Caterina.net: Continued Enthusiasm for Social Networks

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{ Wednesday, January 28, 2004 }

Continued Enthusiasm for Social Networks

I think that people are missing the point of online Social Networks such as Friendster, Friendzy, Orkut, etc. I just read Social Nets Not Making Friends by Leander Kahney on Wired, which is an article about how several popular bloggers, Cory Doctorow of Boingboing.net and Jason Kottke or kottke.org are "over" social networks. This is likely true, but I think that Justin Hall is the one who really gets it:

Justin Hall, a veteran Net head and freelance writer, said the backlash seems to be limited only to those with an established online presence. To the vast majority of casual Internet users, especially those without personal Web pages, the services are a great way to establish an online identity.

"They're great for people without a Web page," Hall said. "If you don't have a Web page, people can find out where you are and what you are up to. I have loads of non-Internet-savvy friends on Friendster, and they love it."

In spite of being a jaded internet flunky, I still enjoy these things, in spite of having a three-figure friend list on Friendster. And most of my non-internet friends are *still* not on Friendster or other such sites. Articles like this smack of digerati elitism, much like back in the day when Digital Immigrants who thought they were Digital Natives [pdf] complained that weblogs written by high school students weren't worth reading. To you, they're boring. But not to their friends. We are Digital Immigrants who spend so much time online, we think we run the place. We forget what it's like for people who grew up swimming in this stuff, and for those who don't live here 24/7.

Of all the latest YASNs, my fave is Dogster. Now Dos Pesos has his own online identity too, and I've been enjoying getting to know caterina.net readers through their dogs.

I still think that the latent possibilities of these social networks are as yet untapped. Right now they're like floating features without associated apps.

LINK | 5:09 PM | TB

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{ COMMENTS }

Are we not far from seeing evilexroomatester, nofriendster, peopletostayawayfromster, axisofevilwannabester? Because it's true.

Cole | January 28, 2004 6:42 PM

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Dogster rules! Thanks for the heads up Caterina.

Michael | January 28, 2004 7:22 PM

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Thanks for telling us about Dogster. My sister added our dog Bruno.

He and Dos Pesos should become pup pals. :-)

Vanlal | January 29, 2004 12:40 AM

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I find that the networking software is interesting and sometimes fun but MUCH better for people who live near their network, in general. So, when I look at tribe.net and friendster a lot of what those sites facilitate above and beyond discussion and sharing of links, is more useful if you're close by. So I don't look for dates on Friendster because no one lives anywhere near me, and I don't look for jobs or cars for sale on Tribe.net because they're too far away. When I travel is when I find the most use from these sites "who knows a good place to get a burrito in San Diego?" "Who has friends in Tempe?" I see them as sort of extended cell phones -- helping people who are in physical proximity make better use of technology to share information and potentially physical space. I like meeting people in real life, ultimately, I think. I'm waiting anxiously for craigslist vermont.

jessamyn | January 29, 2004 7:15 AM

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I think there is a digerati elitism component as you say but Cory's story reminds me of the situation of two distinct friends of mine, neither of them spend a lot of time online (so, not digerati by any means) but they are *extremely* networked offline (one just had a birthday party and invited 300 of his closest friends)

Neither have a presence on friendster but they both have complained to me of constant friendster invites. The problem is that they don't want to say 'no' to anybody and also have not the time or practical inclination to 'manage' their 1000 friendsters. There's nothing in it for them. If they want a date or a job, they know where to go and who to call.

It seemed to me that Cory was coming at it from this angle. Paradoxically, these social networking services cannot provide the scale or tools to meet the needs of those at the extreme high end of the curve.

ricardo vacapinta | January 29, 2004 5:23 PM

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I have a Friendster profile but I've outsourced the accumulation of increasingly faint and amusing layers of "friends" to two friends. Thanks to their ability to be more social than mean ol' me I have 3000(!) or so folks in my personal gallery. Does this mean I can still qualify for digerati elitism?

Andy | January 31, 2004 12:32 AM

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Exactly. I read that same article and when I got to Justin Hall's comments I thought, hot damn, after all these years he's still the same web-evangelist at heart and hasn't back slipped into the slipery-slope of technorati-pundits. It always sounds wrong when I hear people user-hating.

Hate the site, not the user ;>

And I can also honestly say Dogster is my favorite YASNA too! thx.

Friend of Eric | February 2, 2004 3:28 PM

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