What's the deal with "Social Networking?"

Post Reply New Topic

I have a twitter and recently got a facebook. They're both just to keep in touch with my online friends--most of my real life friends don't even know I have a facebook, and I'd rather keep it that way. Having my mom on there is painful enough.

Basically? I like to keep tabs on people, and know what they're doing and how they're feeling (like a stalker!) so having these accounts gives me access to people's pictures and statuses and whatever in case I ever need them. All these people are friends I only know through the interwebs, so this makes it easy to see what's up with everyone.

Definitely not. I just didn't have anything to say in response to those who posted not liking it.

I like it. While many people do idolize themselves on it and post vacuous platitudes in status updates I like that I can connect to old friends and see what their up to. I never really post status updates. I only actively use Facebook. I never really use myspace and have no interest in Twitter.

oh, good

for a moment there i was worried.
social networking sites has definite potential for people like us i have realized.
discovering that fact and how to utilize it to such ends though seems lost on most as judged by the majority of these replies however.

I've got a CopySpace and a Pastebook but I rarely log in to them. Boring, same old sh**. Tweeter seems too pointless.

I prefer to use Last.fm.

That's the whole problem with the perception of Facebook - and this is the reason why many people, aspies included, have problems understanding it as a social network.

I'll use myself as an example.... (excuse me if I sound like I'm "blowing my own trumpet" here) - It's just the example I know best..


My Status....
I use twitter to power my status.
When things happen in my life, I'm a twit (I twitter). I say what I'm doing.
Not all the time - in fact, usually only once or twice per week.
If my kids, do a funny thing, I'll twit it - for example;
"Not looking forward to going home after hearing that Tristan decided to eat blue food coloring and dropped the bottle all over our new tiles."

People respond to that, even if they don't know my son. It's something they can relate to. It's funny etc..
For example, one of my responses said "you should call him Smurf from now on".

That's not bragging about yourself. It's social because it's interactive.


I've also got my twitter account (and therefore my facebook status) linked to my blogs. If I do a posting, it all automatically updates. This means that people who are interested can make comments.

Then... I've got sharaholic in my browser. If I read something via my many RSS feeds, which I think is interesting, I'll "share" it, with my comments. Other people comment on my comments. Again, because it's interactive, it's social. People give me good ideas and I give them good articles.

Then there's applications, I don't use many but I do like LivingSocial which has lots of quizzes and "pick your fives" for favourite movies or "movies you grew up with". Movies are one of my special interests. I pick my five, sometimes they're commented on, often they're not. That's ok too.

Sometimes I join groups which interest me, for example Doctor Who groups or Movies Groups, Lotus Notes Groups etc... There's good discussion to be had there as well. I've also joined some great aspergers groups and I've "friended" other people in those groups.

Friending someone puts them in your status list. It means that you see notifications from them and you see their status updates. If a friend updates their status to something that sounds funny, good, sad or in any other way provokes an emotive response from me, I'll often post a reply, a witicism, a joke or if it's needed, a message of support. If they post something that really interests me, I might even send them an email - or chat online.

Some of the friends I've made on facebook have become really good friends and we provide a lot of social support for eachother. Sure, we've never met but that doesn't matter. It's still a great social experience.

I was hooked on Myspace for about five years, mainly for blogging because it's been a hobby of mine to write about whatever. It became my routine to post whatever random topic was floating around in my head regardless of whether or not my friends had any idea what I was writing about. For me it was a refreshing means of being able to express myself with having to worry about a time limit.

After awhile I discovered that I wasn't typical in my devotion to blog more then once a week (sometimes more then once a day) and it puzzled me that none of my friends seemed capable of stringing more then two sentences together. I felt like I was the talkative one and wondered what I was doing wrong. Oddly, my friend list was populated by mostly co-workers - the same people I ignore every day, which never read (or at least never comment on ) anything I write. I think the only reason I gave them my address was because I'd rather pretend I might get back to them online rather then worry about them calling me.

Facebook used to bother me because of all the activity stream updates. The applications mostly struck me as corny, the requests for mafiawars and whatnot I always ignore. It seemed like a lazier version of Myspace where you got to ignore the background junk and music. I keep it going since it gives me something to do my days off, even if it is to wonder the note options are so limited. I'm much rather IM people because there's always the option of "brb afk!" to get out of any conversation.

LOL mytwitface.

I like them to keep in touch and for something to do. Don't add randoms.

I 'deactivated'(='temporarily vanish') my facebook account today. Being disconnected from the borg feels good. I wonder how long it will take one of my 78 'friends' to notice..

Hope to take up public blogging again.

God, I haven't heard the word "Borg" in forever, that cracked me up. I deactivated my facebook once to see if anyone would notice. Reactivated it because my wife missed doing SuperPokey pets or whatever it's called. Lately I've just been posting random movie quotes in my daily updates just to annoy my friends. I'm waiting to see how long before anyone replies to one.

I deleted everything from my Myspace except for the music. Mostly because I'd rather put tracks on that play list then search my house for cd's to rip from. I'm thinking this is practical rather then pure stubborn laziness on my part.

Haha, on going through a bad patch I put Travis Bickle quotes up every day. Not that anyone "liked" or probably even noticed.

I'm not one of them there "popular" AS types.

Facebook is one of those systems where you get noticed if you do things and not if you don't.

If you simply disappear, most people won't notice - ever.

If you decide to wear a red hat and change your status to: "Today, I'm wearing a red hat", you'll get plenty of "Likes" and Comments.

I changed my status to: " Today I'm wearing a green hat". I don't own any red ones, but I'm kinda wondering if my friends are more likely to respond to this sort of statement then anything else I've put on there. Mostly because I'm curious to see if it really is that easy, and also whether or not I need to find friends that get random Kevin Smith movie references.

Let us know what happens, I'll be interested to know too.

Basically, if you think you would have a use for one of these things, get it. If you don't, you probably don't need it.

I got a Facebook account when I went to college because people automatically asked to add me on it, and I was trying to be social. A lot of encounters were just weird – I had a lot of complete strangers from my school who added me, I would add them back trying to be polite, and they'd never say anything to me. A few months ago I de-friended all those people. But I also found it to be a good social lubricant. I have a memory for names, but not faces, so if I met someone I thought I would get along with, I'd go on FaceBook and look at their profile photo to try and remember them if I met them again. The information on profiles can also be good conversation material – if I know a little about someone's interests, I'm not as helpless in conversation as I usually am. Also, someone asking (offline) to add you on FaceBook is a good indicator that they want to get to know you better.

That said, since leaving college I haven't used it except to keep up with old friends. I can see what people I know but am no longer around are doing, and engage in conversations with several of them at a time. Okay, one could do that in chat, but I hate chat.

I also enjoy declining friend requests from my extended family (with whom I have a relationship of mutual dislike).

A whole lot of nothing. I'll wait a couple more days.