Comments on: Facebook: We are Going Backwards http://www.jamesgalvin.com/2007/08/26/facebook-we-are-going-backwards/ In London there is a man who screams when the church bells ring. Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:34:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: marcyd http://www.jamesgalvin.com/2007/08/26/facebook-we-are-going-backwards/#comment-30969 marcyd Wed, 10 Oct 2007 11:40:49 +0000 http://www.jamesgalvin.com/2007/08/26/facebook-we-are-going-backwards/#comment-30969 I disagree - facebook is the most engaging waste of time i've encountered on the net for some time. i've got three dates out of it, got in touch with countless friends I thought I'd lost touch with forever plus it makes managing my social life much easier. its a well designed site which makes the other social networking sites look amatuer in comparision. if you don't like the packaged nature of the apps, or want to be more individual then write your own. the api is freely available. do what you'd do in the old geocitites days. you get out of it what you put in, no more, no less. if you don't like the silly apps, don't use them! marc I disagree - facebook is the most engaging waste of time i’ve encountered on the net for some time. i’ve got three dates out of it, got in touch with countless friends I thought I’d lost touch with forever plus it makes managing my social life much easier.

its a well designed site which makes the other social networking sites look amatuer in comparision.

if you don’t like the packaged nature of the apps, or want to be more individual then write your own. the api is freely available. do what you’d do in the old geocitites days. you get out of it what you put in, no more, no less. if you don’t like the silly apps, don’t use them!

marc

]]> By: Sammy boy! http://www.jamesgalvin.com/2007/08/26/facebook-we-are-going-backwards/#comment-28333 Sammy boy! Wed, 29 Aug 2007 04:07:00 +0000 http://www.jamesgalvin.com/2007/08/26/facebook-we-are-going-backwards/#comment-28333 Betamax vs. VHS all over again isnt it? This sort of thing happens about twice every week or something, in different forms. What i've noticed though is, the better marketed side ('VHS' in my analogy) almost always wins, as long as its "good enough" for most people's purposes. A few weeks ago, I was fixing a PC for someone... as soon as the PC was fixed, I watched as his son (about 8 yrs old) immediately loaded up MSN and started chatting to his friends from school. Compare that to IRC - I doubt any of them would even know what IRC was, so why would they use it over MSN? The same goes for Bebo, people who dont even have a computer often have bebo pages linked to all their school mates etc. It's obviously doing something right, even though it might not be obvious what that something is. Basically it seems like any time you have a situation where one group is offering some feature (eg. smiley icons) and another group is not offering that feature, the group offering that feature will appeal to slightly more people, which will lead to a snowball effect in time and eventually, everyone bar a tiny minority will be a part of the group offering the feature. The same thing seems to be happening with widescreen TVs and now widescreen computer displays - despite the fact that widescreen displays have a lower viewable area vs required floor space to ordinary "4:3" screens. Oh, and boycotting things does not work - we need laws to prevent against this kind of stupidity. I see no other workable option for this planet other than to hand over power to me and just leave all important decision making to me. After making sure that I've the most comfortable life ever, I promise to make excellent decisions and make all of your lives better. Betamax vs. VHS all over again isnt it? This sort of thing happens about twice every week or something, in different forms. What i’ve noticed though is, the better marketed side (’VHS’ in my analogy) almost always wins, as long as its “good enough” for most people’s purposes.
A few weeks ago, I was fixing a PC for someone… as soon as the PC was fixed, I watched as his son (about 8 yrs old) immediately loaded up MSN and started chatting to his friends from school. Compare that to IRC - I doubt any of them would even know what IRC was, so why would they use it over MSN?
The same goes for Bebo, people who dont even have a computer often have bebo pages linked to all their school mates etc. It’s obviously doing something right, even though it might not be obvious what that something is.
Basically it seems like any time you have a situation where one group is offering some feature (eg. smiley icons) and another group is not offering that feature, the group offering that feature will appeal to slightly more people, which will lead to a snowball effect in time and eventually, everyone bar a tiny minority will be a part of the group offering the feature. The same thing seems to be happening with widescreen TVs and now widescreen computer displays - despite the fact that widescreen displays have a lower viewable area vs required floor space to ordinary “4:3″ screens. Oh, and boycotting things does not work - we need laws to prevent against this kind of stupidity.
I see no other workable option for this planet other than to hand over power to me and just leave all important decision making to me. After making sure that I’ve the most comfortable life ever, I promise to make excellent decisions and make all of your lives better.

]]> By: dahamsta http://www.jamesgalvin.com/2007/08/26/facebook-we-are-going-backwards/#comment-28143 dahamsta Sun, 26 Aug 2007 14:05:39 +0000 http://www.jamesgalvin.com/2007/08/26/facebook-we-are-going-backwards/#comment-28143 Facebook is shite, I can't understand why people visit it, never mind twaddle on about it ad nauseum on their blogs. It's boring and restrictive, and the operators has no idea about data protection issues and even less respect for users. Try deleting your account, for example. The only social network I use is LinkedIn, and then only to aggregate contacts on, yes, LinkedIn. I don't actually /use/ it at all, I just visit it when someone adds me or accepts an invitation I sent when they appeared in my network. An unpopular opinion I know, but "modern" social networking is for gimps. It's absolutely the way of the future and I look forward to the day when I can network for business and pleasure, but that's a good while away. The networks need to trim the fucktard dross before I'll use them properly. aam Facebook is shite, I can’t understand why people visit it, never mind twaddle on about it ad nauseum on their blogs. It’s boring and restrictive, and the operators has no idea about data protection issues and even less respect for users. Try deleting your account, for example.

The only social network I use is LinkedIn, and then only to aggregate contacts on, yes, LinkedIn. I don’t actually /use/ it at all, I just visit it when someone adds me or accepts an invitation I sent when they appeared in my network.

An unpopular opinion I know, but “modern” social networking is for gimps. It’s absolutely the way of the future and I look forward to the day when I can network for business and pleasure, but that’s a good while away. The networks need to trim the fucktard dross before I’ll use them properly.

aam

]]> By: John B http://www.jamesgalvin.com/2007/08/26/facebook-we-are-going-backwards/#comment-28142 John B Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:35:43 +0000 http://www.jamesgalvin.com/2007/08/26/facebook-we-are-going-backwards/#comment-28142 I liked that post so much I put a link up on my Facebook profile :) I liked that post so much I put a link up on my Facebook profile :)

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