5 ms·

Social networks 'are new e-mail'

11 points by ksvs 18y ago

blhack 18y ago
a non-geek sees them as the same thing. Fire up web-browser->enter web address->Log In->Click on new messages Its the same as logging in to yahoo or aol for them...we see the difference becuase (i imagine) most of us have built mail servers. We know all about smtp and pop and imap. Most of us don't see facebook as email because we're thinking about the back-end of things.
- unalone 18y ago
  I'll confirm this. Many of my friends and I keep in touch entirely with Facebook. Getting all their email addresses seems too much an effort when Facebook has their names already mapped to their accounts.
jaymstr 18y ago
Sort of. Twitter and Yammer are great for putting things out there quickly to get feedback or an answer to a question. Private conversations though will always be important. That being said, I often appreciate a DM instead of an email because it forces people to be quick.
mdasen 18y ago
Absolutely not! Social networks might be the new instant messenger. Email is a service that interoperates between networks that almost everyone has. Social networks, like many instant messenger networks, are services that are closed to those who haven't signed up with a specific service and try to corner the market through exclusion.
- bendtheblock 18y ago
  The article mentions this (i.e. that an open standard should be created for IMs between different social networks). I would say that in most cases this doesn't even matter, everyone in my social network, and nearly every new person I meet, is on Facebook, I admit there's obviously a bias there i.e. the demographic of Facebook members probably matches that of my 'real-life' social network.
neilo 18y ago
I'm resistant of this but curious to see where it leads. I know people who "don't like email" because "FaceBook/MySpace is easier" and they only ever send me messages through those applications. At some point it seems there must be some kind of convergence into a single, shared protocol that multiple applications can tap into ... a la email but perhaps a bit more personal. People bemoan privacy issues, but they continually plug away their darkest secrets into these walled gardens and their illusions of security. Oh crap, am I ranting? Sorry ...

11 points by ksvs 18y ago

a non-geek sees them as the same thing. Fire up web-browser->enter web address->Log In->Click on new messages Its the same as logging in to yahoo or aol for them...we see the difference becuase (i imagine) most of us have built mail servers. We know all about smtp and pop and imap. Most of us don't see facebook as email because we're thinking about the back-end of things.

unalone 18y ago
I'll confirm this. Many of my friends and I keep in touch entirely with Facebook. Getting all their email addresses seems too much an effort when Facebook has their names already mapped to their accounts.

jaymstr 18y ago

Sort of. Twitter and Yammer are great for putting things out there quickly to get feedback or an answer to a question. Private conversations though will always be important. That being said, I often appreciate a DM instead of an email because it forces people to be quick.

mdasen 18y ago

Absolutely not! Social networks might be the new instant messenger. Email is a service that interoperates between networks that almost everyone has. Social networks, like many instant messenger networks, are services that are closed to those who haven't signed up with a specific service and try to corner the market through exclusion.

bendtheblock 18y ago
The article mentions this (i.e. that an open standard should be created for IMs between different social networks). I would say that in most cases this doesn't even matter, everyone in my social network, and nearly every new person I meet, is on Facebook, I admit there's obviously a bias there i.e. the demographic of Facebook members probably matches that of my 'real-life' social network.

neilo 18y ago

I'm resistant of this but curious to see where it leads. I know people who "don't like email" because "FaceBook/MySpace is easier" and they only ever send me messages through those applications. At some point it seems there must be some kind of convergence into a single, shared protocol that multiple applications can tap into ... a la email but perhaps a bit more personal. People bemoan privacy issues, but they continually plug away their darkest secrets into these walled gardens and their illusions of security. Oh crap, am I ranting? Sorry ...