DISQUS

Shalini Bhattacharya · 2 years ago

I would partly agree with the 'one size does not fit all' theory propounded here. Both my parents are in the 60 plus category and while one has adopted email communication as a primary means of staying in touch, the other is too proud to admit that he's completely unambiguosly 'technologically incapacitated'. As a matter of fact, there's a significant chunk of people out there who're technologically challenged and bewildered by the avalanche of technical 'updates' they're required to go thorugh on a day to day basis. When it comes to media and web services, the most successful ventures are the ones that make life simpler, regardless of age, sex or location. I say 'regardless', but the paradox is that it is also significantly dependant on these factors. I'm based out of India and a classic case in point is the localization of the Yahoo or Google sites for Indian visitors . The bottomline is that cultural sensitivities and preferences continue to determine the success of any venture. Any business needs to cater to the cultural building blocks of a nation at a subconscious level. That's what entreprenuers need to prioritize and the rest, coupled with some innovative applications and technology, will all fall into place.

billg · 2 years ago

>>" would you use a blog post/comment to ask someone if they were still interested in going for a drink later on that day? That’s how I use Facebook."

I wouldn't use mine or anyone else's site to invite someone out for a drink. That's private and personal business, not something for the public arena.

If I want to say something to another person, I don't need to publish it on the web. Likewise, anything I publish on the web is unlikely to be personalized to that degree.

I'm very aware of the audience I'm writing for, and to, choose the delivery vehicle accordingly.

alan p · 2 years ago

I think its a "what you use" thing...we want to communicate, us net-dinosaurs knew how to navigate an eGroup, an alt.net - and email, of course. Today its Facebook that one uses as a cool tool.

So...we've been trying out facebook (and myspace before it, blogs, and and chat groups before them...) and guess what - they all do roughly the same stuff, with different plusses and minuses.

It's not that we don't "get" facebook - its more that its yet another way of doing the same thing, and once you've seen one....well, the next one along is no longer a paradigm shift, its just another tool

Neil · 2 years ago

BillG

If I ask post a 'wall message' on a friend's Facebook profile, all the friends that exist in both our Facebook networks can also see this and, therefore, join in with the communication.

Rather than emailing, txting, phoning around one person at a time, I can make a wall post or a group invite, and everyone knows what they need to know in a single, and incredibly efficient, process.

Communicating on Facebook is wildly different to posting on blogs and 'publishing to the web'. Facebook offers all the privacy functions you could ever wish for, so I have no qualms with telling someone something through Facebook. If I must send a message to just one person I'll send them a direct message through the Inbox. That way, it's kept out of the Facebook social graph, but still in my preferred place for communication.

Ted · 2 years ago

I don't think that those of us in the older generation (I'm 30) don't "get" Facebook, it's just that we don't need Facebook. I'm married with a child and my life is pretty well proscribed. My friends are available via Cel phone or email, and there aren't so many of them that I need or want to be using Facebook. When I was in college, or even for the few years after college when I was very socially active, it would have been great. But now, it really isn't all that useful for me beyond the novelty.

Zac Echola · 2 years ago

billg, Facebook has an amazing privacy policy and a strong track record for keeping user data private.

"The audience you're writing for" is your network and no one else, unless you specify otherwise.

You can target your message in ways most other forms of communication only aspire to target.

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Ted, I think it will be interesting to see how those of us stay in touch on facebook long after college.

I stay in touch with many old friends solely through facebook and IM, without these things I wouldn't continue the relationship.

It's also brought me back to friends I hadn't seen in years since high school.

And my friends are still available via cell phone and email when they're on facebook, but now I don't have to think about which device they're closer to, since most of my friends have Facebook set to notify their phones and email if they're not on the Facebook site at the time.

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All this said, Facebook is really only for people who are willing to use Facebook.

It's like Twitter in that it's a completely unecessary way to communicate, yet some people find interesting uses for it.

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As for this whole Fred Wilson thing: It's stupidity all around.

There's no magic age line between innovating and not innovating and you're a moron if you believe it.

This whole stupid meme makes me want to shut off my RSS reader for good and just talk to my friends on Facebook.

Mark Devlin · 2 years ago

Regarding ageism: I recommend Tolstoy's bicycle which is a fascinating compendium of people's acheivements ordered by the age of the person when they acheived them. From Shirley Temple to old-age record holders. The title comes from the fact that Tolstoy rode a bicycle for the first time when he was 67.

Abbi · 2 years ago

I second Ted's experience with Facebook. I'm married with two kids and the site doesn't feel very relevant to my life.

Also, even the groups application, which could be really interesting to older people, are hard to navigate.

It's also a mystery as to why it would not be obvious to offer the site in the language of the target country. A Facebook developer was actually debating in one group discussion whether it was worth it to offer the site in Hebrew to attract more Israeli visitors. Why is this even a question?

Olivia · 2 years ago

I've been a facebook user from the start (as in, Day 1, quite literally) and believe that the utility of the site has evolved dramatically since its inception. Up until last fall when Facebook introduced various features like newsfeed (which allows you to see the recent activity of your "friends") and Posted Items (which allows you to share and broadcast interesting content to your social network), the site was essentially a tool for procrastination. Browse other people's profiles, write on each other's walls, look at pictures, see who else likes your favorite movies. Similar to most other social networking spaces, facebook gave you a page where you could create a very simple digital identity and browse around those of your friends.

However, Facebook is evolving into something much more powerful. Content is quickly being aggregated on the site by its users, and this content combined with a social network provides a dynamic social recommendation engine that is far more relevant and meaningful than anything else. I am 10 times more likely to check out the news stories and videos that my friends are paying attention to than anythine else -- if they have posted an article or shared a video on Facebook, I know that it has gotten their stamp of approval for one reason or another, and, therefore, I am much more likely to direct my attention there, too.

Facebook is revolutionary because it is enabling applications to build on top of live, dynamic, robust social networks. Everything increases in value exponentially if I can automatically, effortlessly see how it interfaces with what my friends and peers are doing, reading, consuming, and directing their attention towards.

That said, I think it only reaches its full potential for those whose real-life social networks actually exist on Facebook. If all of your friends are on the site and actively use it as a way to communicate, express themselves, and share what they're interested in, then it is extremely useful as a social filter for "what I should be paying attention to." If you don't have any friends, then this value is lost.