
It is a killer Social Networking Toy. Lego is fun. I can build Lego houses. I cannot build a real house out of Lego. This is not a real Volkswagen.
But for some reason, people think that simply because Facebook is a social networking something, it is a social networking tool.
This includes the people at Facebook, who seem to believe that the backend (The Facebook Platform and Facebook Markup Language) was all that was required to be a social networking tool. So they had a big product launch and did a lot of puffery. In the end, the atrocious UI and major architectural limitations of the platform led to the social muck we see today.
Recently people have become concerned about trust. Concurrent memes about Facebook not allowing you access to your data and Facebook not being a trustable steward of your data have led to many technology early adopters and influencers to ignore their Facebook account or to outright cancel it.
Right now it's a trickle, but it is noticeable.
I don't understand one thing ... are people actually expecting Facebook to be of use?
To be fair, I do get utility out of Facebook. I enjoy playing with Laurel Papworth (I believe we have poked each other 20 trillion times). I like the fact that the lax rules for the meaning of "friend" have let me meet several people around the world. Shel Israel said in Twitter the other day that he just hangs around Facebook to play Scrabulous.
But it's all a toy. So this is why I don't cancel my Facebook account. I'm having fun with it and I don't put personal information in it for people to steal.
Don't take Facebook seriously, is my advice. I've looked for ways to take it seriously and they just aren't there.
As adults, we are all waiting for a real, useful, social networking tool. Obviously there isn't one out there yet.
If people out there are thinking that the social networking world is satisfied, it's not. It is overpopulated with mediocre applications, but by no means is it satisfied.
Jim, I agree with you that Facebook (do you generalize to all the other social networking platforms?) is one grand experiment in ... well something. For me part of the interest is finding out what somethings might show up (or is it "pop-up" in browser lingo?).
But I think you miss the point that some people even take toys and playing seriously. So I do engage in Facebook and Twitter and a number of e-mail lists for serious experimenting. I would be dishonest to say that I'm not getting anything valuable out of Facebook participation. I particularly like the news stream even in its current flawed implementation.
On your more serious point I am looking for real online networking that can extend my so-called off-line or real-world networks and relationships. And I know you were kidding on Twitter when you said you didn't collaborate. But my experience is that collaboration is d-mn hard and happens less often then we'd like to think. Our U.S. of A. is one individualist culture and culture is pretty hard to resist.
Posted by: Bill Anderson | 06 January 2008 at 21:28
Bill,
Yes, Baseball is "just a game" even when you are A-Rod and making tens of millions of dollars.
I enjoy Facebook, I'm just finding the people who are expecting it to be more than just fun and superficial communication.
You should be painfully aware I love the superficial communication and fun in Facebook. :-)
Posted by: Jim Benson | 06 January 2008 at 23:33
I also agree that facebook is much like a networking toy. It is inhibiting, but that is what makes it a great toll as well. It gives people an opportunity to make new connections or reestablish old ones not on the premise of social networking but as a fun way to virtually "hang out."
Posted by: Travis Martinez | 10 January 2008 at 15:27
Hi there,
interesting comments. i like facebook in many ways but simply for fun and connecting with friends overseas who i don't get to see often.
i'm just a bit curious, as you are looking for a networking tool that can fulfill the expectations that facebook doesn't meet, could you be a little bit specific about the kind of features that you would like to see?
jim ("we are all waiting for a real, useful, social networking tool."), what do you mean by real and useful? like what would you like to use it for? and what to accomplish with this tool?
bill ("real online networking that can extend my so-called off-line or real-world networks and relationships"), in which ways would you like to see your off-line relationships and networks extended?
like you have said, facebook is a toy more than a tool, so if it is to become a tool, what would the tasks that this tool is used for?
just some questions that we might have a little discussion here :)
Posted by: david ng | 10 January 2008 at 21:34