YAFSN

[egypturnash]

I just got email from Yet Another Fucking Social Network inviting me to join. It said that I have three unread messages. On a social networking site I've never heard of. What the FUCK? This got my curiosity and I created an account. It already generated a stub account and put a 'welcome to the site!' account, and not one, but two messages about the fact that this person added me as a friend.

This is just really fucking creepy, somehow. And dubious - I wonder if they're counting these stub accounts with bogus messages waiting when they tell advertisers and investors how many users they have?

Thankfully it actually has a 'delete account'. *shiver*

Comments

[cryptodragon.livejournal.com]

Social networks are sucking more and more because they are trying to pull people in to thier little sandbox because they are only worth as much as the people in them. LJ is the only "social" networking I do because the people here are the people I want to talk to and it seems to be more productive than most by focusing on good writing.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

*nod* I have accounts on a few of them and I'm just, like, what do people do on these things? Edit their profile again and again? Accumulate 'friends' like they collect Pokémon? I dunno. I've never found a use for any of them.

A lot of these social networks have blogging functionality attached to them but I never see anyone using that. It just seems to be about exposing a 'friend' network of vague acquaintances. I recently saw a little survey of most popular Facebook apps; one that let you list your 'top friends' (the ones you'd actually call a "friend" before all these sites co-opted the word) was #1 by an order of magnitude.

[cryptodragon.livejournal.com]

You have hit the nail right on the head. They edit thier profile again and again. Facebook has made this limitless through the applications platform. And they accumlate 'friends' like you have just said. It's highschool cliques put online and with millions and millions of dollars of ad revenue tossed in.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

I really hate the way people keep bringing Eternal High School into the Internet. I'm old enough that I can remember when the online world was nothing but the geeks. Sure, there're geek social hierarchies too, but I understand those.

[cryptodragon.livejournal.com]

I'm technically not old enough but I've been around long enough on the net to understand it. I think it's because that the internet has become so pervasive that the geeks that were able to figure out High School make apps to duplicated it, and then the unwashed masses who want it fill them up.

[strredwolf.livejournal.com]

Jaiku?

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

WAYN.

[strredwolf.livejournal.com]

Never heard of it. Rather Jaiku and Pounce instead.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Neither had I, until someone with my e-mail in their address book joined it. It's for telling your friends all about your jet-setting international travel plans. Not exactly much use for a broke cartoonist who's lived in the US her whole life and will probably never be able to afford to leave it.