Time for some anti-social networking

OK, just after all my friends are on FaceBook, now I'm getting the requests to join Spock.com. I don't know what Spock.com is, but after the address-book thingie, MySpace, the high school alumni thingie, Friendster (?), the Google ork-something, the business thingie and most recently FaceBook, I'm all done. All I ever do on these sites is approve friends requests! Isn't there supposed to be some value to it other than that?

Oh, sure, I've had a few messages from people I haven't heard from in a while, but email works for that. In fact, email works for a helluva lot of the internet apps I see today. Plus, most of them just forward web form results to my email anyway! Why do I need a whole other thing when I've already got all my friends listed in my address book?

I declare the social network backlash officially started!

From now on, I'm going to be doing some anti-social networking around the ol' Casa de' Sells. If you want me, you know my email addresses, how to post comments on my blog and my phone number. That should be enough.

"*cough* When I was a boy, we didn't have these fancy social networks. *cough* *cough* We had email and we were happy to have it!"

"Yes, Grandpa. Shhhh...."

I agree with you Grandpa...I am having the same problem. I like Twitter and Facebook but that's the end of it for me. I think that the Scoble-gate with Facebook is an interesting sub-plot in the anti-Social story. Also, Spock to me seems to be a new Plaxo...I am not willing to give a 3rd party my contact information. Its just annoying...

Amen, brutha. I never go on those sites because email + blogs are all I need to communicate online.

I skipped the whole scene entirely and just read about it.

Kinda like asking a friend about a movie. Saves time if it sucks, besides email is simple and I like simple.

I just fill them all out and wait for history to sort out which ones will survive.

"All I ever do on these sites is approve friends requests!"

Just so I don't feel left out, I decided I'd best send you a friend request before you make your official Declaration of Independence from social networks. That said, I think you just did make the declaration, huh?! DAMN! ;-)

BTW, Chris... You might appreciate my recent project "Conversations-as-a-(Web)-Service" announcement over on O'ReillyNet,

@ http://www.oreillynet.com/xml/blog/2008/01/call_for_participation_convers.html

"Here’s the basic idea. It’s built on top of blogging. It doesn’t require you have anything more than a blogging engine and a web hosting service provider to get involved. In other words, there’s no potential at gaining any sort of vendor lock-in advantages from the get go. This idea isn’t about cornering the “conversations market”. It’s about opening it up."

I've been playing around with the FeedSync spec and samples all weekend. Can't think of a better suited technology to help take what we already have (our personal blogs) and enhance them with something desirable (a more efficient way to converse with one another.) I'll let you know if something ever becomes of it.

My oldest daughter, who is in college, does the best anti-social networking I know of. No web site, IM, or even email. She mails a letter, complete with a stamp. I guess you have to think before you put words on paper and say something meaningful, some concept like that.

AMEN! I can't tell you how annoyed I am by the emails I get telling me I have a message from someone at Facebook. That extra click isn't that tough but man it pisses me off. I'm a coughing old man right there with you.

Email works just fine. I don't understand this "Email is dead" thing. It takes me less than a minute to glance at the spam folder and empty it when nothing looks legit. I do this because of possible false positives.

Anything that needs joining is a waste of time for me.. this includes social networks, photo sharing sites...etc. Isn't the web the biggest most natural social network?

+1, well said, I am tired of the "Joe has joined and wants you to join" emails.

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Good news, history has spoken in 140 characters.

-jesse