Social Networking

[Justin]

So I gave in and joined in the Facebook phenomenal a while back now. Still don't really see the appeal other than business use but I didn't want to be left behind!

Signed up for Twitter last night, first time ever. Never really got the point of that either, always saw it as virtual stalking but it does appear to be useful, again, for business use.

I've not mastered searching yet, can't find anyone really!

[Ian M]

Justin,

I use Facebook & like you at first could not see why people went mad on it. I then realised I can keep in touch with a few friends who live abroad like Australia & easily shre things with them like photos etc & have conversations with them.

Just recently I joined a group interested in the same classic cars as me & I have now made quite a few new friends around the world. It also looks like it is going to do me a lot of good with regard to business too with this group. It has also put me back in touch with a few old friends from my rallying days too & I now feel like I'm back in the loop of things from the past & find myself being invited to events etc that I used to love to attend.

To be honest I seem to have found a new lease of life being in contact with all these friends old & new.

[Justin]

I have caught up with a few friends that's true. I hate how so many people just seem to want to get their numbers up though, it seems to be a status symbol. Someone at work was taking the mick saying I only had 34 friends, I only add family or close friends...not everyone/farmer I come into contact with!

[purpledragon]

i use it for family mainly , i live a couple of hundred miles away from my older sisters, facebook allows me to insult them from afar..........well i am the younger brother
im on twitter only ever had one enqirey buis wise. i never know what to tweet......just pressed a mug......just pressed another.....

[Matt Quinn]

Social media (in terms of things like Facebook/Twitter etc) is an interesting phenomena...

As many have pointed out it's a great way to keep circles of family, freinds and like-minded individuals together; And by that I mean things like Forums, and common interest groups such as Facebook...

But actually it's nothing new. Forums recognisable as being like this have been around for nigh-on 20 years; before that there were newsgroups , BBS etc..

Facebook is just a series of hyperlinked BBS with a relatively slick graphical interface. Where before you had to be fairly tech-savvy to access BBS or forums, now it's pretty much idiot-proof. - And how evident that is from much of the childish nonsense that goes on...

Justin; the individual who took the mick at work - are they perhaps ten-years-old? Obviously collecting random 'friends' is a childish as it is potentially dangeorus! I've heard this sort of thing going on in workplaces before and it's pretty pathetic.

Somehow I'm reminded of, as a small boy, being accosted by one of the school idiots/bullies who demanded I hand over my football cards - "Ain't got any", I responded. There ensued a shortish conversation wherein it became clear this oaf's tiny brain could not assimilate the fact I hate football; and even if I did enjoy it, I would be out actually playing the game instead of collecting stupid bits of cardboard...

A few years back when things like Myspace and Bebo were de rigueur I recall overhearing a conversation wherein this bloke (who would be in his 40's I guess) was holding court with two of his younger Bebo-ite chums and lording it over then pronouncing that because he knew a bit of HTML that made him a webmaster...:rolleyes:

Oh! how we chuckled - before quickly moving to another pub before this saddo donned a purple cloak and Wizard's hat!

Twitter - hmm - What was it Cameron said about it? "Virtual Stalking" about sums it up for me though virtual ticker-tape is closer to the original concept; there are those in who's business interests it is in to be stalked. There are those who are at a stage in their mental development (i.e. teenage kids etc) where they wish to stalk and be stalked... And there are those who need the advice of a Professional specialising in Mental Health.

For me, as a social medium Twitter seems more than a bit unhealthy... Again newsfeeds aren't new; but anyone beyond their teenage years who is so self-absorbed they imagine the world needs constantly updated as to their status - It's called attention-seeking and is a bit sad really to see in a (supposedly) grown up. That or (as is the case of many celebrities)they're cynically seeking the attention of the weak-minded in a sort of 'Pied Piper''follow me' way - Depending on who is behind it this boils down to either sinister or cynical...

Business-wise?

I can see the use of it if you're selling the sort of thing that is generally bought by the 'some of the people' that are usually fooled 'all of the time'...

Forums have of course been around much longer. And in business terms can be excellent for gleaning and exchanging information. I'm always somewhat wary though of business forums that are full of people talking about doing stuff who don't seem to be doing much more - And the mad rush to get 'Twittered up' fully SEO'd and achieve as many Facebook friends as possible just strikes me as so much snake-oil...

These things go in and out with the tide IMHO

[jennywren]

I general do my social networking in the shop, which works very well for me most of work that I acquire. Then word of mouth pull the rest in. I do not any of the above expect Facebook to which I use to look at the photo's of my family, I only have 5 friends, all family. I don't know IMHO means but I do know SWALK means

[Matt Quinn]

In My Humble Opinion...

Sounds healthy enough Jenny - real people = real world IMHO (...there I go again!)

Which is where most of real life happens...

[mrs maggot]

i use facebook for me and for fatmaggot, spend too much time on there sometimes, but it seems to help, not sure about twitter... might have to have a go

[jennywren]

In My Humble Opinion...

Sounds healthy enough Jenny - real people = real world IMHO (...there I go again!)

Which is where most of real life happens...

I've seen it a few times and have wondered, I know on Facebook my children often use things like that, I shall have to ask or maybe put some of my childhood speak and leave them wondering

[smitch6]

I'm the same Justin i have accounts on twit and fb and business ones also for my various sites
and tbh can't really see the point lol
it annoys me actually that the art of picking a phone up or contacting someone to give them some news has died
i found out on fb that my neice was expecting and that she had actually had the baby
trouble was it was about 3 weeks after so we couldn't send a card or gift etc as it was too late :~

i have a large family and we always used to get together at least once a year over Christmas/new year but now we haven't all got tog for 2 or 3 yrs

as you all say it's handy to have as u meet old friends and make some new ones but i think the whole net thing is taking over everyones lives
although without it we wouldn't have websites haha