Facebook ....

... the cappuccino of social networking. Loads of froth and chocolate shaken on the top.

Give me a double espresso any day.

Comments

[Bruce Stewart]

Hi, Euan:

I've got this love-hate relationship with Facebook, too.

First, as with (to quote Seattle morning show host Bob Rivers, in a parody song called "Caffeine", "six bucks a cup is not too much") the whole foamy café bit, Facebook is beautiful to look at in an non-substantial sort of way. It's also enticing - foamed and steamed milk hides a lot of inferior beans, poor roasting technique and bad barista action. Double espresso has to be good, and Facebook can be good, but most often isn't. Yet I keep coming back to Facebook, something I don't do with LinkedIn, Xing, Visible Path, etc., where I let an email from them alert me to the need to check in.

Second, what comes of spending time on such a thing? Damned if I know (but when I'm in London Oct. 1-4, if we end up having dinner and/or a few pints and a good conversation I'll be able to chalk up ONE good thing for Facebook). Yet the idea of a directory of people that goes beyond a telephone book into likes, dislikes, hobbies, etc. fits so neatly with what Chuck Hamilton at IBM's Pacific Development Centre was trying to do with his Life Long Learning Registry idea a few years back that I keep coming back, enticed by the meth that is Facebook, just to see what new book someone's reading, or ... well, you get the picture.

So let me ask you. Is there a good social networking hub site yet? One that entices the user to show up not because they ought to for business or because it is good for them (or might be), but because it has its own attractions? One I might leave open in a window (or in a mashup that's open) all day long because it's that important to have around?

Or are we still waiting for it, in which case who should we sell the list of attributes to in exchange for a piece of the company? :-)

[Alex Manchester]

Bruce asks the same question as I have, does this espresso network exist yet?!

On Facebook I find all the application paraphernalia quite frustrating, but increasingly there are some good apps appearing (Blog Friends, for example, and they've even quoted you on its use, Euan!).

[Adrian McEwen]

Maybe part of the problem is that Facebook isn't your normal social networking site.

It's not about finding new people, it's about keeping in touch with the friends you've already got. Which is why it needs the froth - it's the minutiae of interaction that you used to have in the kitchen of your shared house at uni, but now you're all scattered across the country in the real world...

I can't be doing with the which-pirate-poked-my-drink side of it, but it's the only place that most of my non-geeky friends use. And it's persuaded more of them to post photos, update what they're doing, and generally chat than anything else I've seen. Which is pretty amazing.

I'm still expecting it to be superseded eventually by something much better and much more open.

[Steve Barth]

Yeah, I'm not sold. I signed up for Facebook a few weeks ago because it's the SN app used used for the Office 2.0 Conference, where I'm speaking next week. This morning I was delighted by an invite from an old colleague. But when I clicked "Accept" Facebook actually asked me if I'd slept with her!
See the questions at: http://reflexions.typepad.com

[Alex Manchester]

@ Adrian: Not so much about finding new people directly, but invariably new people you meet otherwise - work, social - become contacts on Facebook?

I've certainly found this to be the case recently - as well as keeping in touch with my main circle of friends and reconnecting with people long since lost.

[Euan Semple]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I have used Facebook a lot and still check in with it regularly, like dozens of times a day. I'm an advocate of serendipity and have benefited a number of times from odd bits of info that Facebook has thrown up. But, and this is a criticism leveled at the social networking tool we had at the BBC, I am getting more and more frustrated that I can't DO anything with it. RSS feeds would really help but I am not sure that is enough.

[Cheryl]

I agree with all of the above plus the additional comment that it has allowed me a glimpse into the day-to-day life of my teenage nieces and nephews (they were generous and trusting enough to link to me). Seeng how they talk to each other, what interests them, how they use and discard various applications is fascinating and very informative. I'm watching what they do with Facebook next (or which new app they move onto). They seem to be clear that they use Facebook for something different than their MySpace etc. sites.

[Jon Husband]

I like espresso too .. mine looks suspiciously like a reasonably plain blog ;-)

But I do indeed appreciate the intent and the design of FB .. and I suspect that it or a derivative will get things more and more "right".

The scare quotes mean, for me, that what is one person's cappucino is another's espresso, and that more and more choice and control will become available whilst keeping all the good bits of adjacency and serendipity. Or at least that would be nice to see.

[Wonderwebby]

I think Facebook is rather like coffee in Wonderland, labelled "drink me". "However, this bottle was not marked ‘poison,’ so Alice ventured to taste it, and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast,) she very soon finished it off.'
I never got into Myspace, and LinkedIn is not my cup of tea either. Facebook is an orange-mocha-frappucino. I don't know exactly why I like it, but i go back for more. Even if I end up venturing into Wonderland!