Category Archives: Social Networking

Real life intrudes into Second Life

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From GMSV:

The more the Real World pushes in, the more Second Life starts looking like First Life.

On Wednesday, with the FBI looking over its shoulder, proprietor Linden Lab shut down Second Life’s casinos and declared there shall be no wagering on games of chance throughout the land.

Then yesterday came word that IBM — once famous for its unspoken but rigid white-shirt-and-wingtips workforce dress code — would be spelling out guidelines for the appearance and behavior of employee avatars in virtual worlds. There’s no mention of navy blue suits, but workers are advised to be “especially sensitive to the appropriateness of your avatar or persona’s appearance when you are meeting with IBM clients or conducting IBM business.” In other words, it would be best not to come to meetings as a badger in a ball gown. Employees are also urged not to be two-or-three-faced. “Building a reputation of trust within a virtual world represents a commitment to be truthful and accountable with fellow digital citizens,” IBM states. “Dramatically altering, splitting or abandoning your digital persona may be a violation of that trust. … In the case of a digital persona used for IBM business purposes, it may violate your obligations to IBM.”

I find this deeply reassuring, somehow. It fits neatly with the discovery that the social stratification that characterises the real world also applies to social networking sites — with MySpace down the socio-economic (as well as the age) scale, and Facebook up the scale in Preppyland. Stand by for the first New Yorker cartoon showing two Baby Boomer parents confronting Preppy teenage daughter with trailer-trash troglodyte in tow. “Don’t you think he’s a bit MySpacey for you, honey?”

Common sense about Facebook

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This morning’s Observer column…

There’s an ancient adage in the computer industry – it may have originated at Microsoft – which says: ‘Always eat your own dog food’. What it means is that if you are writing software other people are going to use, then you must use it yourself. If you’re going to ask other people to commit their time, data and perhaps even sanity to using your product, you should take the same risks yourself…

Facebook closes in on MySpace

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Interesting. Daily Telegraph reports that

Facebook is closing in on rival social networking website MySpace, after almost doubling its US traffic over the past year.

The group has enjoyed an 89pc rise in visitors, recording 26.6m visitors in May alone, according to internet information provider comScore.

The flood of new traffic follows Facebook’s decision in September to open up registration to the general public, a change from its previous policy requiring a valid email address from a university or selected group of secondary schools and businesses.
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Its traffic had hovered at around 14m users a month until September. Since then it has recorded monthly leaps of up to 4m new users.

The website has seen dramatic growth among 25 to 34-year-old users, up 181pc year-on-year.

It also saw a rise of 149pc in the teenage bracket.

MySpace attracts around 69m users each month, but grew at less than half the rate of Facebook last year, recording a 34pc climb in unique visitors.

In a recent poll, 73pc of readers told The Daily Telegraph they had switched from MySpace to Facebook.

Somehow, I can’t see readers of the Telegraph being comfortable on MySpace.

Social class and social networking

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Ah — just as I thought. BBC News reports that:

Fans of MySpace and Facebook are divided by much more than which music they like, suggests a study.

A six-month research project has revealed a sharp division along class lines among the American teenagers flocking to the social network sites.

The research suggests those using Facebook come from wealthier homes and are more likely to attend college.

By contrast, MySpace users tend to get a job after finishing high school rather than continue their education…

Will Murdoch lose face(book)?

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This morning’s Observer column…

Facebook is growing so rapidly that Rupert Murdoch, proprietor of MySpace, is concerned. MySpace, you see, is really a site for young persons – which is why its average personal page has the visual and aesthetic appeal of a teenager’s bedroom floor. But most teenagers eventually grow up, and presumably learn how to tidy their bedrooms, so the $1.6bn question is: where will they go when they tire of MySpace? The disturbing thought that has occurred to Murdoch is that they might go to Facebook…

‘Friends’ in social networking

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Interesting First Monday article on the concept of ‘friendship’ in MySpace, Facebook etc.

Abstract reads:

“Are you my friend? Yes or no?” This question, while fundamentally odd, is a key component of social network sites. Participants must select who on the system they deem to be ‘Friends.’ Their choice is publicly displayed for all to see and becomes the backbone for networked participation. By examining what different participants groups do on social network sites, this paper investigates what Friendship means and how Friendship affects the culture of the sites. I will argue that Friendship helps people write community into being in social network sites. Through these imagined egocentric communities, participants are able to express who they are and locate themselves culturally. In turn, this provides individuals with a contextual frame through which they can properly socialize with other participants. Friending is deeply affected by both social processes and technological affordances. I will argue that the established Friending norms evolved out of a need to resolve the social tensions that emerged due to technological limitations. At the same time, I will argue that Friending supports pre-existing social norms yet because the architecture of social network sites is fundamentally different than the architecture of unmediated social spaces, these sites introduce an environment that is quite unlike that with which we are accustomed.

Thanks to Robert Scoble for the link.

Facebook as a platform

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Seth Goldstein has an interesting post in which he recalls a conversation he had with Brad Silverberg, the lead developer of Windows 95. Silverberg argued that, to succeed, a platform needed to have three things:

  • wide distribution
  • application developers making money
  • good tools

    • It’s clear that Windows 95 had all three.

    Goldstein then applies this test to Facebook:

    * Wide distribution? YES
    * Application developers making money? NO (at least not yet…)
    * Good tools? YES

    So, the question for establishing Facebook’s value as a platform is no longer whether Facebook itself can make money but whether its developers can do so.

    Hmmm…. I don’t see the “good tools” for Facebook. Wonder what Seth thinks they are.

    Facebook funnies

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    Lorcan Dempsey (whom God preserve) posted a link to Dave Winer’s perceptive comment on deficiencies in the options Facebook allows when responding to a request for ‘friendship’. I’m likewise dissatisfied by the limited set of options available for explaining why one is friendly with a given person. If Dave Winer requested my friendship I’d gladly confirm, but my reasons for doing so (I’m a long-term admirer of his work and courage, a former user of his software — Userland blogging tools and the wonderful More! outliner — and someone who was relieved that he survived his health scare some years ago, etc.) are not permitted by the check-boxes provided by Facebook.

    Another deficiency is that one can only respond to a request for ‘friendship’ by accepting, rejecting or sending a message to the person. I don’t feel like sending messages to total strangers saying, effectively, “do I know you?” A richer repertoire of responses is needed!