Internet Culture from London… and beyond
Are you on Facebook?
Facebook seems to be the new hot topic on the blogosphere. I just spotted a couple of posts by Mike Sansone and Jason Falls and I just thought I would chip in.
Myspace: I originally signed up as a friend of mine told me how awesome the site was but cancelled my account a year later. Myspace is great for music and if you are into chatting and possibly meeting random strangers but apart from that, I am not quite sure what the fuss is all about.
Linkedin: Linkedin is a useful tool for business networking – but like Mike I do believe that Linkedin lacks a community feel – we should perhaps get Mack on the case?!
Facebook: Virtually everyone I know is on Facebook. Remember the email from our CEO? Until last week I primarily saw Facebook as a social networking site to stay in touch with my real-life friends (unlike myspace where I was chatting to random strangers) and keep my friends updated on recent adventures. At first glance Facebook is yet another social networking site, however as I was playing around with the features, I discovered that the site is in fact a lot more than that. Facebook is more user friendly than Friends Reunited – I just joined the ex-GfK NOP group and found quite a few former work-colleagues I hadn’t spoken to in ages! I also found quite a few old friends from uni on the site. Saying that, Facebook should seriously look into making the site accessible to non-English speaking users; I am yet to find one of my French friends on the site…
Facebook can also be used as a business networking tool – I recently discovered a group specifically for market researchers called ‘I work in Market Research and no I don’t stand on the street with a clipboard’ but groups like these could more than likely be used as a recruitment tool. I also particularly like the WordPress plugin for Facebook that sends an alert to my friends each time I publish a new post on my blog – this could also potentially be useful if you’re planning on using Facebook as a business networking tool.
Last but not least, Facebook is used by some as a dating site – I am not quite sure what’s that ‘poking’ business is all about though!
| Print article | This entry was posted by Lolly on 13/08/2007 at 2:19 pm, and is filed under Social Networking - Tools & News. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 2 years ago
Lolly I am about ready to cancel my MySpace account as well, since I never use it. I am getting into Facebook and I will say that the interface is much cleaner than MySpace. Look for me on there!
about 2 years ago
Glad I could offer some blog inspiration. Thanks for the props.
As you know I’m a little leery of Facebook making the transition to a professional networking site because so many people, at least here in the States, use it for personal networking, friends, etc. While it’s making a nice transition beyond, most folks there still found it in college or high school when it was education-based. There’s hope for it as a professional networking site, but users I think will have a hard time separating work in what they think of as a play atmosphere.
Obviously a good discussion point.
about 2 years ago
Hi Jason,
I totally agree with you – not sure whether you are on Facebook but Mack has set up a pretty cool business profile on there.
about 2 years ago
Hey Lolly,
I do have a Facebook account, but much of my angst over the subject is that my approach to those “friends” is that of me in jeans and a t-shirt, drinking a beer and relaxing. Crossing over into the professional networking realm with an already established modus operandi would result, I’m afraid, in a worlds coliding of which I’m not prepared to manage.
If the Facebook is better sect gets their way, I guess I’ll have to go editing my history there! Ha!