Comments on: The primary goal of social networks is *not* communication http://www.timbomb.net/blog/2007/10/02/the-primary-goal-of-social-networks-is-not-communication/ that gum you like is back in style... Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:15:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Friendless http://www.timbomb.net/blog/2007/10/02/the-primary-goal-of-social-networks-is-not-communication/#comment-40436 Thu, 01 Nov 2007 06:37:26 +0000 http://www.timbomb.net/blog/2007/10/02/the-primary-goal-of-social-networks-is-not-communication/#comment-40436 <p>http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/facebook-friends-ambush-kevin-rudd/2007/10/31/1193618954930.html</p> http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/facebook-friends-ambush-kevin-rudd/2007/10/31/1193618954930.html

]]> by: Dennis http://www.timbomb.net/blog/2007/10/02/the-primary-goal-of-social-networks-is-not-communication/#comment-35662 Sun, 07 Oct 2007 13:52:52 +0000 http://www.timbomb.net/blog/2007/10/02/the-primary-goal-of-social-networks-is-not-communication/#comment-35662 <p>Excellent! You're right, I guess many people have been mistaken about this and a lot probably still are. When I had my first encounter with things like Facebook, myspace and the like, I was too paranoid about disclosing whom I know and in the end, whom I did not know (!). Did I really want my friends to be listed like on an account statement? I was horrified; I saw it as the perfect intrusion of market mechanisms into the social fabric. I figured that the omnipresence of the database, the logic of the list and the entity-relationship modelling, was somehow about to replace the linear cultural logic of texts and stories. Furthermore enhancing the compatibility of our daily lifes, our immediate humanness with the mechanisms of the machine. Your friends as capital, relationship capital. I hesitated, lurking to see the big implosion of privacy, the complete collapse of the subject into the collective. To my surprise it didn’t happen. More and more of my acquaintances increased the pressure on me to participate on various platforms and I realized that most of them weren’t my best and most intimate friends. On the contrary, to a large extend they were basically people that I met in passing. People that would have given me their business card instead. So <a href="http://vv.arts.ucla.edu/AI_Society/manovich.html" rel="nofollow">Lev Maninov</a> might be right about the logic of the database and its opposition to the narrative, however, as you say social networks and its mapping with database driven social software technologies, doesn’t seem to have much to do with actual communication. What it does provide, however, is an omnipresent access to people and information, the immediate availability of people their potentials. Based on social software tools, like linkedin and xing we are witnessing a tremendous re- structuring of the increasingly globalized employment market, turning especially high skilled labourers into instantaneous nomads. Accessible any place any time. Is that a good thing?</p> Excellent! You’re right, I guess many people have been mistaken about this and a lot probably still are. When I had my first encounter with things like Facebook, myspace and the like, I was too paranoid about disclosing whom I know and in the end, whom I did not know (!). Did I really want my friends to be listed like on an account statement? I was horrified; I saw it as the perfect intrusion of market mechanisms into the social fabric. I figured that the omnipresence of the database, the logic of the list and the entity-relationship modelling, was somehow about to replace the linear cultural logic of texts and stories. Furthermore enhancing the compatibility of our daily lifes, our immediate humanness with the mechanisms of the machine. Your friends as capital, relationship capital. I hesitated, lurking to see the big implosion of privacy, the complete collapse of the subject into the collective. To my surprise it didn’t happen. More and more of my acquaintances increased the pressure on me to participate on various platforms and I realized that most of them weren’t my best and most intimate friends. On the contrary, to a large extend they were basically people that I met in passing. People that would have given me their business card instead. So Lev Maninov might be right about the logic of the database and its opposition to the narrative, however, as you say social networks and its mapping with database driven social software technologies, doesn’t seem to have much to do with actual communication. What it does provide, however, is an omnipresent access to people and information, the immediate availability of people their potentials. Based on social software tools, like linkedin and xing we are witnessing a tremendous re- structuring of the increasingly globalized employment market, turning especially high skilled labourers into instantaneous nomads. Accessible any place any time. Is that a good thing?

]]> by: Friendless http://www.timbomb.net/blog/2007/10/02/the-primary-goal-of-social-networks-is-not-communication/#comment-35091 Tue, 02 Oct 2007 05:03:49 +0000 http://www.timbomb.net/blog/2007/10/02/the-primary-goal-of-social-networks-is-not-communication/#comment-35091 <p>I haven't figured out what the goal of Facebook is yet, but I like it. I mostly play Scrabble... on the other hand, the people I play Scrabble against are people I rarely see in real life - one lives in London - and I didn't even know they played Scrabble. When you meet people at work you've got no idea what they do in their private lives, and no idea what they're interested in. Facebook gives you a little bit more insight into them, and without having to do all of that inane "what did you do on the weekend" chatter you can find out what they're into. So far though, sadly, Facebook doesn't support many interesting things. I can see what sort of groups you join, or causes you support, if you put the effort in to do those things.</p> <p>Many Facebook applications just give others a <em>tiny</em> view of what sort of person you are. Photos can show us what you look like when you're drunk, Where I've Been shows us what interesting places you've been to in the time when we weren't seeing you regularly. In theory, from these hints we will find shared experiences and that will lead to better communication.</p> <p>I think games are going to be big on Facebook. At least in a game you get some interaction with your friends. It's a highly stylised interaction, but so is going to a bar for a beer. I blogged about this once:</p> <p>http://sologamer.blogspot.com/2006/10/what-makes-really-great-game.html</p> <p>Ultimately, I don't know what friends are, and what they're for, but all of those people on Facebook are... something. Next time I move house I'll call them all up and see which are the useful ones :-).</p> I haven’t figured out what the goal of Facebook is yet, but I like it. I mostly play Scrabble… on the other hand, the people I play Scrabble against are people I rarely see in real life - one lives in London - and I didn’t even know they played Scrabble. When you meet people at work you’ve got no idea what they do in their private lives, and no idea what they’re interested in. Facebook gives you a little bit more insight into them, and without having to do all of that inane “what did you do on the weekend” chatter you can find out what they’re into. So far though, sadly, Facebook doesn’t support many interesting things. I can see what sort of groups you join, or causes you support, if you put the effort in to do those things.

Many Facebook applications just give others a tiny view of what sort of person you are. Photos can show us what you look like when you’re drunk, Where I’ve Been shows us what interesting places you’ve been to in the time when we weren’t seeing you regularly. In theory, from these hints we will find shared experiences and that will lead to better communication.

I think games are going to be big on Facebook. At least in a game you get some interaction with your friends. It’s a highly stylised interaction, but so is going to a bar for a beer. I blogged about this once:

http://sologamer.blogspot.com/2006/10/what-makes-really-great-game.html

Ultimately, I don’t know what friends are, and what they’re for, but all of those people on Facebook are… something. Next time I move house I’ll call them all up and see which are the useful ones :-) .

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