I want to touch on something – again – which I’ve mentioned a few times.
I have problems understanding all these “new” social websites, the entire web 2.0 wave and the continued pull on so many people to judge their self-worth based on these site.
And yes – I am so very aware of the irony of using similar services myself and even more blogging about it. There is no need to point it out – I am just a lemming, although one of my reasons is “keeping up” with the technologies due to professional interest. But I’m also a lemming who view these things critically.
Anyways – as I see it, much of it is just a continued development of the usage of the internet, to a degree. The popularity of something increases (drastically), more people, new technologies and so on.
Back in the “old days” of being online it was the bulletin boards which were the big thing, then the web struck it big and everybody and their dog had to have a website. IRC chat, ICQ and UseNet groups existed and people socialized via them, but it was for the nerds and geeks and people with no life. But it was Web 2.0, and it was it before anybody had even thought about calling anything for Web 2.0.
But then development stepped up pace discussion boards where big and sites such as “MySpace” popped up and now everybody and their dog had to have a MySpace page and be a member of umpteen forums, and share their thoughts and often private details with the world. Websites were a thing of the past. Well not really, but it wasn’t “cool” any more.

Nowadays it is Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and the likes – there are a ton of social sites out there, where ICQ and IRC have died out. People have moved on to the next new thing. No big surprise there.
But where does this development take us? It is almost a race to keep up. New social network and “big thing” and people flock towards that without judging whether it is worth it or not.
Reports are flowing around now that Facebook sells the information it gathers on its users  for advertisement purpose – logically I’d say. Of course they’ll do that, almost anybody would much like Google does – few people give away services for absolutely nothing.

But combine such reports with so many people’s inability to separate their private sphere, or business sphere from their online Facebook (for example) activity, it results in confidential, private or even harmfull material is flowing around an mass.
And then enters the security risk of all the hundreds of applications people spam other people with, all masked with the approval of friends, meaning the critical sense and safeguards are clouded which would otherwise safeguard you from clicking links you shouldn’t.
Just imagine the amount of data which shouldn’t be there, based on the cases we actually hear.
I even saw some analyst suggest that people should hurry on to these sites and simply create a profile to reserve their name and avoid fake profiles, so you/your company wouldn’t be spoofed?

I mean where have common sense gone? Why is it common anymore? My Facebook profile is mostly used as a contact book for friends, and so I can keep up with what they are doing and have an easy way to contact them in case I need/want. But why do people post private pictures on what is essentially a network they have no control over? People post they go on vacation alongside their full name and address/home town.
I’ve also start seeing reports in the news that “kids” these days measure their worth in how many friends they have on services as Facebook. “Oh noes, I only have 20 friends, so I must be less popular and interesting and worthwhile then that one who has 200”.

I’ve often wondered whether the expansion of the internet have made common sense go away as it becomes a larger part of our life – or it is because lack of common sense is a constant and we just see it much more visible than ever before due to modern technology?
Are these social networks really beneficial for many people? Can they not control themselves when the border between private and public becomes blurred out due to technology?
Has technology moved too fast? Or have it just exposed the people who lack common sense?

 

Some time ago I was reading a magazine from a professional organization I’m a member of.
It said that in England, IT people and office workers were spending about half an hour a day on services such as YouTube, Facebook and MySpace, which equated to a huge number of lost revenue a year. The original survey was performed back in January .... yes I’m a tad out of the loop. Anyways....
Even though the piece did list a number of benefits; building relations and a fast way to information, it did focus heavily on the loss it caused.
So what striked me most about this piece was how the loss was actually made up because it looks to be half  hour used equals a half hour “lost” productivity.
There was little mention on whether people were doing this on their breaks or in the work time. That alone is the first caveat that something was ”off” with this. I doubt most people can work a full 8 hours a day without any form for break. So what if this half hour takes place in a timeslot which otherwise would be used to .... say, take a break. Then it can’t be lost productivity, ‘cause that implies 100% productivity in a work day.

Now, I’m a programmer, and as such I spend almost my entire workday behind the computer, and yes, I do venture into Facebook once a while or look at some videos on YouTube, however I generally also work enough hours that breaks are warranted. And when taking a break, sitting behind the computer – it is easy to just alt-tab over to a browser, and do a little light surfing or “networking”.

Funnily enough, then in the same magazine two pages prior to this piece, there was another article which stated that “small talk” was important to build social relations around the office. Basically a positive form of gossip, water cooler talk, because it helped you connect with your colleagues and possible find out more personal stuff about them, or even work related information. Now I know it wasn’t the same author of both articles (I hope) and the sources for the information likewise, but I find it fun how one type of “wastefulness” can be considered beneficial and the other as loss of productivity.  Also when considering that nobody can be fully productive 100% of the time, and that “half hour” relaxation might mean that people actually work a half hour faster than they normally would do.

Personally I think – especially for people in my line of work, those social networks like Facebook for example is the new water cooler.
I rarely use facebook for many usefull things, other than as a method of keeping up with friends, but most of my colleagues – and even bosses – are on my friend list on Facebook (and LinkedIn, my other social network I visit - linkes to my profile are found under links to the right). It provides easy “openers” for small talk at work; which statements the persons have posted, quizzes taken and all such things.
So is the “loss of productivity” bad, or is it a new method with which you can connect with your colleagues on another more personal and informal level? Is it the new water cooler, or just an alternative to the “how about that weather” opener?

Well, as long as I know that these sites do not interfere with work – and of course, if usage of them becomes a problem for a person, like an addiction, then something must be done – then I’ll continue to use them because “small talk” *is* important and a remark dropped on a social network is a good opener.