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The underlying flaw of social networking sites
Link: http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204203573
Cory Doctorow has a good article up about the principal driver of the boom'n'bust nature of social network sites. To wit:
It's socially awkward to refuse to add someone to your friends list -- but removing someone from your friend-list is practically a declaration of war. The least-awkward way to get back to a friends list with nothing but friends on it is to reboot: create a new identity on a new system and send out some invites
I've seen many people on Facebook with friends lists in the hundreds. Who actually has that many? More importantly, who really wants to share day-to-day details with them all?
(Via BoingBoing)
1 comment
Ooooh! A touchy point for me was all of a sudden through the summer I started getting friend requests from former students.
Not trying to be mean, but I ignored them all. I figure that once I accepted one from the same school, others would see that I confirmed *that* person and things would just continue to snowball.
And really, I just don’t want my life and thoughts opened up like that to people I did not have a friend-style (though friendly) relationship with.
(This was actually underscored for me as one of the friend requests I got from a former student had “pron” as part of their profile name! Gimme a *break*! Why, oh why, do so many teens want something profane or riske for their emails, profile names, etc? And why didn’t this particular individual grow out of this as they moved into their 20s?!?)
…turn off rant…
I need to know someone on a friendly basis, interact with them regularly on some level, and/or be *related* to them to have them on my friend list. Otherwise, what *is* the point? :)
