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But what if having a facebook profile becomes like having an email address? I'm sure early emails and early web searches were frivolous b/c people had been get

by uuilly 19y ago

But what if having a facebook profile becomes like having an email address? I'm sure early emails and early web searches were frivolous b/c people had been getting along fine w/o them. Early cell phone calls were, "OMG!! I'm walking down the street talking on the phone!!! This is so cool." etc. At the same time I agree w/ maroon. Social networks are not my thing. Think about how you meet and maintain relationships with people in the real world. You're usually talking to someone you know and they introduce you to someone else. The conversation naturally veers toward common ground where a relationship can be built. I haven't seen a company reproduce this. I never met anyone new on a social network. I never had the nuggets to ask anyone out and the ones who asked me out were either no-go's or bonafide prostitutes (yes I was on myspace for a few months.) One of my co-founders said it best. "Facebook is for maintaining aqaintences."

Goladus 19y ago
Early cell phones were owned by busy working people like executives at large companies, and were used to conduct business from anywhere.
nostrademons 19y ago
"You're usually talking to someone you know and they introduce you to someone else. The conversation naturally veers toward common ground where a relationship can be built. I haven't seen a company reproduce this." It happens a lot on LiveJournal. I'm still in touch with some of the folks I met 5 years ago on there. I've met them in real life. Some of them have introduced me to all their friends, who I'm also still in touch with (in some cases, moreso than the original friend). A couple of my now-RL friends met on LiveJournal; they're now married. The wedding pictures tagged guests with their LiveJournal usernames instead of their real names. FaceBook and MySpace spread largely through existing social networks, which is why their growth was so fast. LiveJournal, blogs, webcomics, and the myriad niche forums have been forming new social networks, which is much slower and doesn't get as much press attention. It's there, though, if you're looking in the right places.
mattmaroon 19y ago
Well, the first time you use any given technology its a novelty, but that usually quickly fades. When I found Google I instantly thought "this is the greatest thing ever". Within a month of owning a cell phone I knew I could never go back. Facebook has been around a long time and still has nothing more compelling than turning people into vampires, and they have a ton of geniuses trying to figure it out. Its not only a perpetual novelty, but one which is apparently wearing off if you look at average visits per day per user.

by uuilly 19y ago

Goladus 19y ago

Early cell phones were owned by busy working people like executives at large companies, and were used to conduct business from anywhere.

nostrademons 19y ago

"You're usually talking to someone you know and they introduce you to someone else. The conversation naturally veers toward common ground where a relationship can be built. I haven't seen a company reproduce this." It happens a lot on LiveJournal. I'm still in touch with some of the folks I met 5 years ago on there. I've met them in real life. Some of them have introduced me to all their friends, who I'm also still in touch with (in some cases, moreso than the original friend). A couple of my now-RL friends met on LiveJournal; they're now married. The wedding pictures tagged guests with their LiveJournal usernames instead of their real names. FaceBook and MySpace spread largely through existing social networks, which is why their growth was so fast. LiveJournal, blogs, webcomics, and the myriad niche forums have been forming new social networks, which is much slower and doesn't get as much press attention. It's there, though, if you're looking in the right places.

mattmaroon 19y ago

Well, the first time you use any given technology its a novelty, but that usually quickly fades. When I found Google I instantly thought "this is the greatest thing ever". Within a month of owning a cell phone I knew I could never go back. Facebook has been around a long time and still has nothing more compelling than turning people into vampires, and they have a ton of geniuses trying to figure it out. Its not only a perpetual novelty, but one which is apparently wearing off if you look at average visits per day per user.