| 27 April 2009
Right now I have to draw a line in the sand technology wise, a threshold which I will not cross. I refuse - absolutely, categorically, completely - to ever use Twitter for my social networking needs. Certainly it's a loony thing to pooh-pooh something you've never used, but I just can't bring myself to move to yet another one social-based site.
I'm sure out there somewhere is someone who will stumble across this post and say to his nerdy self "technically, Twitter is not really your standard social networking site, but a service that would provide instantaneous information to..."
For the time being, I think I'll remain ignorant of Twitter. Personally, I have nothing against it, but instead am confused because the social networking site proliferation has just gotten really annoying and my favorite of them all, Myspace, is like dead mall right now. If the Internet is a shopping center, then Myspace may just possibly have a Footlocker and an Annie's Pretzel left, but everything else is gated up.
Nobody visits their profile anymore. It's sad. Myspace used to be a lot more fun. In its heyday - which by now feels like a century back - my page used to get numerous hits everyday and people even clicked on my blog. Now there's tumbleweeds rolling through my pictures section, nobody has clicked on my profile in ages and I'm pretty sure that if I wanted to I could get Tom to write me back.
As I write this, all that MySpace can really promote is an interview tonight with Jared Leto. That's it?! That's all? Jordan Catalano from My So Called Life.
It's kinda sad, because I really liked Myspace a lot better. Compared to the site that's absolutely destroyed it in the past six months, Facebook, I think it's far better, easier to use and certainly less pretentious.
Someone once told me that Facebook was for people to network and Myspace for random hookups. And although I won't disagree with the latter part of the statement, I completely disagree with the former. Facebook is hardly a place for networking because most people who use it don't want to network and only have a vague notion of what that term means. I mean let's look at it this way; if you didn't want your boss to see the pictures of your friends holding your hair back while you vomit, then why would you go ahead and put them on your Facebook page? Sure, Myspace has many people whose pages are overly decorated with bad Flash art, sparkling words like, "sexy", "tease" and "shawty", but that's more in line with the way life is than Facebook where people who would otherwise put the same photos of their Ninja bike up but feel too ashamed too. 
The fact of the matter is, Facebook has marketed itself as a highbrow alternative to Myspace, but it really isn't. Sure, Myspace may have had groups devoted to hotrods, anal sex and fantasy role playing, but Facebook is just as juvenile. Instead the site offers users to become fans of such lofty things as chocolate chip cookies, Coldplay and Joe Biden. What's the big deal? I don't get it.
I personally blame the 2008 Presidential election for the demise of Myspace. Because it had no application by which someone could proclaim instantaneous allegiance to one candidate or another who they only had vague ideas about, Facebook took the lead. Everyone and his mother became a supporter of Barack Obama, John McCain, Ron Paul or a supporter of some senator ten states over who appeared on Morning Joe with a shit eating grin on his face but a warm demeanor.
Networking my foot. Particularly in this flagging economy, the last place to find work is through Facebook. One is more likely to post a link to a Jack Johnson video than a resume. At least with Myspace there was more honesty, even if the same registered sex offender on your friends list had three profiles.
Myspace certainly is the domain for the lonely, horny and slightly criminal. But so is your average city street. You're just as likely to meet a perfect stranger who enjoys playing with himself on your way to the grocery store as you would on Myspace. You could as easily meet a divorcee with no job and three kids that are "the centur of my world, so don't u try to be cummin' up in me. If you aint gonna take care of a baby then you don disurv what I got. Holla! R.I.P., Mandi."
Every big social networking site has its pitfalls. Match is where you go to find a woman who doesn't mind that you're still on your third wife, you can get murdered picking up a futon listed on Craigslist, Meetup can lead you to strangers who are just plain strange, and Myspace can cause your computer to crash from loading the bling on someone's profile. But the idea that one is more sophisticated than the other is a joke.
Facebook is annoying because it provides constant information on what folks are doing and is the forum of a breed of self-centeredness and superficiality that supercedes the hormonally charged Myspace networking service.
I've already heard from several people that they prefer Twitter over Facebook and though I understand they're not the same thing, technology changes and people change quickly. It's likely Facebook will be usurped by something else and peoples' understanding of the world will be just as fragmented. Still, in the meantime, despite my complaints, I'm stuck with Facebook if I want to keep in touch with people.
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