What social network sites do you regularly visit? And why?

I know nothing about these sites to I'm curious which sites people use.

Thanks.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tess on May 30, 2008 at 10:29am: I've used LinkedIn pretty extensively but find that many of my connections still use the site sparingly. Haven't tried any of the other sites as heavy work and travel schedule the past two years has kept my free time to a bare minimum (and afraid they would become addictive).; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dan on June 23, 2008 at 1:57pm: I'll try to answer some of the as-yet-unanswered questions, and then weigh in on the original.

I am a new user of Twitter and still figuring out how it can be useful to me. I've observed that it is very useful to journalists, especially techy-journalists, who use it to stay on top of breaking stories. In fact, when I heard about The Conversation on the radio this morning, I assumed it would include a way for me to Tweet story suggestions to WAMU - you might consider including that. In short, though, Twitter is still evolving rapidly, and who knows what new applications people will figure out for it.

You also asked about ways to tie social networks together. Currently, it is not possible to integrate your lists of friends across multiple social networks, although people are working on it. What IS possible is to view your friends' feeds from multiple networks. I.e., every time someone updates their information, posts a new photograph, etc., on any network, you can see it centrally. I personally don't find this useful, because that's not what I use social networks for, but many people use Friend Feed, Plaxo, or others for this purpose.

Back to the original questions, I use Linked In and Facebook regularly. Linked In is invaluable for professional networking, for business development, hiring, job searches, etc. I've been using Facebook because I have a business with an application on Facebook, but I've also come to appreciate it as a way to discover what my friends' interests are (both personal and professional), in a way that I often find out about interesting events and groups that I otherwise wouldn't have known about.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jonathan Smith (WAMU 88.5) on June 24, 2008 at 3:15pm: Dan,

Thanks for your reply. I'll check with our web guys about letting people tweet story suggestions - it sounds like a good idea and in the spirit of the conversation and citizen journalism.

How often do you check in with Facebook and Linked In? I've signed up with both but often forget to check in (it could be a generational thing or an issues of time/priority).

thanks again.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by cinnamonlife on June 24, 2008 at 5:20pm: I feel the same way, but about MySpace, and I think it was because I started using Facebook first (at least 5 years ago, when you had to have an email address ending with .edu to sign up, and it was much simpler, it's getting a little bit MySpace-y), and I many of the applications on it have detracted from it's appeal for me.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by cinnamonlife on June 24, 2008 at 5:24pm: Facebook sends you an email whenever someone writes on your wall or sends your account a message, etc. Other sites probably offer similar services.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by cinnamonlife on June 24, 2008 at 5:29pm: Oh I remember Friendster! That one seems to have become much less popular. From talking to a lot of my friends that use MySpace and Facebook, people often tend to fall into "camps" based on which they started using first, since they layouts are quite different (though I think recently they're becoming more similar).; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dan on June 25, 2008 at 8:36am: Jonathan - I check Facebook daily, although the reasons are complicated. First, as I mentioned, I have an application on Facebook, so that keeps me going back. Second, there's an entertainment application that keeps me coming back for a few seconds each day. It's a game, basically, that allows me to do one thing each day (so it's not a huge time sink). But, the effect is to get me signing in each day, and when I do, I see what new posts there are. To be honest, though, if my main goal were to see those posts, I'd use some kind of aggregator like Friend Feed.

I only check Linked In when I need to use it for something.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by cinnamonlife on June 25, 2008 at 11:16am: Also of note is the role that social/aggregate news websites play with social network sites, such as reddit, digg, and others. They provide a format for some very interesting and sophisticated discussions, in addition to some of the more disposable types of discussions one almost expects on many online forums. Besides the applications for these which link them to social networking sites, they begin to develop their own etiquette, humor and culture which gives the sense of a community, since you can upvote or downvote other user's comments based on whether or not you think it's appropriate or well reasoned, or based on your opinion, as well was upvotting/downvotting an article that's been submitted. Since you can see the statistics, it's interesting to note what sort of things go over well or are down votted so much that the comment is minimized (you can still read it by expanding it's line in the screen). Some of what I've noticed from browsing and participating is discouraging, but I also have come away with better understanding of some of the news I read, or an incentive to learn more (like if I get into a debate and need to go find sources to back up a claim), or even just learning something new.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Katie on June 27, 2008 at 2:41pm: How old are your children? You should check in on their Facebook (and MySpace) profiles and whatever else to make sure they maintain some privacy and decorum. I started on Friendster and then MySpace to keep in touch with friends initially, but when I became stepmom to a 16 yr old, MySpace became an important way to keep tabs on who and what was important in our teen's life (and how she was spending her time...) She eventually created another profile (thinking we wouldn't find out) so she could "speak freely" with her friends - but it was pretty easy to follow the conversations with other friends. I'm not saying you should spy on your children. This was just a great opener for conversations on privacy, a sense of "what's appropriate" and what's "safe" online/in public.

I am now also on Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter. I don't have time for any of these really. MySpace and Facebook had an intial "addictive" quality, but like others I found MySpace too cluttered. Facebook apps are fun, but time consuming. Additionally, I realized I was starting to get junk mail as a result of information stored on Facebook so I began deleting a bunch of apps. I don't have time for Twitter and don't see a lot of use for ME, though I can see how it might be helpful in certain arenas. LinkedIn seems to be the site for professional networking (i.e. job hunting). Oh, I also joined Naymz, but only check if someone sends me a message.

As for the Conversation, I'm just a fan of NPR and can rarely listen during the day. I thought this might be a way to participate without having to turn on the radio.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Terrence Briggs on June 29, 2008 at 11:33am: Is it fair to include USENET discussion groups? They technically aren't "Web Sites", but these groups can be accessed for free through "Google Groups".

There are political discussion groups, but I have posted in rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.animation for 12 years. Those two groups are unmoderated and text-only, but free, archived, easy to read, and usually pretty lively. Every time I try to join a Web-based group, I find myself drifting back to USENET.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by SlumburbiaResident on June 30, 2008 at 12:29pm: I had a Facebook profile but deleted it. (Technically I suspended it--they don't let you delete it because of their obnoxious policies.)

For me, Facebook ultimately proved to be more of a distracting nuisance than the “utility” it claims to be. When I was signed up, the default alert settings were very annoying & disruptive and their strategy seemed to be to have you logged in as much as possible (not surprisingly). There’s a good reason a lot of workplaces block Facebook and its ilk.

Ultimately, I found a lot of my “interactions” on there hollow and meaningless. And I didn’t necessarily want to encounter a lot of the people I went to school with again. (Sometimes there’s good reasons for letting certain friendships lapse.)

I’d rather meet people based on overlapping interests anyways, e.g. through discussion groups.

Facebook is heavily oriented toward your social history vis-à-vis schools attended, past/present workplaces & professional affiliations, etc. For some of us, certain things are best left behind.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Matt on July 2, 2008 at 4:36pm: I use Linked in - I think that's because I stand on the verge of the baby boomer generation - I don't think I'm quite trendy enough to use Facebook and certainly not MySpace. One thing I have found (as an employer) is that in doing my research on new hires I always Google them, and then check out MySpace, FaceBook and Linked In to get a better understanding of who my potential new hires is.

When I started doing this I was really just trying to find out more about the candidates. Then I came across things folks had written, said and how they had answered questions (likes/dislikes) and I was amazed.

How could these smart people sit in front of me and tell me about their great strengths and know how, and still have had such a lack of judgment to put such filth and explicit information up for the world to see. Would they talk to one of my clients in an email or IM like that - would they use the terms like that when they got comfortable - please know, I don't care "how you like it" or "what you like it with" but to have your preferences (of every kind) available for everyone to see in the most rawest (and base) form leaves a ton of questions about their judgment.

SO, that's how I use the social networking sites - are my potential new hires smart enough to keep their VERY intimate personal information - personal.; ▶ Reply to This