I am using them more over the last six weeks or so since I was at Zap 08 (still waiting for my t-shirt, by the way) but I am still not sure if they are actually useful. I think they may be perfect examples of the difference between usability and useful, a rant I went off on five and a half years ago...making me a venerable blogger if not an aged one.
What I would like are some tips. What do you use these things for? Which are the killer apps? Will there be a time of twitter guilt when we ask ourselves what we might have been doing instead of updating?
Comments
Darcey - November 24, 2008 9:37 am
I have neither but I do have a MySpace account which I use to network with artists for my blues podcast. I look at it about once a week. I did have a Facebook but trashed it after a couple of months. I found that it was consuming too much time.
sean - November 24, 2008 10:04 am
Twitter is interesting but sadly, kind of lame unless I really want to update people 6 times a day as to my "status". And its weird too.. people I know seem to chat with others on it, but I am lacking knowledge of how they do this. Mind you I haven't looked into it as I am sort of disinterested.
Facebook is a curse. I have left and returned three times, mainly due to whiny "friends" from years ago who beg me to do so when I escape. Its good for sharing video links and such but really, its like having 2 minutes on stage at an improve competition...you pop up, try to be witty, sit down and watch others waiting for your score (comments) to roll in.
I am on a self imposed FB hiatus this week so I can catch up on some movies and finish some important things I have been letting slide (That scale balsa Stuka won't build itself you know!!)
Thomas - November 24, 2008 11:33 am
Twitter is good for live event reporting or for getting content of what your friends actual lives are like, who we are between the blog posts. I have friends all over the country and it is interesting to see what these people are doing in their day to day life. That said I am picky in who I chooce to follow. I think this video is a good explaination. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o
As for facebook, a bit of the same but I do get annoyed by certain people who make constant requests, but I have them set to auto ignore their messages unless it's an email like message. One homebrew shop I worked at the staff is on facebook all the time so I actually keep in contact with my coworkers there.
I think ultimately they are a great tool if you are someone with a niche interest in a small town who doesn't have likeminded folk, like say a beer blogger. One benefit I have found being online the last 15 or so years is that I find communities of people with my interest this is more tools to stay in contact so I don't see it as a bad thing.
Hans - November 25, 2008 9:40 am
I too would be interested to hear about any "killer apps" on facebook. I use it for sharing photos and keeping/getting in touch with friends in other places or old friends who I lost touch with years ago. It is useful for socialization but I haven't found useful in the sense of productive but would love to hear otherwise.
sean - November 25, 2008 12:11 pm
No "killer" apps that I find useful. Its a social networking site. Unless you are wanting to meet people, set up events, form an online group etc., its really just like an old fashiond BBS but upgraded to todays dtandards.
Argent - November 25, 2008 9:41 pm
They are useful I suppose but the level of use is so low it's probably more productive to chat to someone lying in a gutter on the streets.
Both involve the awful popularity ego traps. How many have you seen in facebook with X hundred friends most of whom they wouldn't know from a bar of soap. How many times do you check just to see if anyone actually noticed you? There are several popular apps on facebook but none I would call killer.
Twitter is worse. It's a timesink. I reckon if you actually spent all that time telling the world about the doings of your life and reading about everyone else's doings, you wouldn't have a life.
and don't get me started on blogs.
Chris Taylor - November 26, 2008 8:31 am
I had mostly written off Facebook as worse than useless and a huge time sink, but then a high school friend passed away earlier this week, and it was easy as hell to get in touch with everyone I hadn't talked to in a decade or more.
So, I think it does have a purpose, if only to act as an emergency conduit in times where you lack a vox point of contact.
Alan - November 26, 2008 8:54 am
A similar thing happened with my old friends - which is very sad and dumb. Now we use it more for an emergency route but not much more than a means to send silly dumb comments. Better silly and dumb.
sean - November 26, 2008 10:27 am
I have a couple hundred friends on FB and yes, Argent has a point, a lot of them I wouldn't know from a bar of soap if I passed then in the mall, nor would I really have diddly to say to them more than "so how are things, oh wait, I already know, I see the updates"...