Chris Brogan: What Does Facebook Actually DO for Me
david usher
· 1 year ago
hey chris i use my blog as a hub. I want to communicate with my community so i "go where the people are". They have the choice, they can follow me on facebook, myspace, twitter, ilike, youtube or where i aggregate it all on my blog(davidusher.com). i dont try to control where they where they see the content. As an artists i use the social networks because my audience uses them. x david
Steve Brand
· 1 year ago
But how did they get there, why did they come in the first place. That's the harder question, made harder by your comments about how the environment has features that we already had in best of breed category apps already...
Devin Anderson
· 1 year ago
Facebook just organized all that stuff in an easy, simple interface. I think that's what most people want - simplicity with an intuitive interface.
Corey Creed
· 1 year ago
Yea, I'm starting to doubt as well. I'm just not feeling it. I'll stay with Facebook for now. But it's not all that.
Dan Thornton
· 1 year ago
You could break it down to the simplest forms of communication. Your phone has messaging, your address book has your contacts in etc.
It's your last point that makes the difference. Facebook has enough of my contacts on it to make it worth being involved.
kitykity
· 1 year ago
Yes, you have all those things, Chris; but did you notice that they are all in different places, on different sites?
For example (and maybe this is a bad example) if my father knew nothing about the Internet, I could show him Facebook, and he could have all of your mentioned things in one place, without having to learn ten new applications--just one page.
Gregory Ng
· 1 year ago
I am on Facebook for one reason. I want to have a shingle there in case something revolutionary happens. It is the same reason why I am on MySpace. LinkedIn and Twitter is enough for me to stay connected and t pimp out my profile but should something interesting pop up on MySpace or Facebook, I'm there.
Frank Martin
· 1 year ago
I'm finding myself gravitating toward LinkedIn and Twitter MUCH more than Facebook. The incessant apps are driving me crazy for one thing, plus it seems everything there is superficial compared to another site. If I were in college looking to hook up with friends and chicks from other places, it's perfect. For business, it's more of a pain than a pleasure.
It has been pretty cool to chat again with long lost comrades from high school and college, but other than that it has been pretty much useless. I hear that people over the age of 25 are signing up by the millions, and I'm wondering why.
Katja of Skimbaco
· 1 year ago
It's also easy way to make new friends. I have gotten so many new friends, just beause they are friends with my friends.
Keith Casey
· 1 year ago
The biggest benefit of Facebook for me is that it's a self-updating address book. I used to run my own CRM system but it gets so out of date so quickly that I gave up tracking my contacts. Facebook solves that problem for me.
And when I first got on 3+ years ago, it was a great way for me to track down friends still in grad school, whatever.
Krista Neher
· 1 year ago
I think that your last comment is corect - it is where everyone has chosen to gather - geeks and non-geeks.
I would say that 90% of my IRL friends have never been to my blog and don't really get it. They certainly wouldn't comment on it to remind me to be at a party on the weekend, which they do on facebook. I think that facebook is the "non-geek" interface of choice for social connecting.
I think that facebook goes anything else in terms of friending - sure you "know" who your "friends" are, but on facebook I can reconnect with that guy that I dated 10 years ago, or an exchange student I studied with in France. The ability to find people and reconnect - even if only passively by reading their profile - is a huge part of the value.
Paula Hawk
· 1 year ago
I love how you haven't actually criticized, but have left it open for each person to read what they will into it... Personally, I think that those who are not active in as many different social networks (ie the kids and people who do FB just for fun) as many of us who have such a selection as Chris does in his sidebar to the right, will continue with FB, but I do not see it lasting very much longer with those who are interested in all social networking sites.
Jim Storer
· 1 year ago
This is classic first mover advantage (maybe second if include Friendster in the mix). People choose to use Facebook to find other people, so it becomes a place you need to have a shingle. I'm constantly amazed by the people who find me on Facebook (i.e. old high school friends I've lost touch with), but I don't really use it much anymore. Twitter has become the conversation I choose to take part in.
Thanks for reminding me that I need to turn off the email updates everytime someone chooses to throw a cow at me or challenge my knowledge of movie trivia.
@jstorerj
Paula Hawk
· 1 year ago
Dang, look at how those comments filled up after you Twitted :D
Kristen
· 1 year ago
Not that you don't already know this, but Facebook has "Friends for Sale" and that is really quite fun. :)
Susan Beebe
· 1 year ago
Bingo!! you've nailed it Chris!! Thanks... I have been asking myself the same questions... nice job. P.S. Thanks for the previous blog post about configuring the privacy settings on Facebook... I used all of your suggestions! thanks!!
@smbeebe Susan
Paula Hawk
· 1 year ago
@Jim Storer - we can turn that off?? YAY!! :) YOU have just made my Friday - no, you have just made my 2008!!
Sherri
· 1 year ago
Wow, Devin. Facebook: easy, simple, intuitive? Are we using the same site?
The site is handy for organizing parties, but mostly it seems to be a hub for my "friends" to spam me with invites to "fun" quizzes.
marhal sandler
· 1 year ago
Dear chris, I always felt Facebook is an experiment ! I give credit where credit is due but the site is hard to navigate and , after setting up a few items don't use it much ! But I am 72 years old and not in university ! Recently Guy Kawasaki set up Alltop ! They just published their badges ! Your Blog as does Allstop has the sense of order and is easy to Navigate ! I give the the founder of Facebook Credit but the site is a Ship Without A Rudder ! As you know I am a Man of Good Taste and feel you and Guy Kawasaki, shall lead us onward and Upward ! As they Say in Spanis Puede Ser !
drew olanoff
· 1 year ago
Facebook has proved itself absolutely useless to me.
The only thing ever even halfway interesting to happen on there for me is when I announced my engagement. And at that, my friends already knew.
The news feed is a mess, the applications are spammy, don't get me started on Slide's FunWall....
I was never on the FB bandwagon and I'm definitely not now. I'm on there to have a place for people to find me. Like people I used to work with or went to school with. Other than that? Oy. Nada. Zip. Zero.
P.G. Holyfield
· 1 year ago
While I don't visit Facebook daily, it has allowed me to reconnect with several high shcool and college classmates. Other than that, it is bulky and slow (and getting bulkier all the time with all the zombie/vampire/I bought you/slayer requests you get)
Michael Pilla
· 1 year ago
I still use FB far more than LinkedIn, but I'm finding that I check it less often now than Twitter for immediate updates and news.
This is true even though I follow and am followed by significantly fewer people than I have friends on FB. FB is still my main social/biz connection site, but they're losing the news/convo edge to Twitter. Wall posts and messages are just not immediate enough these days.
Btw, Chris, I came to this post via your tweet a few minutes ago.
randulo
· 1 year ago
To be brief, critical mass.
Geoff Livingston
· 1 year ago
Facebook has bodies, and that's it. Great comments!
mlong
· 1 year ago
I think fb has MORE use for a novice web user for connections. The advanced web user has connections thru a variety of tools. LinkedIn,Flickr,Twitter etc so the fb value is diluted.
So, a web power user will not find it as engaging or valuable.
chrisbrogan
· 1 year ago
So for those of you like Keith Casey who said it's a great contact book, I have the opposite experience. I can send in-garden messaging, but if I'm on my cell, I can't ring someone up. I can't forward a message. I can't group message easily. I can't make reusable group messaging unless I convince someone to join a FB group.
So far, the aggregate opinion is that FB is good for putting a bunch of features into one place, and that it's easier than the "real" web. Yes?
AOL...
Melanie Notkin
· 1 year ago
You can't throw sheep in Twitter, Chris.
Jason Peck
· 1 year ago
I've been a FB user since 2004, but have definitely cut back my use since graduating college. Lately I've started using Twitter more (no relation to me using FB less). I use blogs/Twitter to communicate the professional side of me and meet/interact with people who share my work interests. I still use Facebook to keep in touch with old friends--especially those who aren't as involved in social networking/blogging and technology. I'm happy with how I use these services for now, so I'll probably stick with this routine, unless something big happens.
Greg Hollingsworth
· 1 year ago
I initially signed up for facebook to get group messages from a friend of mine. And while I will say that the constant app. messages (lil' green patches, pokes, superpokes, etc...) can be annoying, they're no more annoying than junk email.
I don't use it too often, but it's a decent way to keep track of what people you know are up to. Think of it as a daily class reunion, where your class is made up of everyone you know and not just someone you went to school with.
I use twitter hourly, linkedin daily, and facebook whenever I get an email from them. It's all about finding the role that Facebook will play in your routine. To me it's not high priority, but still worth having.
Bill Tozier
· 1 year ago
I ripped all the wires out at Facebook more than two months ago, and haven't looked back once. Not only "suspended" my account, but actively deleted it, leaving an empty shell.
As far as I can tell, Facebook is for people who don't have anything else. Who don't want to commit to learning the social norms of Twitter, who don't want to bother getting a free blog, who don't bother reading their email. AOL users, in a real sense. I can see the pitch now: "We'll capture all the people who left AOL. Just imagine if we get 10% of their market share, plus all these early adopter college kids!"
The mainstream, in other words. It's a mainstream play. Which is good. A good way to make some money for a while.
As a writer, business person, geek, and whatever else I could be called, my audience and my social network don't actually include the mainstream. Really. No, I take that back: some of my extended family are in a classic mainstream demographic. About five.
Them, I call every few weeks.
David Evans
· 1 year ago
Facebook is for people like us leaving comments about Facebook when we could be getting work done ;-)
Facebook is the interface between my Internet peeps and my regular RL friends (most who aren't on FB yet.)
There are few apps of any consequence on FB, still early days. the next big social net is where apps are going to come into their own. We're in the viral marketing sandbox now.
I agree with the hub concept people have mentioned, although with Web 3.0 right around the corner, the idea of my info spread all over the place seems daunting from a discovery and management perspective. Portals are not necessarily bad, they just need to be redefined.
Keith Casey
· 1 year ago
@Chris - I don't use the on-site messaging all that much, I hit people's profiles to get their latest email, im, or phone number and then contact them directly. ;)
The messaging through FB is weak at best.
Sam J.
· 1 year ago
Facebook was one of the first social networking apps that really took off. The problem is that it became ridiculously commercial...Back in the day, it was called "The Facebook," there were "parties" not "events," there was no API (and thus no zombie sheep battles), and no mini-feed. It was FAR more useful. I've gravitated toward Twitter, LinkedIn, Pownce, etc. because they're not cluttered with ads and junk, but I know I'll keep my Facebook profile forever.
jimmy allen
· 1 year ago
Facebook is like the new and cool band that got too big too fast and now everyone is hating on. If you hate something, don't use it. To me, it just sounds like you are jealous that there are more people there than on your site.
Don Lafferty
· 1 year ago
Facebook is a networking tool, plain and simple.
People will employ the FB tool with the same level of skill they do every other networking tool in their arsenal.
Facebook is a place to learn about your existing contacts and a place to find and cross search for new contacts.
I am commenting on Brogan’s blog as a direct result of FB. Our connection has classic social media underpinnings, that is, it’s complicated, but I can tell you, FB is where it started, and he’s not the only person or activity I can attribute to my FB outpost.
Sometimes we have to remember that good old fashioned shoe leather is part of the investment we make when it comes to the benefits we hope to derive from ALL of our various networking activities.
Every digital outpost we occupy has some value and it’s not always going to be served up to us on a silver platter. Sometimes you have to invest time in doing your homework as you prepare to launch a well aimed harpoon at your next conquest.
Facebook provides a diligent community member with excellent fodder for this activity, you just can’t run away from the work involved.
cherylsmith
· 1 year ago
I agree with you wholeheartedly on this one Chris. I'm still constantly learning about social networking and have by pretty much limited the amount of time I'm spending on facebook these days because so many other applications seem to be more useful. There is, after all, only so many hours in a day.
Laura "Pistachio" Fitton
· 1 year ago
Agreed, and I HATE the Facebook user interface. I do not find it intuitive at all, and frequently have trouble finding things that I know are there, like events, etc.
The only real use I have for Facebook these days is before and after events, to peek at who is going and to more easily preserve a connection afterwards. They have yet to come up with a compelling way for me to interact with my Facebook connections, ergo, I do not. (Except to disconnect from people who send me too many dumb app. invites.)
Daily, I get Facebook invites from some of my closest online/offline friends. That we are not *already* connected there speaks volumes about its (lack of) utility to me.
Eban Crawford
· 1 year ago
I have asked myself questions along those lines many times recently, about not just Facebook, but other social sites as well.
I have been in the middle of an experiment of sorts lately. I have cut back a lot on my socnet usage. I have noticed no drop in either my numbers for my shows (which are actually growing) or my interactions with others.
I also have noticed that the people I know on Twitter are also the people I know on Facebook are also the people I know on Utterz are also the people I know on Linkedin, and on and on. I will keep my presence on these services, I just use them less.
Here is a crazy point I have noticed. A site that I had pretty much given up on, and most people use these days in joking reference, brings me the most action. That site is Myspace. The people on my friend list there are not generally the people that I know on all of the other socnets. They are not in the "fishbowl" so to speak.
I tried another experiment recently where I promote my shows on Twitter, Facebook, Stumble Upon, and Plaxo on the release date. I do not get much more action than normal. A couple of days after the release, I market the shows on Myspace, and I get a sizable jump.
All this makes me wonder if I , or in some cases we, don't spend too much time preaching to the choir? The fishbowl. I wonder if we are reaching the future users, or just the same old users, creators, and early adopters instead of grabbing bona fide converts.
The way I am using socnets is definitely changing. I just do not know exactly how at the moment. It is gradual, but in the end, there are so many, I will have to start prioritizing. Facebook is already becoming lower on that priority list.
Drew Beatty
· 1 year ago
Facebook is a playground. Twitter is a conversation. That is how it break down for me. I don't really do any serious communicating on Facebook, but it can be a fun place sometimes (once you have cleared out all the app requests).
bhc3
· 1 year ago
Robert Scoble, the 5,000 friend whale, tweeted a couple days ago that he'd grown tired of Facebook. "Haven't been into FB for months".
I think that tweet, and your post here highlight something that's been rattling around in mind brain. You need to pick the right social network for what you want to accomplish. For a lot people, Facebook serves that purpose quite well. Others get what they want from MySpace, or LinkedIn. I'd say it's less about what's better or worse absolutely, but more about what's better or worse for YOU.
For Scoble, I'd argue his use case is really much more FriendFeed oriented. I explain why here: http://tinyurl.com/4uwfzt
David Beaudouin
· 1 year ago
Chris: Guess it's why hipsters will pile into a skanky basement with one light bulb to drink overpriced warm beer--simply because they were told it was a cool club. Americans' craving for authenticity frequently gets confused with being first yet still belonging. Then you end up with lots of people elbowing you on the mountaintop.
Personally, I look at Facebook as a necessary not-so-evil-as-annoying, though I do study it due to Jeff Pulver's appreciation of it. And I'm starting to think of it as (potentially) a better business platform than personal one--if only it would merge with LinkedIn.
Thnaks for convening such a great set of comments above!
Sean Ransom
· 1 year ago
For me FB is where my real friends are. My philosophy with friends on FB is this is where I keep my true personal contact list. I will not friend people there unless they pass the 'would I get a beer with them' test.
With twitter and linked in it is a free for all which is what they are good for, making new connections that could turn into friends someday. FB is not where I go to meet new people.
I also like the slower pace of the FB updates and thought that usually is put into them.
So I guess that is it...it is where my personal friends tend to congregate. Most of my friends come from outside the tech world and social networking is not yet a big thing for them and FB provides much of what non social media power users need.
I think the AOL analogy is a little heavy handed though as it implies a lack of technical acumen which is not the case, social media is just not a huge deal yet for a majority of folks. One stop shopping is important to the masses and while FB/myspace may not end up dominating the space some type of portal will. I just do not feel the proliferation of social media sites is sustainable long term. Being so spread out makes social media work and it should be fun and easy.
Annie Boccio
· 1 year ago
The only thing I used Facebook for anymore is Events. But for most of the people I know in my offline world- Facebook remains the most likely entry point if/when they want to try online social networking. I'll always keep a presence there so I can connect with them- until a better, just as popular tool for the masses comes along.
Don Lafferty
· 1 year ago
@ eban crawford ~ I second the notion that MySpace is being overlooked by the folks in the fishbowl.
I still get more bang pushing promotion out through MySpace AND Yahoo Groups.
Jamie
· 1 year ago
Facebook has a myriad of interactive applications for people to construct their social self with narcissistic indulgence (of which I gladly participate). Twitter is like eating a meal quickly and focusing on the conversation, while Facebook is a feast at a party with conversational possibilities.
tyson crosbie
· 1 year ago
Facebook is as silly as Myspace and is only a transition to a time when everyone has a personal url space that fulfills all the functions of a myspace or facebook. We needed myspace and facebook to find everyone we lost touch with in the real world, the generation growing up will not have this problem. The tools that will succeed in the future will not hold mass content but connect you to individual sources of content. That is why twitter is so successful.
Richard
· 1 year ago
Are you comfortable with the possibility there is a shadowy neocon looking over your shoulder trying to figure out how to monetize you?
Although I'm using facebook, I find it crowded and noisy with all the different apps.
It's not simple like twitter.
-Christina "The Shopping Cart Queen"
Deborah
· 1 year ago
Start a "degrees of annoyance" scale for Facebook? http://twitpic.com/6mv <- See it here: Annoying Menopause ad on "my" facebook page with GString lady. I give it a 92 on a 100 point scale. Nice way to scrape my "age" data facebook. Lovely. Just like the GString blonde.
Jared Goralnick
· 1 year ago
Facebook isn't your DESTINATION, but it's both a destination for most people and a PLATFORM for people like you.
The reason Facebook works is... * it is an easy online presence (a lot easier than blogging or creating a website, and a more rounded picture than Twitter) * it has a large userbase with a built-in RSS feed, two things that are either hard to build or hard to convince your friends to start using (RSS) * it offers various forms of media distribution, something that's somewhat tough to get out for newbies * tagging is a great way to involve people, and FB's got that nailed * it's a good way to rekindle friendships in that it's much easier than reaching out * while applications can be annoying, they also lure more people to the site and they're much easier than widgets config on a custom tool like WP (which I love, but it's not AS easy as FB)
In short, it doesn't do any one thing better than all the media platforms...but it combines them and spoon feeds them to the masses. There's value in that.
If you're a social media person though, you may just choose to let it publish your Flickr, Twitter, Upcoming, and Wordpress...no harm there.
Deborah
· 1 year ago
Oh by the way, forgot to mention that my own facebook rant started after a friend's daughter friended me today. I use Facebook only when needed, or when my boomer friends gather around me on a ski trip asking me to find their kids for them. LinkedIn is my utility/career blogger. Twitter is for fun, release, connector conversation, and some research. Flickr is for visual feasting and cataloging, and polite chatter. YouTube is for the spirit, challenge & fun of the vid world, and enjoying the trolls,haters with the friends.
And Facebook -- for moi, only because other apps required it.
Wendi Kelly
· 1 year ago
Chris, I have two people on my facebook as friends. My daughter and a cousin. I can't even remember why I signed up for it in the first place, probably to see something my daughter did or said. I have e-mail, everyone has my e-mail address who needs it, I am on several message boards, blogs..now twitter..who can keep up! But hey..My MySpace has no friends so...I guess it's better than nothing!
Wendi Kelly
Sonia Simone
· 1 year ago
I think if you have a blog, esp. one like yours with a vibrant community around it, FB feels shallow and cumbersome and unacceptably non-portable. Those who don't have a similar outlet may be putting more energy into FB and getting more out of it. I never really saw FB as a great place to put my energy, so it's very peripheral for me.
Like some others here, I'm there sort of as a yellow pages ad. It's a way to find me, not a way to interact with me.
nicolas
· 1 year ago
A : linkedIn+MySpace+Upcomming+Flickr+MyBlog+email+twitter B : level of spam = average(#aplications/friend)
FB only = A if B < your personal #of aplications
Tammy
· 1 year ago
Hi,
Great stuff...
Have you promoted this blog on Fast Pitch!(www.fastpitchnetworking.com)? It's an online business network that has as one of it's features a way to promote your blog to their audience of small business owners. FP was actually just named Website of The Week by MSNBC's 'Your Business' show for small business owners.
At this point, I have a number of accounts I check weekly-ish because of your last reason... there are some folks who will only play on myspace, livejournal, facebook... and so I check-in every now and then.
But slowly but surely, I'm dragging a few of them to Twitter. :)
Danielle Katz
· 1 year ago
Very interesting, Chris.
For me as a college student, FB is a staple of my online life. This is because most of my friends/peers are on it and use it everyday for updating 'friends' on their lives. The truth is, shocking as it maybe be, my peers arent reading blogs. Most of them have never even heard of Twitter. We have grown up with facebook and use it to share EVERYTHING including pictures etc. It's easier to message friends on FB and to create a messaging thread that you can attach videos, pictures and links to.
David Giesberg
· 1 year ago
I agree with everyone else who says that they are there because that's where everyone else is - for me, I think it is my hub for interacting with most of my IRL friends - everything is aggregated in one place. As for all of the clutter, I don't have a cluttered profile - I like to think that the stuff I do have on there adds some sort of value to the conversation.
Ainsworth
· 1 year ago
But Chris... what about Vampire Bites and Happy Hour... does your blog have that too?
chrisbrogan
· 1 year ago
Wow. Spammy, Tammy?
Maybe you can explain how it compares here.
Jeff Monaghan
· 1 year ago
One thing that I find interesting is that my Gmail is a tweak or two away from having all the features of Facebook. All my contacts are there. I can see when they are online. I can IM them. I can share photos from Picasa.
As I think a few here have mentioned, Facebook just seems to be the place people are gathering. Nothing special beyond that.
Judy-on-the-go-Reid
· 1 year ago
Hey Chris,
I'm not sure what Facebook does for YOU - you're so connected I really don't know what the benefit would be. But whoever said that Facebook is for the non-geeks got it right for ME.
Facebook helps me to keep in touch with my aunts and cousins in Newfoundland, let's me know what's goin' on with my softball team in Ottawa (go WOODCHUCKERS!), keeps track of my former co-workers in Bosnia, and slaps me upside the head with your wife's April Fool's joke. A few of those people are "connected" but most of them are not. And with a single sentence I can let all my FB friends (family, friends, former co-workers, ex-boyfriends, people I meet dune-bashing or on airplanes, etc.) know that I am still safe (and happy) in Afghanistan.
I should add that I'm lazy about keeping in touch and doing it through FB is easier than e-mailing.
Facebook is also useful for those with limited access to the internet/computer. If the public library is the only place you can use the internet, chances are you won't have enough time to work on a blog or follow others'. This wouldn't apply to most people in your on-line community, but there's still a chunk of the population that fits that demographic.
Facebook is where the masses are.
For now.
If you want 'em.
Tizzy
· 1 year ago
Not true. Facebook focuses on the applications, it has gazillion of them. Most of them are about giving gifts and play games.
pico
· 1 year ago
the fact that social networking users in my country switching from friendster to facebook and they seems to love this new utility. Somehow my RL friends don't use twitter and I won't preaching about plaxo and linkedin either.
I check out my facebook for: local events marketplace Friend's statuses and walls connect to new people (who don't use friendster or yahoogroups) from a group play games: warbook (I am addicted to it) waiting for someone to code better contact management facebook application or finally I will do it myself to perform personal CRM and lastly - I try to analyze all on it
agree that is just comprehended as mainstream. Perhaps most who comment here do not use friendster anymore but I learned that million of new internet users in my country put these on their priorities: yahoo account for mail and messenger, then to register on friendster..
On perspectives, there is always huge gap between geeks and newbies. :)
lisa
· 1 year ago
facebook reminds me about birthdays! i catch up with some old friends; for an active social environment twitter is much better, faster, more current. i still visit FB every day but i pay attention to twitter.
Tinu
· 1 year ago
Amplified, Viral spreading of my message, effortlessly, to people who might not sign up for my email list. And then gives them an easy way to keep spreading my message, without spamming anyone. That's the number one thing for me. 700 connections can turn into 7000 people getting a message from me in a personal, non-intrusive way, whether that's a blog post, a link or a concept.
Number two is that 90% of my new business has come from using FBs help to get to know people better, in a less threatening/overbearing/all-business way, in shorter amounts of time, often resulting in a deeper connection. For some reason FB intros lead to aquaintances, which lead to phone calls, which lead to clients and referrals. I think it's the way you can find out more about what other people are like, if they want you to, and they can find out more about you, without being intrusive. When someone lists everything they like, it's easier to find common ground and make connections. Facebook's not the only tool out there that helps with this, it's just the one I like the best.
Other random stuff -- interconnectedness of the part of my network that choose to be on it (no more facilitating connections, go meet them yourself, lol), many things I need in one place, links me to non-geeks, inroads to bigger markets that are self sorted, harder to spam me in the walled garden, apps let me use many of the other sites through facebook. FB isn't the second coming, At All. many of the tools (like birthday reminders) facilitate better ways to casually get to know people online one on one in a simplified way.
Hate a lot of stuff about FB, wish I could block all app requests. But it can be quite useful, help reinvigorate friendships, help generate business IF time is taken to really get in there and learn more about how to use it as a kind of OS of the social world. Not the best thing since sliced bread, but I'll hang on to anything that helps me to help more people and puts more money in my pocket besides. :)
k1v1n
· 1 year ago
You're right.
That it does all these things in one place means that people don't have to leave. Facebook reduces the friction to making all these things work.
And it does work. Why fight it?
Amy
· 1 year ago
I like Facebook - it has proven to be the most effective and effortless way I've had of reconnecting with lost people since I first got online (1993 or so). And I even like some of the applications. (Word games I tell you Word games)
That said, Twitter reminds me of what the internet was like before all the real humans showed up and overpopulated it. Facebook is the after picture. As much as I used to like to complain about the influx of 'non geeks' (as they were then called) I don't think we'd be anywhere without them and the services that cater to them.
Sharon Jaffe
· 1 year ago
Great post - you really convey the message simply and effectively. I am relieved there are other's out there doubting FB as I expressed on March 24th (http://tinyurl.com/5ohkwu).
FB did kick-off the "What are you doing now?" micro-blogging broadcasting trend which I feel Twitter now does more effectively. Thanks for guiding me in Twitterland - the more I use it the more profound its value becomes.
When Twitter reaches the masses (like FB) I wonder if it will also get diluted with overkill/spam much like the FB (Super)Wall is now.
cindy*staged4more
· 1 year ago
haha touche touche! I actually signed up for facebook when they first came out because of a friend's invite and never used it since until these couple months where I really got addicted to it. Mainly because it's easy and fast to reconnect and build networks, even for work. I have even established a page for my business (it's an experiment of its own: http://tinyurl.com/5hx6hj i am still playing with it. I am interested to see how viral it can be for small businesses.) The other great thing is now I can block all these spammy apps once and for all, and adding more business-oriented apps to network with people in my industry. I still maintain a personal profile, which I keep the personality up there but not getting too deep. I am selective of what I add onto my personal page. I basically don't add apps that I find unproductive, like "how vampire are you" or "top friends," or "super wall." I like keeping a personal profile, while the super professional stuff I leave it up to my business page.
Great blog, LOVE all these conversations.
Cheers, Cindy
Kham Tran
· 1 year ago
Facebook allows you to search and connect with old friends you may have lost touch with in the past. That's what I like about it most.
LGR
· 1 year ago
I did not see this in the comments about. Good post but I think there is one point you missed about "What Does Facebook Actually DO for Me?"
Waste your time!
Rebellious Arab Girl
· 1 year ago
I really hate Facebook! It's lame and same as every other social networking site. Bleah!
Tim Jahn
· 1 year ago
I've always thought it would be interesting and insightful to do some sort of study among regular Facebook users as to what about the site appeals to them and keeps them coming back on a very frequent basis.
Wal
· 1 year ago
What about facebook sucks? and so all the other social networks, I already have zillions of ways to contact my friends (email, phone numbers .. etc), and for those who I don't have their contact details anymore, I really don't care to contact them (not really close friends, otherwise I wouldn't have lost their contact details in the first place). I thought the point in social networking is to make new friends, I wonder if anybody here has made any friends from a social network ..
just my two cents ..
Lisar
· 10 months ago
I don't use FB. I have an acct with one friend. I joined a few groups for knowledge centered around my job, but I get better info from LinkedIn.
I think the only reason it would benefit a company to have a FB is simply to be where their consumers are. (if they're not there, then what's the point?) or to give the impression that you are accessible to your consumers in ways that are convenient for them. That said, I wouldn't expect much ROI or activity from FB.
I find Twitter more valuable because it's real time information/activity. It can be a source for taking the consumers temp - if you want to find out what consumers are twitting about you, just do a search. It can be a real time news source - during the Mumbai attacks Twitter provided live up to the minute updates from users actually tweeting from Mumbai. It can also be a means of communication, like instant messenger, when you need to send mass communications; unlike sending a text from your blackberry to your contact list, you can include everyone.
Paid Survey Sites
· 4 months ago
I see facebook as a great promotion tool if used in the right way. You can do something like start a fan page or group dedicated to making money online and promote your blog through that. You can easily share with others what you are so interested in.
All Comments
i use my blog as a hub. I want to communicate with my community so i "go where the people are". They have the choice, they can follow me on facebook, myspace, twitter, ilike, youtube or where i aggregate it all on my blog(davidusher.com). i dont try to control where they where they see the content. As an artists i use the social networks because my audience uses them.
x
david
It's your last point that makes the difference. Facebook has enough of my contacts on it to make it worth being involved.
For example (and maybe this is a bad example) if my father knew nothing about the Internet, I could show him Facebook, and he could have all of your mentioned things in one place, without having to learn ten new applications--just one page.
It has been pretty cool to chat again with long lost comrades from high school and college, but other than that it has been pretty much useless. I hear that people over the age of 25 are signing up by the millions, and I'm wondering why.
And when I first got on 3+ years ago, it was a great way for me to track down friends still in grad school, whatever.
I would say that 90% of my IRL friends have never been to my blog and don't really get it. They certainly wouldn't comment on it to remind me to be at a party on the weekend, which they do on facebook. I think that facebook is the "non-geek" interface of choice for social connecting.
I think that facebook goes anything else in terms of friending - sure you "know" who your "friends" are, but on facebook I can reconnect with that guy that I dated 10 years ago, or an exchange student I studied with in France. The ability to find people and reconnect - even if only passively by reading their profile - is a huge part of the value.
Thanks for reminding me that I need to turn off the email updates everytime someone chooses to throw a cow at me or challenge my knowledge of movie trivia.
@jstorerj
@smbeebe
Susan
The site is handy for organizing parties, but mostly it seems to be a hub for my "friends" to spam me with invites to "fun" quizzes.
as does Allstop has the sense of order and is easy to Navigate ! I give the the founder of Facebook Credit but the site is a Ship Without A Rudder ! As you know I am a Man of Good Taste and feel you and Guy Kawasaki, shall lead us onward and Upward ! As they Say in Spanis Puede Ser !
The only thing ever even halfway interesting to happen on there for me is when I announced my engagement. And at that, my friends already knew.
The news feed is a mess, the applications are spammy, don't get me started on Slide's FunWall....
I was never on the FB bandwagon and I'm definitely not now. I'm on there to have a place for people to find me. Like people I used to work with or went to school with. Other than that? Oy. Nada. Zip. Zero.
This is true even though I follow and am followed by significantly fewer people than I have friends on FB. FB is still my main social/biz connection site, but they're losing the news/convo edge to Twitter. Wall posts and messages are just not immediate enough these days.
Btw, Chris, I came to this post via your tweet a few minutes ago.
The advanced web user has connections thru a variety of tools. LinkedIn,Flickr,Twitter etc so the fb value is diluted.
So, a web power user will not find it as engaging or valuable.
So far, the aggregate opinion is that FB is good for putting a bunch of features into one place, and that it's easier than the "real" web. Yes?
AOL...
I don't use it too often, but it's a decent way to keep track of what people you know are up to. Think of it as a daily class reunion, where your class is made up of everyone you know and not just someone you went to school with.
I use twitter hourly, linkedin daily, and facebook whenever I get an email from them. It's all about finding the role that Facebook will play in your routine. To me it's not high priority, but still worth having.
As far as I can tell, Facebook is for people who don't have anything else. Who don't want to commit to learning the social norms of Twitter, who don't want to bother getting a free blog, who don't bother reading their email. AOL users, in a real sense. I can see the pitch now: "We'll capture all the people who left AOL. Just imagine if we get 10% of their market share, plus all these early adopter college kids!"
The mainstream, in other words. It's a mainstream play. Which is good. A good way to make some money for a while.
As a writer, business person, geek, and whatever else I could be called, my audience and my social network don't actually include the mainstream. Really. No, I take that back: some of my extended family are in a classic mainstream demographic. About five.
Them, I call every few weeks.
Facebook is the interface between my Internet peeps and my regular RL friends (most who aren't on FB yet.)
There are few apps of any consequence on FB, still early days. the next big social net is where apps are going to come into their own. We're in the viral marketing sandbox now.
I agree with the hub concept people have mentioned, although with Web 3.0 right around the corner, the idea of my info spread all over the place seems daunting from a discovery and management perspective. Portals are not necessarily bad, they just need to be redefined.
The messaging through FB is weak at best.
People will employ the FB tool with the same level of skill they do every other networking tool in their arsenal.
Facebook is a place to learn about your existing contacts and a place to find and cross search for new contacts.
I am commenting on Brogan’s blog as a direct result of FB. Our connection has classic social media underpinnings, that is, it’s complicated, but I can tell you, FB is where it started, and he’s not the only person or activity I can attribute to my FB outpost.
Sometimes we have to remember that good old fashioned shoe leather is part of the investment we make when it comes to the benefits we hope to derive from ALL of our various networking activities.
Every digital outpost we occupy has some value and it’s not always going to be served up to us on a silver platter. Sometimes you have to invest time in doing your homework as you prepare to launch a well aimed harpoon at your next conquest.
Facebook provides a diligent community member with excellent fodder for this activity, you just can’t run away from the work involved.
The only real use I have for Facebook these days is before and after events, to peek at who is going and to more easily preserve a connection afterwards. They have yet to come up with a compelling way for me to interact with my Facebook connections, ergo, I do not. (Except to disconnect from people who send me too many dumb app. invites.)
Daily, I get Facebook invites from some of my closest online/offline friends. That we are not *already* connected there speaks volumes about its (lack of) utility to me.
I have been in the middle of an experiment of sorts lately. I have cut back a lot on my socnet usage. I have noticed no drop in either my numbers for my shows (which are actually growing) or my interactions with others.
I also have noticed that the people I know on Twitter are also the people I know on Facebook are also the people I know on Utterz are also the people I know on Linkedin, and on and on. I will keep my presence on these services, I just use them less.
Here is a crazy point I have noticed. A site that I had pretty much given up on, and most people use these days in joking reference, brings me the most action. That site is Myspace. The people on my friend list there are not generally the people that I know on all of the other socnets. They are not in the "fishbowl" so to speak.
I tried another experiment recently where I promote my shows on Twitter, Facebook, Stumble Upon, and Plaxo on the release date. I do not get much more action than normal. A couple of days after the release, I market the shows on Myspace, and I get a sizable jump.
All this makes me wonder if I , or in some cases we, don't spend too much time preaching to the choir? The fishbowl. I wonder if we are reaching the future users, or just the same old users, creators, and early adopters instead of grabbing bona fide converts.
The way I am using socnets is definitely changing. I just do not know exactly how at the moment. It is gradual, but in the end, there are so many, I will have to start prioritizing. Facebook is already becoming lower on that priority list.
I think that tweet, and your post here highlight something that's been rattling around in mind brain. You need to pick the right social network for what you want to accomplish. For a lot people, Facebook serves that purpose quite well. Others get what they want from MySpace, or LinkedIn. I'd say it's less about what's better or worse absolutely, but more about what's better or worse for YOU.
For Scoble, I'd argue his use case is really much more FriendFeed oriented. I explain why here: http://tinyurl.com/4uwfzt
Personally, I look at Facebook as a necessary not-so-evil-as-annoying, though I do study it due to Jeff Pulver's appreciation of it. And I'm starting to think of it as (potentially) a better business platform than personal one--if only it would merge with LinkedIn.
Thnaks for convening such a great set of comments above!
With twitter and linked in it is a free for all which is what they are good for, making new connections that could turn into friends someday. FB is not where I go to meet new people.
I also like the slower pace of the FB updates and thought that usually is put into them.
So I guess that is it...it is where my personal friends tend to congregate. Most of my friends come from outside the tech world and social networking is not yet a big thing for them and FB provides much of what non social media power users need.
I think the AOL analogy is a little heavy handed though as it implies a lack of technical acumen which is not the case, social media is just not a huge deal yet for a majority of folks. One stop shopping is important to the masses and while FB/myspace may not end up dominating the space some type of portal will. I just do not feel the proliferation of social media sites is sustainable long term. Being so spread out makes social media work and it should be fun and easy.
But for most of the people I know in my offline world- Facebook remains the most likely entry point if/when they want to try online social networking. I'll always keep a presence there so I can connect with them- until a better, just as popular tool for the masses comes along.
I still get more bang pushing promotion out through MySpace AND Yahoo Groups.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jan/1...
-Jeff
http://edmodo.com
Although I'm using facebook, I find it crowded and noisy with all the different apps.
It's not simple like twitter.
-Christina
"The Shopping Cart Queen"
http://twitpic.com/6mv <- See it here: Annoying Menopause ad on "my" facebook page with GString lady.
I give it a 92 on a 100 point scale. Nice way to scrape my "age" data facebook. Lovely. Just like the GString blonde.
The reason Facebook works is...
* it is an easy online presence (a lot easier than blogging or creating a website, and a more rounded picture than Twitter)
* it has a large userbase with a built-in RSS feed, two things that are either hard to build or hard to convince your friends to start using (RSS)
* it offers various forms of media distribution, something that's somewhat tough to get out for newbies
* tagging is a great way to involve people, and FB's got that nailed
* it's a good way to rekindle friendships in that it's much easier than reaching out
* while applications can be annoying, they also lure more people to the site and they're much easier than widgets config on a custom tool like WP (which I love, but it's not AS easy as FB)
In short, it doesn't do any one thing better than all the media platforms...but it combines them and spoon feeds them to the masses. There's value in that.
If you're a social media person though, you may just choose to let it publish your Flickr, Twitter, Upcoming, and Wordpress...no harm there.
And Facebook -- for moi, only because other apps required it.
Wendi Kelly
Like some others here, I'm there sort of as a yellow pages ad. It's a way to find me, not a way to interact with me.
B : level of spam = average(#aplications/friend)
FB only = A if B < your personal #of aplications
Great stuff...
Have you promoted this blog on Fast Pitch!(www.fastpitchnetworking.com)? It's an online business network that has as one of it's features a way to promote your blog to their audience of small business owners.
FP was actually just named Website of The Week by MSNBC's 'Your Business' show for small business owners.
If you're already on another network (LinkedIn, etc.) - no problem. Fast Pitch! takes a completely different approach. Compare Networks: http://www.fastpitchnetworking.com/comapre.cfm
Keep up the good work!
Tammy
At this point, I have a number of accounts I check weekly-ish because of your last reason... there are some folks who will only play on myspace, livejournal, facebook... and so I check-in every now and then.
But slowly but surely, I'm dragging a few of them to Twitter. :)
For me as a college student, FB is a staple of my online life. This is because most of my friends/peers are on it and use it everyday for updating 'friends' on their lives. The truth is, shocking as it maybe be, my peers arent reading blogs. Most of them have never even heard of Twitter. We have grown up with facebook and use it to share EVERYTHING including pictures etc. It's easier to message friends on FB and to create a messaging thread that you can attach videos, pictures and links to.
Maybe you can explain how it compares here.
As I think a few here have mentioned, Facebook just seems to be the place people are gathering. Nothing special beyond that.
I'm not sure what Facebook does for YOU - you're so connected I really don't know what the benefit would be. But whoever said that Facebook is for the non-geeks got it right for ME.
Facebook helps me to keep in touch with my aunts and cousins in Newfoundland, let's me know what's goin' on with my softball team in Ottawa (go WOODCHUCKERS!), keeps track of my former co-workers in Bosnia, and slaps me upside the head with your wife's April Fool's joke. A few of those people are "connected" but most of them are not. And with a single sentence I can let all my FB friends (family, friends, former co-workers, ex-boyfriends, people I meet dune-bashing or on airplanes, etc.) know that I am still safe (and happy) in Afghanistan.
I should add that I'm lazy about keeping in touch and doing it through FB is easier than e-mailing.
Facebook is also useful for those with limited access to the internet/computer. If the public library is the only place you can use the internet, chances are you won't have enough time to work on a blog or follow others'. This wouldn't apply to most people in your on-line community, but there's still a chunk of the population that fits that demographic.
Facebook is where the masses are.
For now.
If you want 'em.
Facebook focuses on the applications, it has gazillion of them. Most of them are about giving gifts and play games.
I check out my facebook for:
local events
marketplace
Friend's statuses and walls
connect to new people (who don't use friendster or yahoogroups) from a group
play games: warbook (I am addicted to it)
waiting for someone to code better contact management facebook application or finally I will do it myself to perform personal CRM
and lastly - I try to analyze all on it
agree that is just comprehended as mainstream. Perhaps most who comment here do not use friendster anymore but I learned that million of new internet users in my country put these on their priorities: yahoo account for mail and messenger, then to register on friendster..
On perspectives, there is always huge gap between geeks and newbies. :)
Number two is that 90% of my new business has come from using FBs help to get to know people better, in a less threatening/overbearing/all-business way, in shorter amounts of time, often resulting in a deeper connection. For some reason FB intros lead to aquaintances, which lead to phone calls, which lead to clients and referrals. I think it's the way you can find out more about what other people are like, if they want you to, and they can find out more about you, without being intrusive. When someone lists everything they like, it's easier to find common ground and make connections. Facebook's not the only tool out there that helps with this, it's just the one I like the best.
Other random stuff -- interconnectedness of the part of my network that choose to be on it (no more facilitating connections, go meet them yourself, lol), many things I need in one place, links me to non-geeks, inroads to bigger markets that are self sorted, harder to spam me in the walled garden, apps let me use many of the other sites through facebook. FB isn't the second coming, At All. many of the tools (like birthday reminders) facilitate better ways to casually get to know people online one on one in a simplified way.
Hate a lot of stuff about FB, wish I could block all app requests. But it can be quite useful, help reinvigorate friendships, help generate business IF time is taken to really get in there and learn more about how to use it as a kind of OS of the social world. Not the best thing since sliced bread, but I'll hang on to anything that helps me to help more people and puts more money in my pocket besides. :)
That it does all these things in one place means that people don't have to leave. Facebook reduces the friction to making all these things work.
And it does work. Why fight it?
That said, Twitter reminds me of what the internet was like before all the real humans showed up and overpopulated it. Facebook is the after picture. As much as I used to like to complain about the influx of 'non geeks' (as they were then called) I don't think we'd be anywhere without them and the services that cater to them.
FB did kick-off the "What are you doing now?" micro-blogging broadcasting trend which I feel Twitter now does more effectively. Thanks for guiding me in Twitterland - the more I use it the more profound its value becomes.
When Twitter reaches the masses (like FB) I wonder if it will also get diluted with overkill/spam much like the FB (Super)Wall is now.
Great blog, LOVE all these conversations.
Cheers,
Cindy
Waste your time!
just my two cents ..
I think the only reason it would benefit a company to have a FB is simply to be where their consumers are. (if they're not there, then what's the point?) or to give the impression that you are accessible to your consumers in ways that are convenient for them. That said, I wouldn't expect much ROI or activity from FB.
I find Twitter more valuable because it's real time information/activity. It can be a source for taking the consumers temp - if you want to find out what consumers are twitting about you, just do a search. It can be a real time news source - during the Mumbai attacks Twitter provided live up to the minute updates from users actually tweeting from Mumbai. It can also be a means of communication, like instant messenger, when you need to send mass communications; unlike sending a text from your blackberry to your contact list, you can include everyone.