Facebook friends with Big brother?

Found this interesting article on the times online on social networks called Who's pressing your buttons on facebook? raising interesting questions about whether we spend too much time on social networks- should facebook be renamed sad.com and references towards us living like we are all in Big Brother.
A little long but a good read covering various issues for those interested.

Facebook creators as persuasion masterminds?

I recently read a very interesting article on bbc news which raised the possibility of Facebook creators being persuasion masterminds as they have created a social networking site which relies on friends' persuasion to use the features of the site.

Among its youth following, users encourage each other to upload their photos the next day after a social event and engage in a dialogue about it by posting comments on each others' photos.

Users are encouraged to constantly update their profile pictures, status and comment on each others' walls by ther peers raher than Facebook having to provide incentives to do so as users want to project a social persona of themselves, one which shows them interacting with other people to improve their image of popularity and pictures them doing things they like doing to contribute to the self image they wish to portray.

Therefore it is no wonder that Facebook boasts 8million ACTIVE users with little effort on their part. A person's image and online persona needs maintained on a regular basis. The downside to users being if they aren't seen to be using the site regularly friends won't attempt to talk to them as they will assume they don't check their wall reguarly. Alternatively they could be perceived as being anti-social or a bit of a social outcast. Either way, there is fear that they may be left out of the social loop.

Those who update their profile regularly have more social currency to interact with others and initaite interactions about their latest activities.

Not having an active role in the persuasion process to encourage usage of the site and its features gains the site respect from users as they feel they have chosen to use it. Whilst in actual fact it is the way the site is set up and its role in social communication that persuades users to interact reguarly. Good news for owners, advertisers and users alike though for different reasons.

social networking; just another excuse for a popularity contest

Are we really interested in networking and interacting with others on sites such as facebook, myspace and bebo or are they just used as another chance to showcase individual's credentials; their success in work or socially, boast how many friends they have or how much fun they're having.

Many friends of mine on social networks seem to be adding people they don't even know under the pretense that they are their friend just to boost their number of contacts. These are often the same people that spend mindless hours trying to come up with witty status and upload every photo they've ever taken yet most don't actually have any wall posting activity. They don't actually talk to people on these sites.

Many have admited to me, their main use of sites such as facebook is to keep track of others activities hense the pet names stalkbook, or facestalk among others.

It would seem therefore that we are not interested in creating new dialogues, we have simply found a new way to be nosey and fuel gossip. There therfore may be less scope for marketers than they first anticipated if this is users' sole agenda.

Unless they can tap into this lust for gossip and snooping possibly by either aiding this process or making themselves the subject of the gossip, at the same time therfore stirring interest in the brand and a pulling power to their url in future for updates. Constant updating must however be maintained. Something which many companies seem to lack, unjderstandable however as it can be very time consuming.

Facebook: uncontrollable distraction or necessary reliever?

I cannot deny I'm a great fan of facebook. I may even admit that I can go through phases of being addicted! Checking facebook has almost become a hobbie for many young people at least. Its often the first port of call when you switch on a computer. Most surfers check their emails or national news sites, students check facebook. It seems to have become their connection to their social life. To be fair it does keep you updated witht the daily new feed of members latest actions. Many people update their status every couple of days to let others know what they're doing and their whereabouts which seems to become increasingly important as people have become more mobile in recent years. with busy schedules making it harder to tie up plans with someone.

Though it becomes an addiction when you start feeling anxiety that someone has given you a poke or written on your wall in the two minutes since you logged out. The feeling of missing out on something is a pull that has made Facebook such a sticky site that people revisit regularly.

Members write on friend's walls in the hope of getting a post back. They add friends to appear more sociable and increase the amount of people they can talk to. Though is it all just a big popularity contest? This is an issus I shall delve into further another time.

The only drawbacks it seems is how addictive it can be. Some people have been reported in a marketing week article to deleting their accounts as it started to imose on their life. This seems a little dramatic but I can see how it is easily done. Bosses and workers alie see it as a distraction and blame it for their lack of productivity throughout the day, Though if facebook wasn't there, there would be plenty of alternatives lined up to take its place.

With the rise in stress levels of workers in this country it seems more may be in need of a little facebook therapy.