My name is James Richards, and I’m a social networking addict.

It has been four minutes since my last twitter, one hour since my last Facebook post and fifteen seconds since I last stared at the scobbling bar in last FM waiting for my song to “count”. I hate social networking sites, I abhor them, yet having tasted the sweet nectar of their blossom, I fear that I cannot live without them. Of course it’s not a hatred of the sites themselves, but rather the way that they make it so easy to lose yourself for hours on end, the way they prompt you to think “I’ll just check my friend updates and then write that assignment”, the way that if you choose not to use them you are shunned by your peers and cast off like the unsociable bastard you are. Yes, these sites are amazing ways to keep in touch with your peers in interesting ways, but a bigger time waster you will not find [1]. I will begin by taking you step by step through each of my vices in regards to social networking tools and then delve into what exactly it is that makes these applications so addictive.

I was addicted prior to engaging in this course; however that addiction has increased tenfold since my eyes were opened to the “wonder” of Twitter, Last Fm and del.icio.us. Previously I would actively engage in “Facebooking”, Instant Messaging and to a certain extent Myspace (only to appease my peers). The remaining social tools were limited to bulletin boards, image boards and the occasional YouTube comment. For now, we begin by exploring what I would consider the Reigning leaders of modern day social networking tools:

Partners in crime: Facebook & Myspace

In the end, these two sites offer virtually the same functions; The ability to show off how many friends you have, post comments to each other, and set up a profile page. The difference comes in all the little functions which supplement these such as ranking said friends and posting pictures to each other. Chances are if you are reading this you know full well what each of these sites can and cannot do, so I won’t bore you with all the specifics. However there is one feature of note on Facebook which I would like to point out which I believe has been the main contributor to its success; The facebook API, or Application Programming Interface. This ability for users to design mini applications for the site and share them is part of what differentiates the Web 2.0 Facebook from the Web 1.5 Myspace; People go Ga-Ga for user created content.(Youtube anyone?)

Facebook’s popularity has increased massively over the past year and now reaches more people daily than its biggest rival MySpace.[2] In terms of overall traffic it still sits just below MySpace, but whereas Myspace traffic is remaining steady, Facebook’s is still growing.

[2]

The new contenders: Twitter, Last FM, Flickr, Del.icio.us and Google Calendar

Having only recently discovered the majority of these sites existed due to this course, I can honestly say that productivity has hit an all time low. The main offender is twitter, simply allowing users to answer the question “what are you doing” in 140 characters or less, and then delivering these updates to all their friends. Last Fm is another thing all together, combining a clunky web profile with a downloadable application that monitors your music and uploads your music listening habits to the website. Flickr is a photo sharing site which allows users to post comments on each other’s photos. However functionality like this has already been incorporated into the bigger social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace and these have already surpassed the popularity of the low-functionality Flickr. Late last year Flickr reported their 2 Billionth photo had been uploaded, Facebook responded by saying they were already 2 Billion photos ahead with approximately 4.1 Billion[3]. Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking tool allowing users to tag bookmarks and then sort through them using these tags. A few people I know find it useful, but personally I found it to be an exercise in tedium as there are many more reliable and dynamic ways to stumble upon interesting websites rather than to reply on Joe Schmoe tagging a website correctly. Finally Google calendar, an Ajax based drag and drop style online social calendar. Sounded good in theory, but was clunky and not so useful in practicality. I did not want to have to type in a web address, log in, navigate the page just to add in a lunch date. And I most certainly did not want to have to do all that to find out my other friends plans when I would most likely be receiving a twitter update about it anyway.

Decidedly Old-school: Instant Messaging, Message/image boards and email

These three characters have been around for so long they are often overlooked as forms of social computing. You will most likely find no shiny web 2.0 rubbish here, just pure functionality; they care not for where you went to high school, what your pets names are or who your favorite bands are but if you want to communicate a message from one person to another, these are my weapons of choice.

The reality of it all.

Or – Just what is so bad about all these sites?

The ability to communicate is one of the fundamental thing on which our civilization is based. All of the aforementioned applications and websites are creative and amazing new ways for us to broaden our communication horizons. But they come at a cost. A cost which some experts report is in the range of 1 to 10 billion dollars annually[4][5]. The problem stems from the way these sites require constant attention in order for users to “keep up” socially. This attention keeps users from other important tasks, such as jobs or study and as a result massive productivity loss occurs. The majority of these problems are social problems; that is, the websites weren’t designed as massive productivity sinks meant to send the world back into the Stone Age. Rather users feel pressured by their peers to “keep up” and be sociable. Indeed Facebook or MySpace have never given me any indication whatsoever that I am required to log in several times a day. But by god, if I didn’t log in and see that invite to a weekend BBQ, or see that particular picture comment my friends would have my head on a spike. These sites know this, and they exploit it.

This is the problem at the base level, however as these sites get more creative and expansive, so does the problem. Take twitter for example; obviously people will be jumping on to their pc’s to check their friends status updates. But twitter expands upon this by sending out FREE SMS updates of your status to everyone who is following you. Now even when I’m away from the PC these sites are still sapping my productivity. Last.FM sounds very non-intrusive, and indeed it should be, however once again the social element rears its ugly head as I ask myself questions such as “Do I want my friends knowing I’m listening to this song?” or “How long until this song will register so I can change it?”. Perhaps that one is just me being anal retentive, but I’m sure I’m not the only one in the world.

Of course to place any true blame on these sites or applications would be an exercise in blame shifting. The problem lies solely with the individual and their ability to “behave” and only use these sites at the appropriate times, but it is a costly problem indeed.

Final Thoughts

There must be some kind of cruel irony in the fact that we are expected to be able to write a coherent essay in a course devoted to forcing us to use some of the biggest time wasting sites on the internet. I kept track of every time I got distracted by one of the aforementioned sites during the time it took me to write this report. In order to avoid embarrassing myself, I’ll leave out the details; needless to say I proved to myself, if no one else, the validity of my claims. These sites all offer a wealth of amazing new technologies and ways for us to interact, but is the price too high? Who can say for sure, but for now I think I’m going to try and give these social tools a little less of my time and kick it old school; talking to my friends in person. Say no to Facebook!

James Richards – s41211386

References

[1]http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10458802

[2]See Graph

[3]http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/13/2-billion-photos-on-flickr/

[4]http://www.web2journal.com/read/487999.htm

[5]http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2007/08/19/facebook-is-a-5-billion-drain-on-business/