social media :'-(

R

Raquel H.

Chrono Cadet
Why are Facebook, g+, twitter and (kinda sorta) Myspace social freaking media so much more popular than forums?

In a forum people come, discuss, critique and challenge ideas. I gave up on Farcebook™. It's like a bunch of brain dead idiots shouting at each other in a pitch black room.

Owner: I broke my leg today.

Poster A: I like potatoes!!

Poster B: today is Tuesday!

Poster C: poop (34 likes)

Poster D: Marco!

Poster D: Marco!!

Yeah, I'm exaggerating, but that's the spirit of it. A group owner posts something, be it a grumpy cat pic or some inspirational crap, and people react. They never converse, just react to the main post. You can't hold a conversion like this >.<

I'm just ranting. Is it too early to start drinking? Marco!!!

 
It is always 5PM somewhere in the world, so drink up!

I have seen what you describe on Facebook in the area of GROUPS. I do not participate in groups very much, except for one, which is merely a group of my home town of Bay Village, OH. And even that group often exhibits the behavior you describe.

To answer your survey query :) the value I get out of Facebook is pretty much 99% from the news feeds of my friends. Mainly it is nice to see what people from 20-30-40 years ago in my life are up to now. I don't often engage with them, but when I do it is meaningful, at least to me. Refreshing. I am just guessing here, but I think the majority of people I do interact with on Facebook are those friends from way back..even as far as grade school. For example, it is fun to debate some of my former grade school friends who turned out to be politically liberal, whereas I am fiscally conservative and socially libertarian, just because you learn something about this person that you were not able to learn back in grade school when political leanings are just NOT part of the playground interactions! :)

And I just love all the memes that people pass around. I get some of my best comedic material from those memes!

FWIW,

RMT

 
I like to use Twitter as a marketing tool, but I think it's great for people with ADD. Short and fast posts. It also draws more people in quickly. People can get the attention they crave. I can't seem to get many good conversations going on Facebook. I think in general, many people prefer not to think and have long discussions like we do on forums.

 
I don't have a Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, or any other space account. I don't think my "everyday life" is very interesting. With the exception of AOL back in the 90's and a very few, (5 or 6 maybe), times I responded to some complete moron on a yahoo news feed from my e-mail home page, this is the only place I post anything. I suppose that has helped me remain a ghost on the internet. I have Google'd myself, (I know, that always sounds bad :D ) and I know who I am and I have found very little that is really me. Once I did find that I was a really good high school football player in Fl.

 
↑ That's a step up from our usual Bible verses, meatloaf recipes and fishing pics. And the occasional blurry 'last nights bonfire drink fest' photo. :D

 
↑ That's a step up from our usual Bible verses, meatloaf recipes and fishing pics. And the occasional blurry 'last nights bonfire drink fest' photo. :D
Click to expand...
I could never get in to social media groups as a replacement for a proper forum - I'm not sure I'd want to associate with people that could take to that kind of format anyways :p The only real contender for me might be reddit/subreddits... The comments there are usually decent, but the drawback is they're hard to follow the way traditional threads are. Nested comments get a little confusing to read sometimes.

 
G+ did a little better than Facebook with side by side comparisons. Idk if it was because a g+ group was 10 to 60 people vs. the usual 100 to 500 shouting at each other and posting pics of Michael Jackson eating popcorn on Facebook :rolleyes:

 
Back
Top