Mentalechoes

A very good friend of mine from back home whose name I won’t mention (but it begins with L and she lives on the Gold Coast), sent an email out to all in her contacts list, that went something like this:

Hellloooooo everyone,

Just letting you know that I’ve deactivated my Facebook account.

It has simply become boring (Yes, Andy, you were right; I lost interest, LOL!) and a time waster for me, and I really don’t have time to waste right now. Too busy with real life, LOL!

Right, well it was more or less exactly like that! I didn’t want to be accused of misinterpreting her message, so it seemed easier to quote it verbatim to support what I’m going to say next.

Social networking sites are pretty much a waste of time! In fact the term Social Network Fatigue has been coined to describe the chore that these things become when stacked next to each other in your browser tabs, after the initial euphoria is over.

A very few social networks serve a specific purpose that is useful. Business and professional association sites like linkedin.com and plaxo.com are examples. But the vast majority of these social network sites that exist are like fashion fads; look like a lot of fun and are very hip for a while, and then discarded never to be used again. Now before you say, “Facebook” and point to it like it’s the answer to everything great and amazing in the universe of social networks. Look at how finnicky we are with sites like Orkut, and Live Space to name just a few. Their numbers wax and wane like the tides and nobody counts on them being around in six months from now. Nobody with money to invest that’s for sure. But Facebook is an enigma for a social network because it’s worth over 12 billion, but their business model is based on selling 1 dollar vaporware articles. Beats the shit out of a lot of people how that works, me included. For sure though, nobody is going to give you an even bet that in five years from now Facebook will still be around.

The reality with social network sites is that they are all eye candy, with very little substance behind them. For a while they are very flashy and fun, but all too shortly after joining, their real worth becomes evident. Unless they are helping you with finding a job, or staying in touch with people that you actually do know as friends in the real world, they are just one more distraction in a browser full of blinging distractions. Now there is nothing wrong with a little bling bling to give you something new to coo over, and drop into a conversation about cool new stuff you found while browsing around one afternoon at work. But as with all things better described as fads, they never last. So I’m wondering if all these social networks are just something useless on the internet evolutionary ladder on the way to something useful we haven’t seen yet. Sort of like the dodo becoming a chicken. Which of course it did, and they have my thanks for it!

Andy.