facebook? myspace?

[lobelia321]

I know that a handful of peeps on my flist have my space. Any thoughts on it?

And has anyone got experience with facebook, newly open to the non-student?

Is it worth dipping one's toe in any of these?

Comments

[lazulus]

I hate MySpace and am still trying to work out what FaceBook is actually for.

I have both!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

We're funny like that, aren't we? We might hate something or be sceptical but we grab it, anyway. Just in case.

ithiliana says that fans are 'early adopters'. Interesting and possibly true.

[torakowalski.livejournal.com]

I have Facebook and truly hate it. It's a great way for people you never wanted to see again after High School to track you down and boast about their wonderful lives.

But lots and lots of people love it so I think I must be missing something!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Hm, okay. I'll keep this in mind. Presumably, if they can track you down, you registered with your rl name? Can't one hide under some username or other? To fend off the high-school hordes?

[torakowalski.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes that's a good point. I registered back in the day when it was for students only and the point was to register under your real name so people *could* find you. I'm not sure if you can make up a username now, but if you can that would certainly be much better!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if you can make up a username now,
I registered as my lj persona (Lobelia Sackville-Baggins) and got a facebook account without snags. After 3 minutes discovering that this was totally not me and looked really boring, I deactivated the account. *g*

I never sign up for any online thing under my rl name. Or I haven't so far. In fact, Lobelia has come to seem so real to me that it's almost my rl online name... (I have another really, really sekrit pseudonym. Ah, the layers of identity-making.)

[ook.livejournal.com]

MySpace sucks. There's no way to follow people's conversations as comments made to someone only appear on their MySpace page. Any of their replies go onto another person's MySpace. Basically you end up reading one-sides conversations and there is no way for friends to join in on existing conversations.

I suspect that MySpace is popular because you can easily embed stuff like photos, slide shows, music, and videos onto your page.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

How absolutely stupid! I can't believe that comments and replies can't be married up. And they call this a 'social networking site'?! What bollocks.

Hm, I am clearly spoiled by years of LJ.

[22by7.livejournal.com]

i don't really meet new people on any site besides livejournal. for that reason alone, facebook and myspace are of no interest to me. although i have accounts on both.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

It is so funny how many people tell me they hate these sites but have accounts on them. I am the same: I feel, oh, a new thing, I'd better grab a piece of the action. Even if I never go there.

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

I have a MySpace, as you know, and I HATE IT! Never been to Facebook.

[blythely.livejournal.com]

hahaha there are a number of people with your name there, howevez.

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

They just want to be like me...

[blythely.livejournal.com]

I keep meaning to ask if one of them WAS you. Pleased I have not emailed random strangers then.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

The interesting thing is, why did you get it? Because I know the impulse! See a new thing, want the new thing. And the fear that one is missing out on something. ithiliana says that fans are 'early adopters'. But perhaps we're just lemmings?

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

Total peer pressure, really. From real life friends, no less! But I never really clicked with it. In fact, it had the weird effect of making me feel like I was back at school, and a bit awkward and unpopular. I don't visit it much. I almost deleted my account, actually, but there are a couple of people who use it who I like to keep up with, so I didn't.

What I really dislike about it is that it seems to be completely about popularity - who's in your Top Friends, how many Friends you've got. That and it's horrible to use. I like LJ best.

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

Haha, and someone on Radio 4 today mused that Facebook sounds like something a serial killer would make.

Is it me, or has the rest of the world suddenly woken up to this 'social networking' thing we've been at for years... and started doing it really badly?

[ook.livejournal.com]

MySpace seems to work best for groups of people who are already friends -- usually school or work friends. MySpace really isn't good for meeting new friends. It's pretty good for stalking people though. ;)

[qthelights.livejournal.com]

I have both and myspace sucks. It's terrible, hard to use and impossible to create any sense of community or friendship.
Facebook - there isn't really much point to it.. it's basically just like a business card so that people can find you. Albeit with pics and what have you to make it pretty. Fun to fill out, but doesn't really *do* anything.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

So I'm wondering why these stupid things are called 'social networking sites'? I was under the impression that people communicated via them. And I don't understand why they are so popular...?

[blythely.livejournal.com]

MySpace is ridiculous and its only use is for bands/musicians as it's really easy to embed music and to announce gigs etc. Facebook is less community-minded than LJ etc; it's all about the public display of how many people you know. That said, the undergrads seem to love it for organising events etc. Personally I don't mind it as a way to maintain very low-key contact with low-key friends. Oh, and free photo hosting.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Heh. Low-key contact with low-key friends. So one can't be very interactive on it? One can't post comments and so forth? Do you use it as a rl supplement to LJ?

[blythely.livejournal.com]

Actually, I feel like the last month has been a "tipping point" for me on FB. I've now got enough RL friends whom I would never dream of inviting into my LJ-life on there that it feels like something completely different, and it's not that bad. You *can* post comments and do back and forth like on here - it's a bit different but you get used to it. I am finding it funny how the aforementioned RL friends are starting to "play" with the medium in the same way that we did with LJ way back in the olden times.

[ook.livejournal.com]

I've noticed a new trend with movie studios creating MySpace pages to promote new films. Yes, there's tons of bands (professional and amateur) so MySpace isn't a bad venue for introducing people to new music and music videos.

[blythely.livejournal.com]

It *is* a bad venue, because it's poorly set up and messy as hell--but I know what you meant there! It's a godsend for faffing about finding new music, but I would probably exploit it a lot more (and thus give more musicians my money) if it were easier to navigate and simply nicer on the eyes. :)