Shelton Lee Bumgarner
2005-07-06 18:41:34 UTC
By COY ASKEW
Ahssa! Copy Editor
Now, for years, I've been touting micropayments as a way to make money
with content online and for years people have told me I'm a mo-ron.
To date, they've been right, but you gotta keep the faith when you
believe in something and so I keep believing that one day we'll all buy
content online for a few cents (or less) a pageview.
But meanwhile, let's make fun of the failure of sociable media!
Ahssa!
Or, as Nelson Muntz of The Simpsons would say, "Ha-ha! You're little
pretentious bobo meta-media concept is stillborn! I'm cooler than you!
And I met Pinch a few days ago! Jennifer 8. Lee should use ME as a
source, not YOU! "
As Business 2.0 points out, a simple destination site won't cut it.
My big beef with Friendster was always, "Well, what would I do there?"
Visiting most social networking sites is akin to getting invited to a
party where all the cool kids are going, then showing up and finding
out there's no food, no drinks, no band, no games, no pool, nothing.
Just a bunch of painful small talk and leering grins. The
people-watching can hold your interest for only so long.
See, that's why this is such an early-20s thing. You're still
idealistic, you want to "stick it to the man" with your second-hand
potsmoke induced visions of how you can change the world by hanging out
and...well, smoking pot. By the time you're in your early 30s, you
don't care about The Man anymore, you just want something that actually
does something...productive, makes your life better. Mentally wacking
off and self-referentially talking about how cool you and your friends
are just doesn't cut it.
And I think this is the kicker, "invited to a party where all the cool
kids are going." That's exactly what I think -- sociable media media
proponents have a vested interest in the success of sociable media
because it gives us urchins a chance to see how fabulous they are and
how witty their friends are.
2. It takes too much time
Yes, I know I can choose where to devote my time, but Orkut,
Friendster, and even LinkedIn (which I do find more useful than the
purely social sites) are interesting but less information rich than
news sites, blogs, Google news, or any of the other sites I could visit
on the Web. It's interesting, for example, to blog about the
experiences I had on a given day, but it's tedious to make sure my
personal stats, favorite books, and current reading list are
up-to-date. One of the reasons I think personal blogs win out over
social networking is that they're inherently more personal, more
inwardly focused, and a better chance to show more than a snapshot of
yourself.
I will admit that as a concept, 'sociable media' is pretty interesting,
but it rubs me the wrong way because of the people who are associated
with it are so asinine and annoying in a bobo hipster kind of way. And
people will actually post comments on their well-trafficked blog, while
all I got is a funny face, acute observational skills and a cute butt.
(Did I just say that outloud?) I could see sites like Yahoo! and Google
using aspects of sociable media to enhance search...but for all
practical purposes sociable media is kaput.
4. Strangers kind of suck (or, put nicely, the social hierarchy is
really not that attractive)
Speaking of elitism, getting to know people is, frankly, a less
attractive proposal than it first seems. Sure, business networking is
valuable, and it's great to have a lot of resources who might know
someone who can help you with...something. But that argument gets a
little thin when you're suddenly bombarded with date offers or
all-too-frequent postings about the unsavory or just plain
uninteresting habits of the strangers you suddenly know. Moreover,
social networking sites pretty quickly and inevitably degenerate into
cliques. That's normal, it happens on the blogosphere, and it's not
really even that deplorable. It's just kind of tiresome on a daily
basis. If you restrict your friends list to only the people you already
know, well, then the boredom sets in. Why would you read their profiles
over and over when you can just IM them, e-mail them, or meet at the
baseball game?
Again, for people who have devoted their life to studying sociable
media, the whole point of it is they don't have to meet new people
because they already know everyone who is cool. Yet, at the same time,
the uncool people who they don't know will stumble across how cool the
early-adapters of sociable media are and get all Richard Cory on them
and curse the bread. "Awwh, shucks, I wish I could blather on getting
drunk on Long Island Ice Teas at Jennifer 8. Lee's latest cocktail
party, but all I can do is read someone else refering to how they all
did it. I feel like Phoebe complaining about not being able to go to
London 'cause she was preggers."
Ahssa! Copy Editor
Now, for years, I've been touting micropayments as a way to make money
with content online and for years people have told me I'm a mo-ron.
To date, they've been right, but you gotta keep the faith when you
believe in something and so I keep believing that one day we'll all buy
content online for a few cents (or less) a pageview.
But meanwhile, let's make fun of the failure of sociable media!
Ahssa!
Or, as Nelson Muntz of The Simpsons would say, "Ha-ha! You're little
pretentious bobo meta-media concept is stillborn! I'm cooler than you!
And I met Pinch a few days ago! Jennifer 8. Lee should use ME as a
source, not YOU! "
From CNET
1. There's nothing to do thereAs Business 2.0 points out, a simple destination site won't cut it.
My big beef with Friendster was always, "Well, what would I do there?"
Visiting most social networking sites is akin to getting invited to a
party where all the cool kids are going, then showing up and finding
out there's no food, no drinks, no band, no games, no pool, nothing.
Just a bunch of painful small talk and leering grins. The
people-watching can hold your interest for only so long.
See, that's why this is such an early-20s thing. You're still
idealistic, you want to "stick it to the man" with your second-hand
potsmoke induced visions of how you can change the world by hanging out
and...well, smoking pot. By the time you're in your early 30s, you
don't care about The Man anymore, you just want something that actually
does something...productive, makes your life better. Mentally wacking
off and self-referentially talking about how cool you and your friends
are just doesn't cut it.
And I think this is the kicker, "invited to a party where all the cool
kids are going." That's exactly what I think -- sociable media media
proponents have a vested interest in the success of sociable media
because it gives us urchins a chance to see how fabulous they are and
how witty their friends are.
2. It takes too much time
Yes, I know I can choose where to devote my time, but Orkut,
Friendster, and even LinkedIn (which I do find more useful than the
purely social sites) are interesting but less information rich than
news sites, blogs, Google news, or any of the other sites I could visit
on the Web. It's interesting, for example, to blog about the
experiences I had on a given day, but it's tedious to make sure my
personal stats, favorite books, and current reading list are
up-to-date. One of the reasons I think personal blogs win out over
social networking is that they're inherently more personal, more
inwardly focused, and a better chance to show more than a snapshot of
yourself.
I will admit that as a concept, 'sociable media' is pretty interesting,
but it rubs me the wrong way because of the people who are associated
with it are so asinine and annoying in a bobo hipster kind of way. And
people will actually post comments on their well-trafficked blog, while
all I got is a funny face, acute observational skills and a cute butt.
(Did I just say that outloud?) I could see sites like Yahoo! and Google
using aspects of sociable media to enhance search...but for all
practical purposes sociable media is kaput.
4. Strangers kind of suck (or, put nicely, the social hierarchy is
really not that attractive)
Speaking of elitism, getting to know people is, frankly, a less
attractive proposal than it first seems. Sure, business networking is
valuable, and it's great to have a lot of resources who might know
someone who can help you with...something. But that argument gets a
little thin when you're suddenly bombarded with date offers or
all-too-frequent postings about the unsavory or just plain
uninteresting habits of the strangers you suddenly know. Moreover,
social networking sites pretty quickly and inevitably degenerate into
cliques. That's normal, it happens on the blogosphere, and it's not
really even that deplorable. It's just kind of tiresome on a daily
basis. If you restrict your friends list to only the people you already
know, well, then the boredom sets in. Why would you read their profiles
over and over when you can just IM them, e-mail them, or meet at the
baseball game?
Again, for people who have devoted their life to studying sociable
media, the whole point of it is they don't have to meet new people
because they already know everyone who is cool. Yet, at the same time,
the uncool people who they don't know will stumble across how cool the
early-adapters of sociable media are and get all Richard Cory on them
and curse the bread. "Awwh, shucks, I wish I could blather on getting
drunk on Long Island Ice Teas at Jennifer 8. Lee's latest cocktail
party, but all I can do is read someone else refering to how they all
did it. I feel like Phoebe complaining about not being able to go to
London 'cause she was preggers."