Someone I know is writing a book titled So You’re on Facebook, Now What? From what I can tell, it centers on how to build a commercial profile on facebook, and how to increase your visibility. Hmmm… I admit to having some doubts about this. We all make money on the stupid Intarweb in some way or another, but it seems to me that the social networks are like parties that progress through stages:
- stage 1: not many people - this might be lame
- stage 2: okay, some people are showing up - let’s stick around and see what happens
- stage 3: wow– there’s some cool people here, and i’m a little drunk. Fun!
- stage 4: rager! holy shit! look how many people are here! We can do anything! (let’s steal ketchup from the fridge and throw it into the street!!!)
- stage 5: waaay too many people. The cops are gonna show up, and people are pushing and shoving, and i can’t hear anything you’re saying right now. This is lame.
MySpace progressed through to stage 5 rather quickly. Facebook is somewhere in stage 4. The problem I have with this book is the purposeful, driven, crass commercial intention of it. Just like that party, imagine the college friend of yours who comes through the crowds and pushes the Red Bull stickers and is trying to get you to buy pre-paid long distance cards. Meh– dork alert. Once the businesses are actively pushing their agendas on the crowd, the sponteneity, the fun interaction, the conversation, the party, begins it’s messy end. The cool kids head for a different darker smokey club, and the only ones left are the hucksters all trying to sell each other something.
I’ve already started to kill all the goofy apps from my facebook. I only check the thing once every 4 days or so now (down from my temp addiction of 2x/day last month). It’s nice to keep a line out to my old friends, and the moment I let it get past that, it’s no better than reality TV or mindless webtrash.
My advice? Be very very careful how you sell your shit on facebook– you may do more damage to your brand than you think. If the social network angle makes sense (some sort of friend interaction like wish lists or music tastes), maybe. If you’re just blabbing to the masses, get out.
Hahaha…who would have ever guessed that a company once known mostly for its spectrum analyzers and RPN calculators would one day be putting ads on the bottom of a skateboard?
Great post. Facebook is doomed and I feel sorry for these people who have rebranded their careers into “social networking consultants”. Gag.
Hey Jenkins! I just sent you an email at your ‘me’ address. Are you still using that? I’m on facebook, look me up and add me. We’ve got to get back in touch!
That’s a funny take Dave. Last week I went through the 10 step process of removing my myspace profile. Myspace put me in touch with some high school frineds I hadn’t talked to in a long time, but then I ran out of things to say. You can only type ’sup’ so many times.
This week I was commenting to someone that I’ve started deleting many of the pointless apps and that I now have friends that I can’t remember.
The social graph is interesting and has a ton of potential but if you ask me I think we are one or two more of these kinds of apps away from the one that sticks.
Solitaire is to 1996 as Facebook is to 2008. All I do on Facebook is take silly quizzes.
Does anyone else out there suffer from serious “facebook fatigue”? I tend to ignore 90% of the bs that my so-called friends spam me with on a daily basis.
Basically, I don’t care where you’ve been, how many zombies you’ve been bitten by, whether you are tired of prime time game shows, or looking for someone to talk to.
BTW- If you want to buy me a drink… I’ll be in the bar.
Reading this thread reaaly puts me off using Facebook, it sounds like a combination of addiction/annoyance.