One of the best kept secrets during high school was that a small group of students ran an underground BBS using an Apple II+ that sat on a counter in the back room of the library. I don't even remember what it was called but the whole system was run from a floppy disk (not the ones encased with plastic but the real five-inch-and-one-quarter deal) through a single phone line. Mike Brazie (if you wanted to get a punched in the back--for that is the only punch he knew how to through--you called him Mike Brazire) had the nerd-glory of being the SYSOP (system operator) and he carried that badge of honor with courage, behind closed doors.
Of course all of this three-hundred-baud-nerd stuff was a closely guarded secret as the idea of participating in an online social network was very, very off-putting to the girls. Well, it wasn't really popular with anyone really so you just didn't bring it up during discussions in public. Because only one person at a time could be logged into the system the activities mostly included sending private messages to other users and posting messages to public groups on a variety of topics that generally included games, computers, politics, science, entertainment, and food. A chat session was possible but only between the user dialed-in and the SYSOP if he (very, very rarely a she) was physically at the machine, which didn't happen very often. The people you interacted with weren't considered your online friends per-se, they were just other people with nerd tendencies.
Now here we are living in the middle of William Gibson's envisioned Cyberspace and now you're an outcast if you don't have a Myspace page, Facebook account and who-the-hell-knows-what-else that I, at an elderly thirty-six, don't know about. And that's fine, I don't need to pretend I'm Forever 21, nor do I have a desire to relive the past—I have been very happy to avoid that kind of social per-pressure for a long time.
Now I find myself in new awkward territory with more and more requests by other business owners, peers, and professionals to become "friends" inside these same social sites and I don't quite fully grok this new layer of "networking". Does it really matter that I've posted a note on someone's page? Are we missing out on some large contract because Airbag is on Virb but not MySpace? Should I cry myself to sleep because I'm not in someone's top three, five, eight, whatever? Second Life sucks--oops, can I say that with my outside voice and not be an outcast?
My gut tells me that no, no one is really loosing business because they aren't actively participating in some sudo electronic version of RL (in real life) but it makes for an Ok mind-numbed distraction. That said, if we could somehow recreate the digital magic that was the Commodore 64 powered NeonBBS, circa 1989, then that's an entirely different situation and one that would require active engagement.
Join the fray by reading through and commenting at the end.
"Does it really matter that I've posted a note on someone's page? Are we missing out on some large contract because Airbag is on Virb but not MySpace?"
No. If it does then I really need to make up for lost time.
When MySpace comes up in business, or a customer/associate sends me an invite to some new service, it reminds me of The Office episode where Michael suggests that Chili's is the new golf course. Seems much more plausible to me. *Sigh*
One of the many frightening elements of Facebook and the like is that as my company has been in a hiring frenzy of late, I've discovered that HR and others charged with hiring are now using Facebook as a primary tool for sorting the wheat from the chaff. More frightening still is that it's rather effective. People are being "dooced" before they're even hired. Creeeepy.
Second Life sucks--oops, can I say that with my outside voice and not be an outcast?
Thank you. Now there are two of us.
Wow, Greg is worried that he isn't connected enough to the cyberworld! What hope is there for mere mortals like me? I've never even seen MySpace or Facebook or Twitter or Virb or Second Life. Before you all disregard the rest of this comment as coming from a Neanderthal, I do have a three computers, a web site, a palm pda, and I use Skype, (my wife even has a blog) so I'm not a totally prehistoric. Seriously though, am I really being left behind or are these things mainly the domain of the latest incarnation of Mike Brazie?
@BigA - that is the primary reason I have avoided the networking sites, being "dooced." Well, kind of. Mostly I don't have the time to chase down all my friends and add people to every network and join every club. I have two blogs and that is more than enough work for me.
I would much rather talk to my friends face to face or on the phone.
"Look out kid ... keep it all hid"
I don't need no stinkin aboufacebook or damn a uSpace
Our BBS was called "The Igloo Installation"
In the words of Jay Leno, "The government has created a site that lists every child molester in the United States... it's called MySpace."
I find that my IQ drops on the rare occasion that I view a MySpace page.
And, geeze, Greg, you forgot to credit me as co-SYSOP with Mike.
At 33, I've also gotten that feeling of being too old already to jump in the social networking bandwagon the way everyone else expects you to. Ten years ago, the closest thing to that -and by a long stretch- was Geocities, and even then I never got too involved with it, old skool HTML skillz notwithstanding.
These days, the sole fact that I managed to grab a Twitter account should be considered a small triumph. Even if half of the updates I get from my friends and acquaintances are about them moving over to the latest Web 2.0 craze - Pownce. Sigh. How can anyone keep up with all this s#!* and still be able to live a normal life?
Yes, I'm definitely getting old. Double sigh.
I stayed away from MySpace, since it was too jarring to my designer sensibilities, and now it seems Facebook is taking over. I hesitated on Twitter, since it seemed like backwards stalking, but now I tweet quite a bit.
The stress these services cause, by those of us reeling to keep up, reminds me of high school. And not in a good way.
Myspace? hah! Second Life? Humbug. Facebook? err, yes, well..
I cut my teeth, as it were, on the Apple IIe - the trip down memory lane was both frightening and yet strangely appealing. Is that inherently wrong?
I twitter some, pownce rarely. If one were to keep up with every. single. trend. one would have no actual life, to speak of, or is that the point.. to become a genuine online persona, with no reality interjecting?
I engage where I care to engage and the world (that blue spinning orb.. thing) in return seems to be OK with that. Works for me.
That said, if we could somehow recreate the digital magic that was the Commodore 64 powered NeonBBS, circa 1989, then that's an entirely different situation and one that would require active engagement.
Can't help with your Commodore dreams, but over at experiment-s (.de) is a guy who has ported an entire Atari ST IP core to an FPGA. Viva la Geek!
I'm glad someone finally said it, because I've been thinking the same for a while.
I am in the demographic of these myspace-facebook-secondlife hooligans (21) but I feel the same way, and the way I've rationalized it to myself is that when I'm trying to become a designer, I have to manage my brand carefully (and alas, my brand is my ugly mug). In most of the cases, I'd far much prefer my name coming up in google and google only. If I'm on facebook it's a dummy name with dummy pictures, and that goes for every other site.
In this time of the redefinition of privacy, to have the only result returned is the occassionally dumb comment & a website is probably the wisest....
That being said, at 21, I feel too old for these highschoolish "add me add you" things too. =\
@James Embree - my God!
Do you never proof-read, Greg? This post is particularly jarring.
> How can anyone keep up with all this s#!* and still be able to live a normal life?
Beto, once you cross over the 35 line you realize the idea of a normal life is a big life the government wants you to believe in so that you don't start a revolution.
> And, geeze, Greg, you forgot to credit me as co-SYSOP with Mike.
Nerd!
> The stress these services cause, by those of us reeling to keep up, reminds me of high school. And not in a good way.
The funny thing is that I don't think anyone has a real good idea as to why they are doing it other than if I don't I'll get behind. Somtimes I pine to be back at the coffee shop making UR lattes.
> Can't help with your Commodore dreams, but over at experiment-s (.de) is a guy who has ported an entire Atari ST IP core to an FPGA.
Not sure if I understand what this means but it sounds like 16-bit fun. I liked the Atari ST but it was all about the Amiga 500 (until I could afford my first Mac, the glorious LC with a monochrome monitor)
> Do you never proof-read, Greg? This post is particularly jarring.
Dammit, lets see if I can get this cut-and-paste thing to work one more time.
Greg-
I'm a few months young than you, so maybe that's why I'm getting this whole social network thang and you don't. ;-)
I play mostly on LinkedIn. So far, the best advantages are:
1) When someone Googles me, my LI profile is in the top 10
2) The biggest client I've ever had, found and hired me through my LinkedIn profile
As far as Facebook goes, one of my old Mac tech buddies sent me an invite and so I opened a profile. I don't do much with it. Recently, I've been getting a bunch of "friend" invites from people that I have no idea who they are or how they know me, so I ignore 'em.
I guess I like the idea of being able to be found online, since I'm not an A-list blogger like some I know...
The social networking thing is the first fad I don't really want to be a part of, thus, making me officially old. I guess. I've encountered people's faces in a state of bewilderment when I tell them I don't own, nor want to own, a myspace page. I tell them I'd be more apt to create a Virb page, which (sorry Greg) falls on deaf ears. Myspace or bust. Twitter doesn't interest me in any way. Fine for others, too much updating for me. I'm mildly interested in creating a Flickr account, but I simply don't take enough photography to warrant it.
But to get back to this myspace thing. It's a strange concept that simply not owning my own account goes against the norm. Almost like not having a tattoo. God forbid. I've actually told people to check out my blog instead... roll of the eyes. Isn't it strange how a blog is still slightly dorky, but a myspace page (which IS a blog) is a social norm.
Prediction - I'll never own a Myspace page. I'll most likely create a Flickr account. Twitter is a big bust. Magnolia and Delicious, big maybe.
Honestly? I'd rather be designing. :)
(On a side note, I belonged a secret society BBS, kind of. About 20 of us, all hardcore Squaresoft fans. Now those were good days. Only reason it disbanded was due to the server admin leaving town. Bastard.)
For a while, I honestly believed things were going on which I needed to know; be involved in so that I could make sure I had enough contacts and enough business coming in. That's so far from the truth that I tend to go into a soft giggle when my clients (or, more realistically, the client's younger employees) tell me I'm insane for not being "in the Web" on MySpace and Facebook as opposed to being "on the Web". My response lately is I'd rather "design and build the Web".
My one successful social environment has been LinkedIn. It's the only social network that's actually brought me any business.
Hey Greg, will you pleeeease be my friend? I'm almost at 300 and I need just two more friends before my self-esteem will let me go outside.
Amen, Greg.
When I think about it, I've never met anyone with the authority to decide on significant contracts that uses or even knows of these social networks other than Linkedin. And that's just 1 person I know there.
I think its a matter of having better or more important things to do. At some point, your real friends, family and work will not leave anymore room in your day for egocasting.
But Greg, you are in a Social Network for the world to see. I don't know what you would call it, but there is this tier of self employed designers with blogs and speaking engagments that seems to be a circle in itself.
>> And, geeze, Greg, you forgot to credit me as co-SYSOP with Mike.
>Nerd!
Insult to injury. )-: