So what is a social network good for?

I am and have always been a technophile. Not in the trendy sense of the early adopter mode, but rather that I like new technologies and will adopt them if I decide I need them, want them or are just neat things to have. For example, I've had a computer since the mid-80s, before it was fashionable to get one. I also jumped on the internet in the very early 90s, long before the word email entered the language.

Much to my dismay, though, I'm feeling baffled and frustrated with some new applications running around the net. I felt a little bit this way back when everyone was raving about blogs. At the time I kept thinking that online diaries of random strangers were not going to be a big hit with anyone. I was proved right. Blogs emerged as a force in the net only when they turned out to be an alternative to the mainstream news media. But at elast I udnerstood what blogs were good for.

In the area of social networks, I'm just stumped. So I'll ask: what are the bloody things good for?

Worse yet, I've never, til now, failed to figure out anythign in the net the minute I tried it. I've expereinced some frustrattion with shopping sites that recommend things for me rather than letting em browse their content, but I've been able to make a few of them sing my tune. On the other hand, the social networks are a big balck box to me.

Take Facebook. from the buzz you'd think it was a window to Heaven, Nirvana and Paradise all rolled into one, whatever the Hell that means, but as far as I'm concerned it's a useless clunker that doesn't do anything.To begin with it tells me to add "friends." Ok. But then it really doesn't provide any tools to do so. it asks me to upload my contacts from Outlook. I don't use Outlook at home. It allows some contacts to be uploaded from online email services, but not Gmail, which is the on I use; and anyway I don't keep a list of contacts, mostly I reply to email sent to me.

It seems facebook can find people who wrk where I work, or who attended the same schoosl I did. Fine. I can see the epople at work anytime I want without an online app. I've no desire at all to track down anyone I went to school with, especially elementary school and junior high <shudder>. I've kept in touch with some people from high school onwards, without the need for an online app.

Then the thing randomly, or so it seems, picks out people living in Mexico City and places them in a column labeled "people you may know." Well, out of 20 million random strangers in this city, surely I know a few of them. Those who are not at work, or kept in touch since high school, or are my friends, or family, all of whm I can contact whnever ai need to or want to, without the blasted online app.

Seriously, what gives?

Four or five years ago, I was in a meeting where someone asked me what I thought the most exciting new Web technology was. I said Ajax. Everyone kind of stared at me blankly. I later found out that they had been hoping that I could point them at the next big social networking site.

What's interesting about Facebook and the like is that it seems like the most tech-savvy people I know (myself included) are the least likely to be using them. People act surprised, dumbfounded even, upon realizing that their programmers and their network administrator are the only people in the office without Facebook pages. My guess is (and this is just a guess) that people who are more familiar with the Web have found better or more interesting things to do online.

I have tried working with marketing on social networking sites and come to the conclusion that there's no money in social traffic. The people who live on social networking sites seem to want to suck bandwidth watching free videos but never seem to want to spend a dime on anything. Could be that a significant demographic there is too young to get a credit card, I suppose.

What really boggles my mind is twitter. I can't figure out how it's supposed to be in any way useful, or even interesting. I was going to say that it's occasionally fun to read Hugo Chavez's rantings, but it's not, and he doesn't rant on there (regardless of what you heard on CNN); he just swaps inanities with other users like everyone else.

Don't ask me...
I've been in the IT field, professionally, for 11 years (Hey I'm only 29!; and an IT Director now) and I just got on Facebook last year...really only to lurk on OTHER people.
Seems like in my world (the gambling world) everyone is 45+ and they do NOT have a facebook...

Quote: heather

What's interesting about Facebook and the like is that it seems like the most tech-savvy people I know (myself included) are the least likely to be using them. People act surprised, dumbfounded even, upon realizing that their programmers and their network administrator are the only people in the office without Facebook pages. My guess is (and this is just a guess) that people who are more familiar with the Web have found better or more interesting things to do online.

You so relieve my mind (seriously). I can spend a lot of time online on sites like this one, reading online magazines like the Smithsonian's Air & Space mag, humor sites like Not Always Right, some news blogs, email, looking up travel info, Las Vegas Advisor, looking up other information from reference sites like wikipedia, the internet movie databse, epguides.com, well a myriad others, and online shopping (though it's more like window shopping now).

So I do get to do plenty online without the latest fads. it just frustrates me no end pople use it and rave about and I can't figure out why.

Worse yet many of my favorite online shopping sites keep reminding me of their Facebook and Twitter pages. occasionally I look at them, but I've yet to find any reason to keep visting them.

Quote:

I have tried working with marketing on social networking sites and come to the conclusion that there's no money in social traffic. The people who live on social networking sites seem to want to suck bandwidth watching free videos but never seem to want to spend a dime on anything. Could be that a significant demographic there is too young to get a credit card, I suppose.

And that's all teh rage now. Amazing. On the other hand, it wouldn't be the first time a new fad turned out to be all sizzle and no steak. Remember free online lotto in the alte 90s? I even got a few checks for small wins,a nd never paid them a cent. That's my most profitable lotto ever, even if I won only $50 or $60 all told.

Quote:

What really boggles my mind is twitter. I can't figure out how its supposed to be in any way useful, or even interesting. I was going to say that it's occasionally fun to read Hugo Chavez's rantings, but it's not, and he doesn't rant on there (regardless of what you heard on CNN); he just swaps inanities with other users like everyone else.

I do understand Twitter, sort of. it would be a good way to let lots of people know something in short order. but I'd rather email them. where it seems to work well is on radio shows, where people twit the hosts rahter than email them, but there's no qualitative difference.

A coworker told me it's all gossip, be it Twitter or Facebook ro their copycats. Well and good. If that's all it boils down to, then at elast I know I'm not missing uot anythign important.

I have asked the question here before, and I seriously did not get any satisfactory answers. it may turn out to be a subject, like nightclubs and dancing, that I just can't wrap my mind around.

well I can only speak for myself...But I go on Facebook daily...Its fun to BS with friends and family...see whats going on....BS about sports or politics with many friends at once...Or fiance...and BS with my friends who are convinced to short or buy put options on Gold LOL.....I am not one of those people who feels the need to boost their ego by having 650 friends....550 of which are people you dont really know....I think I have like 95 "friends" on facebook....and all of them are really friends I associate with and hang out with OR close friends that have moved away and I still keep in close touch with...or family of course...

social networking has it down falls for me....The biggest one I hate is...you end up being "friends" with most of your close friends wife's as well....and me being in my early 30's....a lot of my friend are having children or have younger children......and these wife's feel the need to post a comment.....about EVERYTHING these children do......that gets annoying to me....I really dont need to know "Billy" took his first crap on the big boy toilet today....or "Jane" fell and got a booboo.....That kind of stuff drives me NUTS....but you cant just put them on ignore(block seeing their comments)...becasue they will also post relevant stuff every once in a while that needs a response...like invites to house parties or holiday parties or birthday party stuff....ect ect

I also find it useful on Friday afternoon when trying to figure out what everyone is up too....or family that I have across the country...whats going on in their life....promotions or graduations and stuff like that....I could get all this info in or monthly or bi monthly phone calls but....its nice to know stuff as it happens.....Also its great for pics of family and friends....

As to "I was able to keep in touch with friends before online apps"....... facebook just makes it easier.....everyone had cash on them before ATM's too.....You just went to the bank before they closes or wrote a check to a business and they would give you cash.....but it sure is a lot easier to have ATM's everywhere LOL ;).......People got in touch with each other before cell phones as well...there was a pay phone on every corner...BUT....cell phones just make it easier....I'm sure if every social networking site was shut down tomorrow I would still find ways to get in contact with close fiends...facebook just makes it easier..

As to people who dont frequent social networking sites......This is just my opinion....and you know what they say about opinions....BUT...I think most of these people could be considered "socially awkward" or none "social butterflies"....LOL...these are the people who look back on their school days or younger years and say "thank go those are over"....Don't get me wrong I'm NOT saying these people are losers or anything like that...but lets just say they were not the most popular kids in the school....they were not the ones going to the "coolest" parties on Friday nights...IMO.....They had a very small clique of friends....and maybe dont even keep in touch with them anymore.....when your best friends are "work friends"......that kinda speaks volumes for your social life...I wouldn't expect these kinds of people to get much out of social networking....but like I said that's just my opinion.....

Then again it could be an age think......I wouldn't expect anyone over the age of 50 to be roaming around the social networking sites.....There are many who do....but I think its kinda rare..

I'm heavy into IT.

I bought my first computer, a TRS-80, back in the late 1970's.

Because of a family event that someone was organizing thru FaceBook, I had an account about 2 years ago. After about a week, I got bored with it, and haven't been on since.

Twitter? Never used it.

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Last year, I was in Vegas for a convention of wedding professionals. One speaker's topic was "You Twit Face" I.E. Using YouTube, Twitter and FaceBook for marketing. During his presentation, he got at least 8 social media message pop-ups.

During the Q&A, I asked "It used to be MySpace. Then FaceBook. Now Twitter. What's next? And considering the 8 messages you got during your 45 minute session, how do you keep up?" He didn't really have a good answer.

Most casinos now have a facebook presence and a twitter feed but I don't know if income from their social media presence is high.

Some sites try to capture market segments: Female wine lovers in Las Vegas, Sweet Young Things with Money in Miami, other affinity groups seem to develop around interests: well, I'm interested in mining opals in Australia but I sure ain't ever going to go there and do it.

In a time when Nightclub Promoters are trying to market a following to the club and the liquor company, a facebook presence is what brings clubbies in but that doesn't mean it brings loyal customers in.

Friends who do Rehab together can now stay in touch on Facebook......is this a marketing group or a gabfest group?

Sahara sold one dollar rooms on Twitter, but Sahara closed.

Trader Joe's does its "mailings" via posts to its facebook page. You no longer have to go open a physically delivered flyer or look at your emails, you look at the facebook page for Trader Joes after being prompted by yet another advertisement in your facebook stream.

I don't think social media brings in revenue but the absence of a social media presence can hurt.

Quote: vert1276

As to people who dont frequent social networking sites......This is just my opinion....and you know what they say about opinions....BUT...I think most of these people could be considered "socially awkward" or none "social butterflies"....LOL...these are the people who look back on their school days or younger years and say "thank go those are over"....Don't get me wrong I'm NOT saying these people are losers or anything like that...but lets just say they were not the most popular kids in the school....they were not the ones going to the "coolest" parties on Friday nights...IMO.....They had a very small clique of friends....and maybe dont even keep in touch with them anymore.....when your best friends are "work friends"......that kinda speaks volumes for your social life...I wouldn't expect these kinds of people to get much out of social networking....but like I said that's just my opinion.....

This is a fair point and explains why the NetAdmin, Programmers and their ilk may not be as interested. Myself included, for what it's worth.

I'll take a stab at explaining this... Ever have a friend who you met once a week or so for lunch or maybe a drink after work or whatever? You had your time, you shared your stories of the week and it was all hugs and kisses and smiles until next week? Maybe you had a few small clusters of friends like that, if you were the more social-oriented type.

Facebook extends this dynamic as follows:

Take that coffee shop, make it 24 hours - always on, just like a Caesars.
Shorten the chunks of content to a story. A vignette. A picture of a funny cat.
Enable that content to be shared in InternetTime (that is, near instantaneously)
Make all your associations ("friends") public knowledge and start drawing connections, a-la the "6 degrees of Kevin Bacon" game. This way you can find out that you and your ex-boyfriend both know the same guy in town - He plays D&D with him on Thursday nights and you sleep with him on Sundays.

For me, it has the same problem as working from home. I'm never 'home.' I'm never 'at work.' I'm always in this existence that involves both things (I'm a work-from-home techie). I can always share something with a hypothetical Facebook friend (whether it be my good friend, my mother or some friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend) but I can never really establish a deep connection. That bothers me.

My childhood was spent interacting face-to-face. Dinner at the family table. Sports and pick-up games with friends. Dates to dinner and movies. Grabbing a beer after work to shoot the shit with the boys.

I don't enjoy the soft connections that facebook facilitates. I want hard, deep connections where I can see into someone's eyes and hear their tone of voice. (Jeez, I sound like a woman. Really, this is just the poker player in me shining through). I want to share an experience - Even if it's checking out the waitress' backside with a guy-friend I haven't seen in a while. That's why it doesn't work for me.

Twitter is useful to find out if something is happening... RIGHT NOW. I felt the DC earthquake a few weeks ago, so I went to Twitter and searched 'earthquake'. Sure enough, less than 1 min after the quake, the top hundred hits were people yelling: earthquake, DC earthquake, earthquake! and a link to the USGS site.

I thought that was cool. Maybe useful is the wrong word though.

I'm on LinkedIn and nothing else. I like to call it the Facebook for serious people.

I use Facebook for lurking and figuring out what my friends (who are all around the country) are doing and maintaining contact with them. I'm on there about once a week. I used to play a few of the apps on there but have moved on.

But Facebook has been used around the world to organize protests and to foster some pretty cool grassroots movements. Facebook could be credited (quite likely) for playing a major part in Egypt's overthrow and plays critical roles elsewhere in the world where communications are always monitored. So I think a social network is a very very good tool in this way.


Twitter is useless, but it remains a good way to quickly send information as well.

Double post

There are too mant replies to quote. Thanks to everyone. I think I now have a limited notion of what these things are.

But let's see. Indeed I have few friends and none are particularly close. My very best freind unfortunately passed away in 2003 before he turned 40. We were very close, too. Most of my family lives right here and I see them from time to time, but I'm not close to any of them. There's one cousin who tries very hard to get close to me, but I can barely stand the guy.

That's pretty much it. there are a few high school frends i ahven't seen in years and wouldn't mind finding again, but Facebook is no help there as far as I can see. There's the bunch here at this forum, but you're all here; likewise a couple of other forums I hang out at (two of which, BTW, have the silly "friends" feature.

Maybe I should crosspost this in gripes. yesterday I got a message from Google advsiing me Google+ is now open. I joined with my Gmail profile/account. Fine. But there's no explanation about what it's for. Oh, there's a link to a video, but my broadband connection abrely deservs the name, and I don't have the time or the inclination to sit through instructional videos enyway. If you can't tell me what a site does in writting, I'm not interested. I did try to add people from my Gmail contacts, but kept hitting a blank with one particular address.

In any case, the subject is turning out to be like night clubs and parties: I can see what's going on, but not why anyone in their right mind would be interested. There are other more apropriate avenues for gossip, too. Gossip should not be posted online for all to see.

I've heard, too, that FB and Twitter were instrumental in Egypt. Ok. I can tell you if I had been there and been interested, I wouldn't have been able to figure out how to get the news.

It may seem Facebook could be a good place to keep a running update of WoVCon][ without cluttering up this site. if I can figure out how. if I can make it private so it won't be open to everyone in the world. if I can keep posting reminders here to see Facebook. if it can be done at all. Too many ifs.

At elast I can set my mind at ease regarding the latest internet timewaster fad. There are better venues to timewaste on :) and too bad no one ever patented IRC. they'd have made a fortune.

Thank you all.

I thought Wizard of Vegas was the latest internet timewaster fad...

I mean, the forum here isn't techonology savvy with lots of defects (posts that disappear) but we manage to do okay.

Back to work!!!

I utilize Facebook in a very minimal way. (I do have a Facebook page for my business as well, but I don't consider that to be what this question is about).

Facebook is useful for me to keep in touch with people who, while they may have been close friends at one point in time, they have since moved away and we've drifted. It's not that I don't care what is going on with them, or how they are doing, but it's just easier to touch base with them once in a while on Facebook than to maintain a full blown friendship with them.

In addition, the group of (much younger) people that I play Ultimate Frisbee with are all on Facebook. Facebook provides for a nice, simple, and easy way to send a message to all of them to see if they are available to play, and then to remind them a day or so before the game.

Yes, once in a while, I've gone and searched for old friends from high school or college, and then have brief conversations with them, as a way of catching up and seeing what's going on. But ultimately, those people don't return to being friends. I mean, there's a reason you drifted apart enough to stop keeping in touch with each other in the first place.

On the flip side, I find aspects of Facebook somewhat annoying as well. Such as random people trying to add me as a friend. (I keep my friend list pared down. I have about 35 people on there.) Or Facebook "suggesting" that I be friends with someone.

The most annoying thing that happened to me recently was my dad got on Facebook, and added me, which was fine. He then suggested that I become friends with all of his family, and they all sent me friend requests, and I had to go through and decline every single one of them. (Go ahead and think of me as being heartless and not liking my family, but these are people that I have had no contact with for my entire 40 years of life, and have never tried to be family with me, so I don't really feel obligated to become "friends" with them now.)

There are MANY games on Facebook, and quite a few of my friends are without jobs and play the games almost all day long. So seeing their request for Rutabagas or Pearls gets very annoying as well. (There are ways to hide that, so the annoyance is somewhat minimized.)

As with any technology related item, I always state that there's no point in using it unless you have a reason to do so. There are kids now growing up who have known nothing but Facebook. They are accustomed to posting their every thought and feeling on Facebook the minute they have it. Not to mention their location and what they're doing, and who they're mad at, and what drugs they are doing. Older people have various reasons for joining Facebook, but the one I seem to encounter most is keeping in touch with their kids and/or grandkids. It's similar to older people getting a cell phone, or learning text messaging, email, or skype.

There are many times when I consider abandoning Facebook altogether. But, I have to admit, there are people that I keep in touch with on there that I do not keep in touch with anywhere else. It wouldn't necessarily be a big loss to no longer talk with them. But I guess I view it the same as bricking up my mailbox since the only "useful" mail I get is the twice a year hand-written letter from a grandparent. It wouldn't necessarily be a big loss to no longer receive that hand-written letter, and respond to it, but at the same time, why get rid of it? It doesn't cost me anything.

If Facebook started charging for an account or for access, I would probably drop it quickly.

Quote: boymimbo

I thought Wizard of Vegas was the latest internet timewaster fad...

I did say there are better ways to waste time, didn't I?

Quote: konceptum

They are accustomed to posting their every thought and feeling on Facebook the minute they have it. Not to mention their location and what they're doing, and who they're mad at, and what drugs they are doing.

As an employer I find Facebook a very useful tool for researching job applicants.

I joined Facebook because at the time I needed to get to someone's page that I couldn't get to unless I was a member. Since then I have accumulated about 30 friends and that's all I've done, accumulated them. They're just there on my friend list and frankly, I'd like to get rid of all of them because I never talk to them or chat with them or exchange pictures or do anything else with them, and I don't know why I friended them in the first place, but to "un-friend" is the worst insult you can give someone, so I just let them sit there quietly in my list.

Mostly I play games on FB but even they get boring after a while.

I'm like the person who was talking about how some people have to post if Little Billy did a "big boy poop" today or if they're making chicken for dinner tonite. I couldn't care less and would prefer they make those types of comments private messages instead of public posts. One of my cousins posts 6 or 7 times a day that she's going out to the store or taking her kids to football practice or she has a headache or a bellyache. It does get tiresome wading thru all that nonsense to find something that might be of some interest to me.

I'm an ex-programmer and website developer and I think part of the attraction of FB or blogs and sites like them is that regular people can have a personal web presence without having to worry about paying for a website and domain name. Within a few minutes you can have a FB page with your very own name on it, and upload photos and text and update it on the fly without needing to know anything about HTML or Front Page or CGI scripts or how to format a table.

Quote: tsmith

I think part of the attraction of FB or blogs and sites like them is that regular people can have a personal web presence without having to worry about paying for a website and domain name. Within a few minutes you can have a FB page with your very own name on it, and upload photos and text and update it on the fly without needing to know anything about HTML or Front Page or CGI scripts or how to format a table.

Isn't that was MySpace was for?

(Note: Keyword "was")

Quote: heather

What really boggles my mind is twitter. I can't figure out how it's supposed to be in any way useful, or even interesting.

I see it as having two uses:

First, it's text messaging to the masses.

Second, it lets you receive important information (e.g. a CNN Breaking News story) right away on your cellphone.

With more people switching to cellphones that are also web browsers, Twitter may be outliving its usefulness (the way cellphones made beepers pretty much obsolete). Expect Rupert Murdoch to make a bid for it any day now to confirm this.

What really gets me about Twitter is that even the guys who created it can't figure out how it's supposed to make any money. Not a good sign for an incredibly high-profile company.

Quote: heather

What really gets me about Twitter is that even the guys who created it can't figure out how it's supposed to make any money. Not a good sign for an incredibly high-profile company.

Old late-90s method: Set up a website that attracts a lot of traffic and sell it to wealthy suckers for millions.

Early 2000s method: advertising.

That's it. I'm out of ideas.

I use Facebook as a way of staying in touch with people around the world... I've organized parts of my current holiday with it, my summer softball league, home brewing events and general meet ups. It's a good way to broadcast to people I know what I'm doing, and them to do the same to me.

Twitter is odd. Th artificial (now)140 character limit is useful in that it tends to promote brevity, which can help folks stay above a tidal wave f noise. I too have no idea how they'll keep their heads above the costs of the hardware... But Twitter s making a few million a year in advertisement and promoted tweets. The problem for any social network site is to be useful it has to be large, but large has a high cost in hardware, and to be large it has to be free to most of the users... Else why would they go there?

Quote: Nareed

Old late-90s method: Set up a website that attracts a lot of traffic and sell it to wealthy suckers for millions.

Early 2000s method: advertising.

That's it. I'm out of ideas.

Ah well, catch up.... 2011... Sell an App for it at around 1.99 via iStore/android. This seems to be Twitters next approach.. Provide value to high end users with a variety of tools... Charge for those tools. Lock others out of selling the same tool.

App sales and in-app content appear to be (finally) the way micro payments will be implemented... 10-15 years after I first saw mention f them as the future....

Quote: thecesspit

I use Facebook as a way of staying in touch with people around the world

I love FB, its a great way to keep up with
family and not actually see or talk to them.
Thank god..

Quote: 7outlineaway

I'm on LinkedIn and nothing else. I like to call it the Facebook for serious people.

But that one is not free .

Quote: buzzpaff

But that one is not free .

Linked In is free to join and use. It's not free to contact unknowns.

Quote: buzzpaff

But that one is not free .

Linked In is free to join and use. It's not free to contact unknowns.

Nareed, to answer your OP ... Imagine, you are on vacation on a beautiful island, climbing to the top of a mountain, and take a picture of a breathtaking view with your cell phone. Don't you want all your friends, and family, and just acquaintances, and people who just heard something about you, to share this moment with you? If the answer is "nope" (like in my case :)), then facebook is not for you, you don't need it. If it is "yeah, of course I do!", then you should become a heavy facebook user.
It is not really about discovering new friends and reconnecting with your high school pals. It is about constantly and easily staying in touch with tens or, often, hundreds of people you are acquainted with.
If you export your contact list from gmail in "Outlook CSV Format", you can then load it into facebook, to look for "friends" automatically.
Or, if you have less then 50 people you can think of having there as friends, you may be better off just adding them by hand.

Quote: weaselman

Nareed, to answer your OP ... Imagine, you are on vacation on a beautiful island, climbing to the top of a mountain, and take a picture of a breathtaking view with your cell phone. Don't you want all your friends, and family, and just acquaintances, and people who just heard something about you, to share this moment with you?

1) Why would you take a picture of a breathtaking view with a cell phone camera?
I'm serious. Those thigns take awful pictures. I understand using them when nothing else is available. I've done that a time or two. But on vacation I keep a real camera within reach at all times. ask Teddys or the Wizard, they can vouch for that. Well, maybe a real digital camera at any rate.

But let's back up:

0) Why would I climb a mountain???

But the answer is no. If it were a particualrly good picture, that is if it took some skill to take it, I might email it to some people. I might also post it here. Like Doc did with his photo of the Vegas skyline.

Quote:

Or, if you have less then 50 people you can think of having there as friends, you may be better off just adding them by hand.

It's more like 5 poeple, if that many. But how do you add them by hand? So far the stupid app only wants to look at my email contacts, my work place and my school.

The answer is - Facebook is not for you. That's okay. (edited out untactful comment)

Quote: Nareed

1) Why would you take a picture of a breathtaking view with a cell phone camera?
I'm serious. Those thigns take awful pictures.

Some are better than others.

But seriously, if you're in the FaceBook crowd, cell phone cameras are good enough - particularly to share with your FaceBook friends.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Some are better than others.

Sure. But it's not as if they are real cameras. it should be an SAT question:

Cell phone camera is to camera what crud is to a) coffee, b) sewage, etc...

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But seriously, if you're in the FaceBook crowd, cell phone cameras are good enough - particularly to share with your FaceBook friends.

No offense, but what it sounds like is "cell phone cameras are ok for the second class crowd" :)

Quote: Nareed

1) Why would you take a picture of a breathtaking view with a cell phone camera?
I'm serious.

Take it with your Hasselblad if you prefer, that's not the point.
If you are going to upload it to "the cloud", it is very unlikely there will be a noticeable difference anyway.

Quote:

But the answer is no. If it were a particualrly good picture, that is if it took some skill to take it, I might email it to some people. I might also post it here. Like Doc did with his photo of the Vegas skyline.

It is not about bragging about your photographer skills, it is about telling people a story about your vacation.

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No offense, but what it sounds like is "cell phone cameras are ok for the second class crowd" :)

It is just a different kind of appliance. The purpose is not creating a piece of art, just taking a quick snapshot to illustrate what good time you are having. Face it, most people are not good photographers anyway, the pictures they take would not be much better (if not actually worse) if they used a professional camera anyway. When you upload your picture to a website to be viewed by the crowd, it will most likely lose resolution to the point where it does not matter any more what kind of camera you used to take it. Most people who look at the picture, would not be able to tell the difference anyway. And if you have an album with a few hundred pictures, guess how many people will even be patient/interested enough to download every image beyond 640x480?

Quote:

It's more like 5 poeple, if that many. But how do you add them by hand? So far the stupid app only wants to look at my email contacts, my work place and my school.

Type a name or email address in the search bar on top, hit search. It will bring up a list of matches with 'Add Friend' buttons next to each.

Quote: thecesspit

App sales and in-app content appear to be (finally) the way micro payments will be implemented... 10-15 years after I first saw mention f them as the future....

I thought that was what PayPal was for, aside from paying for eBay autions.

Anyway, do you figure the iPad, iPod, iPhone and their copycats are a permanent trend, like the PC/Internet, or a bubble like the early .com era?

I've played with an iPad and it was good enough for casual use. Maybe if it had a keyboard (I know you can add one) and a bigger screen it would do well as a laptop/notebook replacement. But rigth now, for me, it's just an expensive toy I'd grow tired of quickly. Perhaps if I travelled more, as the thing is easier to carry around than a notebook PC.

As for apps, I just saw what was in the ones I borrowed. I didn't see anything compelling. For example, my brother had backgammon, poker and other games. Well and good, but you could just use the WiFi and connect to a number of game websites, most of them free. He had an app that emulated the old Mattel handheld football game. That was neat, and a nice nostalgic trip, but I literally used it up within an hour or so.

What I would have added to it is Firefox. I coudln't get the hang of Safari well enough.

Quote: weaselman

Take it with your Hasselblad if you prefer, that's not the point.

You obviously never had delusions of grandpicture :P

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If you are going to upload it to "the cloud", it is very unlikely there will be a noticeable difference anyway.

Well, it is to me. I am not particularly talented with a camera, though I've taken classes in school and I know how to take a decent photo. I just don't do the required work most of the time. Still, the idea is to get nice shots, not just quick ones. That's why in the paleodigital era I carried a Fuji reflex 35 mm, rather than the usual Kodak Instamatic, and why I developed an aversion to instant cameras. Now I can't afford the latest and best available, but I do upgrade my digital shooter every few years. What I really like about the new cameras is that you don't ahve to worry about running out of film. But I digress.

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It is not about bragging about your photographer skills, it is about telling people a story about your vacation.

I must have stared at the monitor for a full minute looking blank.

I post Vegas trip reports here, of course, but they're highly abreviated. I also do tell people about my vacations, when it's germane to do so.

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Type a name or email address in the search bar on top, hit search. It will bring up a list of matches with 'Add Friend' buttons next to each.

Thank you, that should help.

But why isn't the option obviously apaprent? Or even un-obviously referred to when the thing keeps prodding me to add "friends"? I'm not asking you specifically, just being curious.

That's a reason I've never bought an MP3 player, too, BTW. I can't quite fit my music collection in a single CD, but my guess is it would all fit, in MP3 format, in four or five. I've limited tastes, or focused ones, and I make do with little quantity on most things. Even my, estimated, 200+ book collection is almost entirely SF, science and alternate history, with a few other books thrown in.

So, thansk again for the help.

Quote: Nareed

I must have stared at the monitor for a full minute looking blank.

I post Vegas trip reports here, of course, but they're highly abreviated. I also do tell people about my vacations, when it's germane to do so.

To some, a picture is worth a thousand words :)

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But why isn't the option obviously apaprent? Or even un-obviously referred to when the thing keeps prodding me to add "friends"? I'm not asking you specifically, just being curious.

Well, I feel kinda weird defending facebook (I am not a fan of it by any measure), but what can possibly be more apparent than a large search field on top of the page? :)

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That's a reason I've never bought an MP3 player, too, BTW.

What is?

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I can't quite fit my music collection in a single CD, but my guess is it would all fit, in MP3 format, in four or five. I've limited tastes, or focused ones, and I make do with little quantity on most things.

This is particularly the use case for an MP3 player actually. You should have no problem fitting your entire collection on a single micro SD card, and carrying it with you everywhere on a gizmo that easily fits into your pocket (or even into your wallet).

Quote: weaselman

To some, a picture is worth a thousand words :)

When I show my Vegas pictures around the office, my coworkers ask why there are no pictures of me. That's the kind of question I just don't understand.

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Well, I feel kinda weird defending facebook (I am not a fan of it by any measure), but what can possibly be more apparent than a large search field on top of the page? :)

Because I tend to ignore serch boxes as they are to search the site, except in search engines.

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This is particularly the use case for an MP3 player actually. You should have no problem fitting your entire collection on a single micro SD card, and carrying it with you everywhere on a gizmo that easily fits into your pocket (or even into your wallet).

An expensive gizmo I would hardly ever use and is liable to get lost or stolen.

Consider:

At home if I want to listen to music I have a CD player and a computer.

When driving I have a CD player in the car.

When traveling by bus or plane I tend to sleep as much as possible.

When waiting at an airport or bus terminal I prefer to read.

Walking on the street it's a terrible idea to wear headphones or earphones or whetver they're called now. It shuts you off from the traffic sounds that usually keep you from being run over. I can't tell you how many iPod zombies I've nearly ran over in the past few years.

When exercising, music isn't distraction enough from the actuala ctivity. I'd rather turn the TV on.

What does that leave?

Quote: weaselman

Imagine, you are on vacation on a beautiful island, climbing to the top of a mountain, and take a picture of a breathtaking view with your cell phone. Don't you want all your friends, and family, and just acquaintances, and people who just heard something about you, to share this moment with you?

I forget which comedian (Louis Black maybe?) had a joke about people showing off the photos on their mobile devices. It started with something like, "Remember when it used to be considered torture to have to sit in somebody's living room and watch the slides of their vacation?"

FYI: If you are a librarian at a law firm and are asked to learn about the background or whereabouts of an expert witness or other person involved in a case, social media sites can come in very handy - if only to give you clues that will help you turn up information in other databases.

Quote: Nareed

I thought that was what PayPal was for, aside from paying for eBay auctions

So did I, but it ended up being mini payments more than micro payments. The juice paypal takes is less than the juice from apple stores but the 1.99 app model is doing wonders.

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Anyway, do you figure the iPad, iPod, iPhone and their copycats are a permanent trend, like the PC/Internet, or a bubble like the early .com era?

Permanent, or at least as permanent as anything in the tech world is. Apps... I suspect HTML5 will put a dent in it, but some content will still be delivered by the app pay model.

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I've played with an iPad and it was good enough for casual use. Maybe if it had a keyboard (I know you can add one) and a bigger screen it would do well as a laptop/notebook replacement. But rigth now, for me, it's just an expensive toy I'd grow tired of quickly. Perhaps if I travelled more, as the thing is easier to carry around than a notebook PC.

As for apps, I just saw what was in the ones I borrowed. I didn't see anything compelling. For example, my brother had backgammon, poker and other games. Well and good, but you could just use the WiFi and connect to a number of game websites, most of them free. He had an app that emulated the old Mattel handheld football game. That was neat, and a nice nostalgic trip, but I literally used it up within an hour or so.

What I would have added to it is Firefox. I coudln't get the hang of Safari well enough.

If I'm on a plane, I don't have wifi, so theres one advantage. Plus a lot of the apps that are good make use of the touch screen and location capabilities. I really like the iPad for travel (I'm using it right now, which explains any typos... The screen key board and I don't get on all the time), and I've used some very good apps.. The Kobo reader and safari books reader are excellent, and there is two excellent versions of games I'm playing as welll (Ghost Stories and Wesnoth). Win Poker for vp training and analysis, and Vegas Mate are useful, and relevant.

But it may not be too compelling for some. And I'm looking for a good Android equivalent as I prefer that OS.

Quote: Kayday

FYI: If you are a librarian at a law firm and are asked to learn about the background or whereabouts of an expert witness or other person involved in a case, social media sites can come in very handy - if only to give you clues that will help you turn up information in other databases.

I can see such things would be useful for lawyers and prosecutors. But for the rest of us it's an argument against using such sites.

Quote: thecesspit

If I'm on a plane, I don't have wifi, so theres one advantage.

I tend to sleep on the plane.

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The Kobo reader and safari books reader are excellent,

Now that would be useful, assuming reading a novel on a screen doesn't boil your eyes. The iPad is small enough to read in bed, too. But, can you use them for reading books from Amazon or other of the big online e-book retaielrs?

There's a kindle app as well. I think I can read most books in the right format via the kobo reader. Not really tried. Kobo as a good range anyways, while safari a very much useful for me as a techie.

I can't sleep well on planes. Plus sitting around before the plane, before take off, on the bus to airport, etc.... All useful... To me.

Some people prefer reading on a dedicated ebook reader. I don't mind it either way. If I could get an e-ink reader to do email as well, I would look into it.

Quote: Nareed

When I show my Vegas pictures around the office, my coworkers ask why there are no pictures of me. That's the kind of question I just don't understand.

Hm, I am exactly the opposite. It always puzzles me why people would bother to take pictures of general landscape or landmarks without being in them. Chances are, I can find a few hundred of pictures of those same places (and of better quality too) in 5 seconds on google. If you bother to take out your camera, and take a picture, make it personal, otherwise, you are better off just buying a postcard.

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An expensive gizmo I would hardly ever use and is liable to get lost or stolen.

Expensive? You can get one for about $60.

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At home if I want to listen to music I have a CD player and a computer.

An Mp3 player is more convenient than either of the two. You need to load a CD into the player, and you need to keep those CDs somewhere, taking space and collecting dust. And what if you wanted to listen to songs from a few different CDs? You dont' want to change the cd after every song. Even if you got a cd changer, it's a hassle.

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When driving I have a CD player in the car.

Same problems with this as above. Plus, what if you want to listen to a disk that you left at home? Surely, you do not have all of them with you?

Quote: thecesspit

There's a kindle app as well. I think I can read most books in the right format via the kobo reader. Not really tried. Kobo as a good range anyways, while safari a very much useful for me as a techie.

I would read a lot more books than I do now if I had an e-book reader. I've been waiting for prices to drop, though. A device that lets you read books and does other things, and has WiFi, would be even better. But readins on some types of screens can get tiresome. You focus more narrowly on a page.

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I can't sleep well on planes.

Is it the noise or the near-sitting position? If it's the noise, get some foam ear plugs and sit on the back. The engine noise tends to drown out conversation. if it's the position, there's not much you can do about it.

A kobo will cost under $150 Canadian. And probably under one-fifty US. I don't see the price getting below a hundred. Before buying one, I would spend a few minutes playing. The screen refresh between page turns is annoying to me. Not to others, and I have some friends who read A LOT on there's.

As for planes, it's the seats. I find the noise is less up front, but ear plugs or white noise from my mp3 player works. If I can fall asleep during take off, I can get a couple of hours nap. The other eight hours... I'm reading r watching a movie or playing a game on the iPad. And trying to ignore the flight attendants unless I want more water....

Quote: weaselman

Hm, I am exactly the opposite. It always puzzles me why people would bother to take pictures of general landscape or landmarks without being in them. Chances are, I can find a few hundred of pictures of those same places (and of better quality too) in 5 seconds on google.

But will random photographers capture what you want to? Besides, the pics you take reflect who you are and what you like.

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If you bother to take out your camera, and take a picture, make it personal, otherwise, you are better off just buying a postcard.

See above. Besides I travel alone. I won't carry a tripod around to be able to take pics of me, nor bother an indeterminate number of straners asking them to take my photo; not to mention random strangers have been known to run away with the camera.

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Expensive? You can get one for about $60.

That's about $60 more than nothing. Think about it.

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An Mp3 player is more convenient than either of the two. You need to load a CD into the player, and you need to keep those CDs somewhere, taking space and collecting dust. And what if you wanted to listen to songs from a few different CDs? You dont' want to change the cd after every song. Even if you got a cd changer, it's a hassle.

Five CDs, remember? Of course I carry them all in the car. At home, I can't recall the last time I played music. So geting an iPod and a dock with speakers, or whatever they're called, would simply be too much cost for very little gain.

I also have an old, deactivated cell phone that can hold some songs and play them. I carry that around on trips just in case. Most times I wound up using the built-in FM receiver to catch the news.

Quote: Nareed

Now that would be useful, assuming reading a novel on a screen doesn't boil your eyes. The iPad is small enough to read in bed, too. But, can you use them for reading books from Amazon or other of the big online e-book retaielrs?

Amazon give it's Kindle app away for free. And there are a variety of books that are free too. (Generally classics that have expired copyrights.)

As near as I can tell, the price for Kindle books is the same if purchased for the Kindle device or Kindle app.

---

I'm currently reading Annie Duke's book, Decide To Play Great Poker, on my Kindle app on my iPhone.

It's cool the way you bookmark pages and highlight words.

One of the coolest things, that I just discovered as I'm typing this is, the server collects the highlight data, and presents the most popular highlights to me along with the number of users that highlighted that item. It's kinda like buying a used book at the college bookstore where there are already pages marked.

Quote: thecesspit

As for planes, it's the seats. I find the noise is less up front, but ear plugs or white noise from my mp3 player works. If I can fall asleep during take off, I can get a couple of hours nap.

I sleep best on my side or face down. That's hard to do on planes, but I manage :)

Usually I don't sleep until after the climb out is complete. Before then the plane jostles and that wakes me up.

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The other eight hours... I'm reading r watching a movie or playing a game on the iPad. And trying to ignore the flight attendants unless I want more water....

Back when you could smoke on the plane I almost never slept in flight, including an 11+ flight NYC to Tel Aviv long, long ago. These days the smoking ban leaves me no choice, and no flights over 5 hours, either. Also abck then you could walk around the plane, especially the big, wide-body jets, without half the passengers thinking you're a terrorist.

Quote: Nareed

I can see such things would be useful for lawyers and prosecutors. But for the rest of us it's an argument against using such sites.

My point exactly.