Is "social" making you gaga?

by Volker Weber

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Companies becoming fans of themselves and suggesting you follow suit? Like in "I recommend myself and suggest you recommend me too"? Or people wanting to share their location with other people they hardly know? And suggesting those imaginary friends do the same?

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Maybe marketing is driving you crazy, but I really suggest you sit back a little and re-think what you are doing here.

Comments

How can I become a fan of this post? ;-)

Chris Linfoot, 2010-03-23

Actually, it's the gaga folks who are attracted by Social Media.

Hanno Zulla, 2010-03-23

Chris, you just did.

Volker Weber, 2010-03-23

Ah, good to see some common sense on the web. How would we say on Twitter? +1 ;)

Hubert Stettner, 2010-03-24

Hubert, I thought on Twitter it would be hash-tagged and retweeted. ;)

It's really insane, what's happening out there the in the social jungle.
I closed most of my social network accounts after a while as I didn't really see the point. And the accounts that are still open are not really maintained by me. I just don't see the point.

Daniel Haferkorn, 2010-03-24

Yes. And no.

1. problem: Incompatibility. There are too many social networks, micro-blogging apps and recommendation/location apps. And they all are not really compatible. I have real friends all over Germany, the UK, the US, Asia and Australia. To stay in touch I decided to use Xing, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Buzz, BlackBerry Messenger, Latitude, Qype Gowalla and Foursquare, besides multiple email accounts etc. I have to use anyway. Not maintainable. So I contribute to Twitter, Facebook (the real international apps) and BlackBerry Messenger only and look into the others once per month or less.

2. problem: Duplication. One of my friends sends, what he thinks is relevant, via Twitter, Facebook and Buzz. But some things which are relevant for me are only on one network.

3. problem: Human nature. Once I met a not so famous comedian at a birthday party. He is a good friend of the host, as I am. The comedian and I had a very good small talk, because we were the only people from far away not knowing all the others. Back home I "friended" him on Facebook. I was not amused that he has ignored me. But why? We are neither friends, nor "friends". We met once, that's all.

4. problem: Privacy. Most of the people I know have no idea that everything they post on Twitter is public. They cannot differentiate between a direct message, a SMS, ICQ chat or an email. They offend people in public; they would never do when they meet them in person. They insult people they do not know at all, without thinking about it. They tell everything about their private life, to everybody around the globe. And they also share intimate pictures of their love affairs, their children with full address and name details. Stupid.

I like the idea of being "social" over the web. But the current implementation is not satisfactory, neither from a technical point of view, nor from the capabilities of the users. What a pity.

Sven Richert, 2010-03-24

Now, do you expose yourself to this because you are gaga or you like experimenting, or does it provide you with some real value, or...?

Frank Quednau, 2010-03-24

In the UK we're about to have an election that will be social media-driven to some extent - I for one am quailing at the prospect!

Nick Daisley, 2010-03-26

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