I wrote this a few months back, when I had just starting using facebook, but never got around to posting it. With a recent cleaning spee (of my laptop) I found it lying in a neat corner. If you are not already infected by facebook, here it is.
Facebook, is a web2.0 app that has the most serious drain on productivity, and got me to waste all of 5 hours on it, doing nothing but organizing, linking, inviting hundreds of friends; and just lounging around!
Why? It is not just another application, it is a platform, it is an aggregator of sorts, of not data, but of people. It takes the whole idea of social networking to the next level, and gives people a load of cool things to play with and keeps you and your friends engaged. It can be either as fun or as hip or as geeky or as professional as you want it to be. How? Coz it lets you add the services that you see as best useful for you. So unlike orkut (mostly for the younger ones - a.k.a college kids wanting to just gossip or get in touch or whatever), and very much unlike linkedin (you just create a network and there is no way except good ol' mails or thereabouts to interact with people)
Well, after a serious 5/6 hours with facebook, I really think that is there is one social-networking (somebody find a shorter name for this - how about socNET?!) that I would recommend, it would be facebook. Why ?! Coz, I can promote and show off the following
- My blog/anything with RSS using feedinvasion.
- Music I listen to using iLike.
- Movies that I watch using flixster.
- Articles that I read Google reader shared items app.
- Photos that I have taken using photos app.
- Videos that I have made using Video app.
So these are the applications that I use currently, and they change every time I log on to facebook.
So you are better served to checking out my profile on facebook everyday or rather, your own, since you will get notifications of what I have done recently, as I do it, instead of my website (that is you are one of the poor souls, who still have faith in my blogging skills - :>) <- (That was my evil grin). That way you get not only what I write about, but also, a whole host of things about me. May I say: One small step for an online app, but a giant leap for web as a platform!