Web 2.0 Social life

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8299362.stm

I've just read the above - which I saw posted on Twitter by Kathy Boyer @kathymboyer and I do wonder if this is something that affects us all in one way or another.

Whilst on holiday this year, I blogged extensively - http://dsugdenholidays.wordpress.com/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/dsugden/sets/72157621427475884/ Prior to starting my http://eduvel.wordpress.com blog, I blogged for almost five years on my http://www.village-e-learning.co.uk/blog.htm blog page. I recently noted that I have been blogging for ten years http://eduvel.wordpress.com/2009/09/27/10-years-of-blogging/

I think I am a blogger.

But since Jaiku died (did Google kill Jaiku by neglect?) and since I took up with Twitter (which is only half as functional as Jaiku ever was or Friendfeed still is - 'for now'), I've found myself searching for the quick post. Which is what micro-blogging is all about. Reading the 140 character maximum post on Twitter has been like a drug. So much so that having finally made Tweetdeck work for me, I have a fourth column showing my Facebook news wall (or something similarly unintuitively named), which updates me on the most banal of things my 'friends' are doing. It repeats their tweets, it tells me how far they have got with the 'I've a Zombie Warrior in my garden' game or that they have thrown a sheep at me. I hate Facebook. But still it's there - my fourth column - and I tell myself it's there because it keeps me in touch with both of my 30 something kids; what my 18 year old steppy is up to; what my ex-students are doing, playing, drinking etc. But - WHY DO I NEED TO KNOW?

I can phone my kids (I can visit them - they visit me), I can knock on Betony's door, she's only upstairs, I never bothered before Twitter/Facefeed what my ex-students were up to and I managed quite well. But now, I'm constantly checking what he/she/they has/have said and no longer blog like I used to. On the upside I still learn a lot from my friends on Twitter and hopefully my contributions to that genre of community practice are valued - but Facebook? I'm in the process of killing one account - I wonder if I should strangle the other too?

b.t.w. - when I say Jaiku is dead - I mean mortally wounded. When I say 'for now' after Friendfeed, I mean it has now merged with Facebook - so it's only a matter of time before it too starts struggling to breath.

David

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Oct 12, 2009

Ben Sugden said...

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Available as a T-Shirt from Despair.Com :)

I have a friend (in the facebook sense of the word) whom I met through LRP. She is a Dancer by profession, working at venues such as Liquid, she also stars as an "FHM Honey" or something like that anyway. She has around 2,700 friends in her friend list! (40 of them being mutual LRP acquaintances)

Last week she had some kind of lurgy that kept her at home and online, she updated her facebook status frequently to let her friends (all 2700 of them) know how she was doing. Later that day she announced that she was considering a friend-cull, whereby she would de-friend anyone she didn't "know". Many of her regular commentators voiced concern that they not be de-friended at which she announced that she would be retaining those she "knew" and had already started on names beginning with "A".

6 Hours later I checked on her progress, finding her attempts at culling her cyber-stalkers amusing. At that point she was still on the Aarons! :) Too many Aarons? Or had she been suckered into stalking these strangers - most of which are likely to be hot young men that she may or may not have met face to face.

I agree with what you're saying by the way. Social Networking should in no way replace actual social interactions. In fact it leads to laziness/complacency to a degree... I mean, I could call my family and friends to catch up... I could visit... social networking is often an easier route.

What sites like facebook (and you've kind of suckered me into Twitter) can be used for, in their defense, is to:

* Retain contact with those people who are too far away to visit or whom you see infrequently enough that you'd like to know how're they're doing but are far too busy catching up with everybody else... if that makes sense?

I have a round 460 friends listed on facebook, most of these are former/current work colleagues and LARPers. I see my closest LRP and former work buddies, semi-regularly and facebook is purely used to schedule events or nights out... or to "chat" in the same way that twitter might be used.

To my shame, the last communications I have had with you and Emma has been via facebook - and really theer is no excuse for this, we all live in the same town :)

* Share (in the fullest sense of the word) memories through pictures and videos.

I cannot imagine the horror of visiting one of my friend's houses only to have them force their photo albums upon me for 3 hours, whilst they point out who is who and what is what. Maybe after a landmark event or holiday this would be fine but not every time your friend took some photos. I certainly wouldn't dream of boring friends with my pictures if and when they popped round to the house. AND YET, through flickr, twitpic and facebook we leave the choice to our friends... do they want to see the pictures we've taken... do they want to see themselves or mutual friends in? If so then they are free to do so... no pressure.

* Procrastinate through advert-heavy games. The latest being the kind that appeal to the collector in us all. I am a big fan of RPGs... I play them on my XBOX, I play tabletop (pen & paper) with friends and I play LRP at weekends (see Role Models for a tongue in cheek example of this)... I've so far avoided the soul-devouring MMORPGs like World of Warcraft but the one common addictive quality to these kind of games is the OCD driven collection of points... "300 more points and I can get to level 246 in Mob Wars, when I get to level 250 I can buy buildings in Moscow; when I have buildings in Moscow I'll make five tomes more money than I do now and then I can do jobs in Moscow to earn more points..."

I know people who will happily sit all evening playing these games... the worst of which are the ones that insist on you inviting all your friends to join in (and get advertised at).

I still can't seem to get into the blogging element. I remember all the holiday books you used to write in the black and blue marble effect covers - or in those reddy orange books from the post office. In fact I've often thought, shouldn't I write about X or Y (LRP, Gaming, Programming, Lego, Occult Philosophy) but I don't really know where to start... maybe now that I've cracked Youtube I can start Video Blogging (Vlogging?) :)

Sugden’s posterous

Web 2.0 Social life

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