bloggedy blog: the personal weblog of a music lover and aging punk wannabe

:: Saturday, March 27, 2004 ::

I am not alone in my dislike of the social networking tools
I was beginning to worry that I was alone in my dislike of social networking tools like Friendster, Orkut, etc. But now I find that no less a light than David Weinberger also looks askance at these things. In his latest newsletter, he writes:
Look, I want to say to the Friendsters of the world, we already invented a social network for friends and strangers. It's called the Internet. Why are you privatizing it? Why do we need a proprietary sub-network to do what the Internet has already done in an open way?

And the right response is: Sit down, old man!

I don't like Friendster because, well, I don't like it. I'm not dating. I'm not even looking for more friends. I love meeting new people — not a statement I would have made before the Net — but I like meeting them because we first engage in discussion about some topic. An email to me saying, "I disagree with your blog entry about X or Y, and let me tell you why" is much more likely to lead to a friendship than one that says, "Hey, I see we're both interested in video games and Peeps art!" That's just the way I am. And I do think it's generational.

I don't like this thing coming along that implies that the existing social networks on the Internet — my social networks, the ones that constitute my social world — are so inadequate that some badly designed system with a derivative name (enoughster with the "sters" alreadyster!) sweeps the Net like photos of Janet Jackson's poppin' fresh wardrobe malfunction. What's a matter, the Net wasn't good enough for you?

Hey, you kids! Get off of my lawn!

Well put. I'll see you at the cribbage table in the nursing home game room, David.

But, curmudgeon or no, Weinberger makes a good point. The Internet is all the social network we need. Isn't it?

:: Andrew 13:44 + ::
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