Yesterday, I went to go check on the wonderfully robust ValpoLife Facebook page (Become a fan!). On my way there, as most Facebook users will be familiar with, I checked on my “News Feed”. I used quotations there on purpose. The top, most recent activity of my Facebook friends, apparently known as news, was my aunt, who wanted to let everyone know that she was making a sandwich and she’d be back right after.
The most confusing part? Three people commented on that statement.
I understand the point of social networking sites… well, at least some of them. Facebook is a great way to connect to and stay in contact with friends, acquaintances, and the wonderful staff at ValpoLife.com (Become a fan!). LinkedIn is a great way to connect to business associates old and new, and a great way to network for jobs for yourself and your friends (Check out the ValpoLife LinkedIn page!). MySpace is a super useful tool for individuals to break out of the cookie-cutter format of the Facebook and LinkedIn profiles in order to give the user a canvas to express themselves through web design, music, and any other sort of artistic expression.
To be honest, after those 3 networking platforms, I see no use, no utility, and no reason to invest time or effort. Unfortunately for you Twitter fans, that includes you (Be sure to follow us on Twitter though! @ValpoLife! Do it!).
You see, I am old enough to remember Twitter was called a ‘chat room’. Oh, the good old days of chat rooms. There were always thousands of them, virtual places where individuals would gather together by their commonalities to discuss topics like sports and business, to help each other find common ground, and of course to anonymously insult one another. May be I am internet-style old fashioned, or maybe I am just getting old.
Social networking sites make it easier for me to connect to someone with whom I would not ordinarily have an audience. Maybe I’d never met someone, but I knew their friend, and their friend could help me solve a problem. They are social networking sites… its right there in the name. But at what point am I sitting there reading a conversation between people shooting the breeze? In other words, at what point is broadcasting your every movement to your network too much?
Obviously, with over 200 million people on a network, not everyone will use it for the same purposes. And I don’t mean for it to seem as though I am waxing poetic about the ‘good old’ days of the internet. I just am wondering how valuable a tool can be when I am finding out my aunt, who lives a thousand miles away in Mississippi, is making a sandwich. Then again, I have to remember that three people commented on that message.
Maybe I am getting old.