#22 Social Networking

As I noted in my 8/2/07 post, I had already bookmarked FaceBook with the intention of checking into further in the future. Today, I watched “Social Networking in Plain English”, which provides a very brief overview of the concept of the networking on the internet. It reminded me of a thing I’ve read about in connection with Information Theory called the Game of Life.
I next read the Newsweek article, “The Facebook Challenge” and watched the video clip “Facebook Grows Up.” Then I took the Facebook Tour. None of these experiences enticed me to want to become a participant.
Finally, I investigated the MySpace homepage. I was able to easily find the sites of both of my daughters, and from there all of their friends. TMI, that’s all I can say: TMI.
Friendster was boring by comparison with either of the other two.
I can see how a library group on one of these sites could be valuable as a way to communicate with other librarians concerning conference planning, solutions to problems encountered on the job, shared interests within the field, innovative ideas for projects, and job searches. At this point, of course, it ceases to be “social” networking, or, at the very least, that aspect of it is diluted by its professional uses.
Both Facebook and MySpace seem to be dominated by the posting of photographs. That is something in which I’ve had little interest. Nor do I have any impetus to share my favorite pop songs with the world.
My preference in meeting people has always been to lay back and observe them for awhile, before deciding if I want to establish a relationship. I would not like putting myself out there where I can be approached first by people I don’t know. The idea of posting my profile on-line is not at all appealing to me.
I have a blog now, so I can put my ideas out there, without exposing my personal business to anybody and everybody’s idle curiosity.