Social networks

breqwas · Post by **breqwas** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 5:51 am

Well, after a few tries, I can state that I did not get the point.

I know what social networks are, and I know taking part in them can be fun. I have a blog, which has a few hundreds of readers, i read and comment other people's blogs, I took part in non-blogging social networks like 7Ruk, Damocka, MirTesen, Mamba. I know how to deal with that stuff.

But only in Russian.

My English is bad, but not <i>that</i> bad, so that's not a problem. The problem is that I after pass the registration at MySpace and fill numerous forms, I do not know what to do there. But there are 200M users there, so I want to understand why did all of them have made their pages :)

MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, Xanga, Windows Live Spaces, etc - how do people use them?

I know that asking that here is a bit strange, but C&F is the only big english-speaking community I'm a part of :)

Whistlin'Dixie · Post by **Whistlin'Dixie** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 6:01 am

Your English is very good!!!

Don't worry, I always ask my important questions here, there are ALWAYS folks who know the answers, which I usually get in a matter of minutes.
This is the first place I go to, actually!

M

avanutria · Post by **avanutria** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 6:07 am

I only use one of the social-networking-type sites, and really just to keep in touch with my cousins, who are all on it. I live in a different country than they do so I don't see them much!

I agree...your English is very good and much better than my Russian! All I can remember is "Harasho" and "kak vas savoot"

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:34 am

"Rvota Prodolzhayetsia". So useful.

I am currently on Bebo, MySpace, MySpace Music, MySpace Live, and at least three others. TooSpoiled. That's a scam anyway.

Frankly I can't be arsed with them. TRANSLATION: I cannot be bothered.

I have friends on some who bombard me with the kind of silly chain email stuff I can do without. If all your friends are on one network, fine. But mine are spread out, and it's like subscribing to a phone network that doesn't connect to other phone networks. Let's shoot ourselves in the foot, eh?

No - they are a waste of time unless you are a teenage female intending to socially network.

I think I may be too adult to enjoy these. Egad! Did I really say that?
In brief: with certain exceptions, these are for kids. Forget them.

breqwas · Post by **breqwas** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:47 am

Well...

In ru-net there are lots of networks which are for teenage females (liveinternet.ru being the main of them), but there are others, which are for more adult people, like russian segment of LiveJournal, or MoiKrug, or Habrahabr.

And these services are used not only to keep in touch with your friends from real life, but also (and often mainly) to make new ones, to broaden your circles.

I can't believe that english-speaking Web 2.0 is for teenagers only. :)

PallasAthena · Post by **PallasAthena** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 9:16 pm

I'm not a fan of social networking sites unless I'm using it for a purpose: that is, to stay in touch with my friends from real life or to network for a specific event.

Social networking have their uses, but I think they begin to replace actual socialization and making real friends in some circles.

I like Facebook in that it is pretty simple and pretty easy to use for your own purposes without being sucked into the whole social networking culture.

Post by **Dale** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 10:12 pm

I do workshops for parents and deal with some student issues related to social networking. I have a Facebook account which gets extremely light use but helps me understand how it is used. I agree, though, about MySpace. I don't get it. I find it just a messy, messy interface.

Steamwalker · Post by **Steamwalker** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 10:30 pm

Myspace is definitely a very messy interface but is probably the best known of the sites. I just mainly use the site to keep in touch with family and friends that would be otherwise difficult to keep up with. I also have a Hi5 account which is popular in other parts of the world - particularly in latin/south america and romania (where I keep in touch with my romanian friends from my last job). I have to say that I like that interface a lot more. Never really tried facebook because, honestly, i don't know many friends that have facebook accounts. I guess the draw to any specific social networking site is that many of your friends/family are already members of that community.

Congratulations · Post by **Congratulations** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 9:12 am

I have a facebook. This is because it's physically impossible to make friends in college unless you have a facebook. I do not know why this is.