On On-Line Social Networking

[mlerules]

I've been ruminating on the purposes and goals of on-line social networking recently as I've been wandering around in FaceBook these past few days. I have some thoughts that'll likely spill/spew forth here before long. This pretty well sums up what I do NOT care for about it.

Why do YOU use FaceBook and/or LJ and/or MySpace and/or whatEVER? What goals do you have in using it/whatEVER (if any)? What needs do you hope to fulfill/have fulfilled? What do you want to, hope to, and actually GET out of it? What's it FOR, in your opinion? (And what's IT?) I'm curious and'd really like to know, as it might help shed some light on these issues for myself. (And because generating and engaging in at least some slightly more in-depth discussion/conversation is something I value and prefer LJ for over FB, at least so far.)

Comments

[siouxiequeue.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I'm pretty dang new to FaceBook too, and am thinking a lot about usages... it's really a totally different forum than LJ... here's my nutshell...

LJ is a great forum for ideas and thoughts, writing and emoting and having conversations. It's set up as a "Journal" - so it's good for recording these things. Clunky for pictures, though. I like it for the depth of content, the ability to filter recipients, and it's nice that folks can speak out without feeling exposed personally...

FaceBook is all about networking and connections. You use your real name, so it's possible to find people you haven't seen in a long time - (see my previous post for how good I feel about *that* feature!) it's good for little note-lets and for sharing pictures, especially - pix are easy to upload and mark up... but you will want to use something else for copywritten images, so rumor goes. The status is fun, you can "look in on" friends really easily...
There are tons of memes, toys, bots and games on Facebook, which I'm starting to find distracting; I think I'll pick one or two that are fun, and block the rest - not to be unfriendly, but they're kind of content-less blabber that get in the way of the interesting stuff (I'm loving the photo sharing, did I mention that?) - and let people send me a note if they want to send a kiss or a smack on the butt...

Very cool tools, I think the trick is finding how they work best for you (yes, I know that's the whole reason for this post..heh)
*love*

[mlerules.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your input. I appreciate it very much. 'Twas your nice story about reconnecting that reminded me that I had a FaceBook account, actually. When I headed back yonder, 100+ gifts/quizzes/&c. awaited my return/attention. ACK - I haven't and likely WON'T deal w/them. (And methinks I'd rather deliver kisses & smacks on the butt in person rather than virtually, anyway ;-)

I, too, particularly enjoy the photo features. (And many thx for tagging some of mine by the way, when I had to rush out after only getting partway through the stack I'd uploaded - you're a dear!)

[siouxiequeue.livejournal.com]

there's a nifty little button at the bottom of the "requests" that say, "block application" - it'll get rid of all the requests of that type. I got through mine in about 3 minutes... then I can see the requests I *want* to see...

[mlerules.livejournal.com]

Thx - yes, I noticed the Anti-App group that suddenlynaked joined, browsed through a bit, and found out about the button.

*must now reconcile small hints of guilt for ignoring people's attempted nicenesses towards me*