My thoughts: yeah, it was annoying as all fuck. It was a 4:26 Powerpoint that could have been a few nicely hyperlinked web pages.
Even as it presents some interesting factoids and trends, it was mainly a push for some douchetard's book, a guy with no more answers than any but hoping to ride the facebook wave.
News will find us? Yeah right.
Mainly a pitch to buy his consulting services.
jerry
at January 16, 2011 1:23 AM
Anyone remember MySpace? Their numbers were extremely good for several years as well, now they're an online backwater. Same goes for most of the social bookmarking sites that have emerged, and aggregators, tag services, etc. Facebook will likely be in the same position in a few years.
I think that in the long run, 'social media' will dissolve into various types of socially adapted tools and be integrated into a more general connected infrastructure for messaging, presence, awareness etc.
moe
at January 16, 2011 6:28 AM
+1 @jerry
Some clever graphics but not enough to overcome teh annoying.
BlogDog
at January 16, 2011 7:40 AM
"Are you ready?"
uhm, no.
But it does look like the death of advertising as we've known it, and with that the death of network television.
vermindust
at January 16, 2011 7:57 AM
Maybe it is just my age -- but I was brought up to be a private person. I don't have any desire to spew my info across the internet.
And I learned early on in the internet -- the late '90s -- that putting personal info on a webpage can have adverse effects on your career.
Jim P.
at January 16, 2011 8:24 AM
I never say ANYTHING personal on Facebook. I simply use it to link to my blog items and to follow researchers whose work I need to see. Since I got on, some people I know from the past have gotten in touch with me, which is nice, and I used it to locate a girl who lost a bag of clothing that I found in my neighborhood. Also, some friends post good links there. Other than that, I have friends, so I'm not really looking for "friends" or to spill about myself.
I don't use facebook or any of the social media applications. If you are my friend, and want to know how I am doing, you'll have to call or meet me for lunch. If that's too much effort for ya, then I don't need you as a friend. I learned early on that most online "friends" aren't.
matt
at January 16, 2011 9:21 AM
I think that in the long run, 'social media' will dissolve into various types of socially adapted tools and be integrated into a more general connected infrastructure for messaging, presence, awareness etc.
This is what is happening now, and it is being built upon the Facebook and Twitter ecosystems. The key difference between these services and prior social networks such as MySpace is that they offer APIs that enable other layers of services to be built upon them; this allows others to innovate while simultaneously tying people to Facebook and Twitter.
Facebook literally owns your social graph data; you're welcome to leave their system, but you can't take your Facebook friends' information with you when you go. This fact, combined with immense size and market penetration of the Facebook network makes for a steep uphill climb for competitors, to say the least. While not yet as large as Facebook, Twitter has the same sort of network momentum that will make it hard for others to compete. That said, if people are looking for a new service that might be a competitor to both Twitter and Facebook, I'd encourage you check out Quora, which has a novel and effective take on Q&A.
Christopher
at January 16, 2011 1:18 PM
Amy, I am curious how you define "personal." I, like Jim P., consider myself a very private person and am always trying to balance my need for privacy with facebook sharing. Just the other day I posted a list of free classes but only made it available to a few people, because I worried about too many people knowing my whereabouts. I ask, because it seems that just by blogging you share personal details with strangers, but maybe we have different ideas on what is personal?
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/01/16/social_media_re.html#comment-1823616">comment from LL
just by blogging you share personal details with strangers, but maybe we have different ideas on what is personal?
I don't post that I ate a yogurt last night, or that my sister is doing this or that, etc. If I post stuff here that's personal, there's general some point to it, or it's a story or has a story to it. But, there's plenty I don't post. I'm astonished by some of the dull stuff people post on Facebook, and I wonder why they aren't embarrassed.
50 percent of the world's population is under 30?
Gosh, who is supporting all those people - and what about the steady increase of lifespan in industrial countries?
96 percent of young people are online?
Nope - only a fraction of the world's population is connected to the Internet.
Et cetera.
My BS meter went off pretty quickly, and kept beeping.
Ben David
at January 17, 2011 1:33 AM
I learned early on that most online "friends" aren't.
I'm NOT a good facebook friend, I'm very rarely even ON facebook. it's too much of a time-sucker, and I don't have a lot of time to waste posting inane crap about myself and reading others' inane crap about themselves.
And yeah, what Ben David said. There are SO many people out there who AREN'T connected to the internet. Maybe 96% of people who have internet access ARE connected, but of all young people everywhere? I don't THINK so.
Flynne
at January 17, 2011 7:33 AM
"I don't post that I ate a yogurt last night, or that my sister is doing this or that, etc. If I post stuff here that's personal, there's general some point to it, or it's a story or has a story to it."
Amy, I know more about you than most of my friends know about me. Perhaps a better way to state this is that you don't post the minutiae of your life. The most annoying, and perhaps most scary thing that I see people posting is via geo-tagging. Not only do I not care that you just checked in to Jose's Taco Emporium, but I think it an egregious loss of freedom to broadcast your every move to the world. I keep the GPS turned off on my phone unless I'm getting directions.
BTW, according to the US 2010 International Census over 50% of the worlds population is under that age of 30 (3.6 billion of the 6.9 Billion people on Earth.)
AllenS
at January 17, 2011 7:46 AM
Yes, the 96% of children being online stat looked like BS. Here are the worldwide stats on Internet usage (about 28%.) Certainly more than a fraction, but nowhere near 96% even if you just count kids.
AllenS
at January 17, 2011 7:54 AM
Right, AllenS?? There's so MUCH BS out there. I just finished David Baldacci's "The Whole Truth" which is a great story, and it seems there was some element of truth in it that it looks like there are PM (perception management) firms out there that create facts and put them out to the world as truth. The Department of Defense even defines perception management in one of their manuals, according to Baldacci, who writes "Many of the techniques described in the story are stnadard operating procedures for these folks, even if I give them a diffrent rubric. And by using these methods, a major untruth can be established so quickly and overwhelmingly across the world that no digging by anyone after the fact can make a dent in the public consciousness that it actually isn't true at all.
Abd that's precisely what makes it so dangerous."
So given that, it's probably safe to say that while this particular guy isn't into percetption management, per se, on a world wide scale, his BS in this little "info-mercial" makes me SO not inclined to buy his book. Anyone can make up bullshit and try to shove it down peoples' throats. I'm just not buying.
Flynne
at January 17, 2011 8:52 AM
I never did set up a Facebook page, because I don't like to leave a trail.
I'm an introvert and like to keep to myself a lot, so I am already in touch with the people I want to be in touch with.
I do have a LinkedIn profile though, and it has helped me with work.
My thoughts: yeah, it was annoying as all fuck. It was a 4:26 Powerpoint that could have been a few nicely hyperlinked web pages.
Even as it presents some interesting factoids and trends, it was mainly a push for some douchetard's book, a guy with no more answers than any but hoping to ride the facebook wave.
News will find us? Yeah right.
Mainly a pitch to buy his consulting services.
jerry at January 16, 2011 1:23 AM
Anyone remember MySpace? Their numbers were extremely good for several years as well, now they're an online backwater. Same goes for most of the social bookmarking sites that have emerged, and aggregators, tag services, etc. Facebook will likely be in the same position in a few years.
I think that in the long run, 'social media' will dissolve into various types of socially adapted tools and be integrated into a more general connected infrastructure for messaging, presence, awareness etc.
moe at January 16, 2011 6:28 AM
+1 @jerry
Some clever graphics but not enough to overcome teh annoying.
BlogDog at January 16, 2011 7:40 AM
"Are you ready?"
uhm, no.
But it does look like the death of advertising as we've known it, and with that the death of network television.
vermindust at January 16, 2011 7:57 AM
Maybe it is just my age -- but I was brought up to be a private person. I don't have any desire to spew my info across the internet.
And I learned early on in the internet -- the late '90s -- that putting personal info on a webpage can have adverse effects on your career.
Jim P. at January 16, 2011 8:24 AM
I never say ANYTHING personal on Facebook. I simply use it to link to my blog items and to follow researchers whose work I need to see. Since I got on, some people I know from the past have gotten in touch with me, which is nice, and I used it to locate a girl who lost a bag of clothing that I found in my neighborhood. Also, some friends post good links there. Other than that, I have friends, so I'm not really looking for "friends" or to spill about myself.
Amy Alkon at January 16, 2011 8:29 AM
I don't use facebook or any of the social media applications. If you are my friend, and want to know how I am doing, you'll have to call or meet me for lunch. If that's too much effort for ya, then I don't need you as a friend. I learned early on that most online "friends" aren't.
matt at January 16, 2011 9:21 AM
I think that in the long run, 'social media' will dissolve into various types of socially adapted tools and be integrated into a more general connected infrastructure for messaging, presence, awareness etc.
This is what is happening now, and it is being built upon the Facebook and Twitter ecosystems. The key difference between these services and prior social networks such as MySpace is that they offer APIs that enable other layers of services to be built upon them; this allows others to innovate while simultaneously tying people to Facebook and Twitter.
Facebook literally owns your social graph data; you're welcome to leave their system, but you can't take your Facebook friends' information with you when you go. This fact, combined with immense size and market penetration of the Facebook network makes for a steep uphill climb for competitors, to say the least. While not yet as large as Facebook, Twitter has the same sort of network momentum that will make it hard for others to compete. That said, if people are looking for a new service that might be a competitor to both Twitter and Facebook, I'd encourage you check out Quora, which has a novel and effective take on Q&A.
Christopher at January 16, 2011 1:18 PM
Amy, I am curious how you define "personal." I, like Jim P., consider myself a very private person and am always trying to balance my need for privacy with facebook sharing. Just the other day I posted a list of free classes but only made it available to a few people, because I worried about too many people knowing my whereabouts. I ask, because it seems that just by blogging you share personal details with strangers, but maybe we have different ideas on what is personal?
LL at January 16, 2011 3:02 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/01/16/social_media_re.html#comment-1823616">comment from LLjust by blogging you share personal details with strangers, but maybe we have different ideas on what is personal?
I don't post that I ate a yogurt last night, or that my sister is doing this or that, etc. If I post stuff here that's personal, there's general some point to it, or it's a story or has a story to it. But, there's plenty I don't post. I'm astonished by some of the dull stuff people post on Facebook, and I wonder why they aren't embarrassed.
Amy Alkon at January 16, 2011 8:42 PM
Lotta garbage statistics here:
50 percent of the world's population is under 30?
Gosh, who is supporting all those people - and what about the steady increase of lifespan in industrial countries?
96 percent of young people are online?
Nope - only a fraction of the world's population is connected to the Internet.
Et cetera.
My BS meter went off pretty quickly, and kept beeping.
Ben David at January 17, 2011 1:33 AM
I learned early on that most online "friends" aren't.
I'm NOT a good facebook friend, I'm very rarely even ON facebook. it's too much of a time-sucker, and I don't have a lot of time to waste posting inane crap about myself and reading others' inane crap about themselves.
And yeah, what Ben David said. There are SO many people out there who AREN'T connected to the internet. Maybe 96% of people who have internet access ARE connected, but of all young people everywhere? I don't THINK so.
Flynne at January 17, 2011 7:33 AM
"I don't post that I ate a yogurt last night, or that my sister is doing this or that, etc. If I post stuff here that's personal, there's general some point to it, or it's a story or has a story to it."
Amy, I know more about you than most of my friends know about me. Perhaps a better way to state this is that you don't post the minutiae of your life. The most annoying, and perhaps most scary thing that I see people posting is via geo-tagging. Not only do I not care that you just checked in to Jose's Taco Emporium, but I think it an egregious loss of freedom to broadcast your every move to the world. I keep the GPS turned off on my phone unless I'm getting directions.
BTW, according to the US 2010 International Census over 50% of the worlds population is under that age of 30 (3.6 billion of the 6.9 Billion people on Earth.)
AllenS at January 17, 2011 7:46 AM
Yes, the 96% of children being online stat looked like BS. Here are the worldwide stats on Internet usage (about 28%.) Certainly more than a fraction, but nowhere near 96% even if you just count kids.
AllenS at January 17, 2011 7:54 AM
Right, AllenS?? There's so MUCH BS out there. I just finished David Baldacci's "The Whole Truth" which is a great story, and it seems there was some element of truth in it that it looks like there are PM (perception management) firms out there that create facts and put them out to the world as truth. The Department of Defense even defines perception management in one of their manuals, according to Baldacci, who writes "Many of the techniques described in the story are stnadard operating procedures for these folks, even if I give them a diffrent rubric. And by using these methods, a major untruth can be established so quickly and overwhelmingly across the world that no digging by anyone after the fact can make a dent in the public consciousness that it actually isn't true at all.
Abd that's precisely what makes it so dangerous."
So given that, it's probably safe to say that while this particular guy isn't into percetption management, per se, on a world wide scale, his BS in this little "info-mercial" makes me SO not inclined to buy his book. Anyone can make up bullshit and try to shove it down peoples' throats. I'm just not buying.
Flynne at January 17, 2011 8:52 AM
I never did set up a Facebook page, because I don't like to leave a trail.
I'm an introvert and like to keep to myself a lot, so I am already in touch with the people I want to be in touch with.
I do have a LinkedIn profile though, and it has helped me with work.
Pirate Jo at January 17, 2011 8:56 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/01/16/social_media_re.html#comment-1823814">comment from AllenSPerhaps a better way to state this is that you don't post the minutiae of your life.
Right, AllenS. And I'm always amazed when people post their location -- especially if they're young women or pundits who get hate mail.
Amy Alkon at January 17, 2011 9:02 AM
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