So, in a fit of procrastinatory behavior, I've spent a bunch of time over the last few days playing with Facebook. I have to say, I can understand how this would get to be addictive-- I'm inordinately amused by the fact that I can go to a web page and get a little message telling me that a division chief at NIST has removed a commercial jingle from his list of favorite music. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with that information, but it amuses me.
I'm still sort of wondering whether there's a point to this stuff beyond more efficient procrastination, though. I've got access to this... thing. Is there something I ought to be doing with it that would help me in some way? Boost the readership of the blog? Promote the as-yet-nonexistent book? (I did finish a draft of chapter 3 yesterday, and the irritating problems with chapter 2 appear to be mostly fixed, so it's onward and upward...)
Or is the whole point just to accumulate "friends" and fiddle around sending them silly status updates? Because, you know, I'm okay with that, I'd just hate to think I was missing out on a real opportunity, here...
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Keep us posted if you find that there is an undeniable use for these sites. Until then, I will continue to procrastinate using them. I already have enough distractions from the journal articles I'm trying to write.
I think that Facebooks appeal to professionals (and I include us scientists in that category) is rather limited. It doesn't have the same use as a methods for contacts as LinkedIn, nor is it designed for collaboration and discussion in the same way as something like network.nature.com (which doesn't seem to have really gotten off the ground, as far as I can tell). However, because of Facebook's recent decision to open itself up and include externally-written applets, it's entirely possible that someone will figure out how to hack Facebook to be more useful for academics. One thing that will be coming at some point is groups of friends, which may allow you to have a "collaborators" group, who don't need to see your favorite movies. Combine that with hyperlinked vitas and group discussions, and you've got something...
I've seen several groups based on people promoting their books, but I'm not entirely sure how that's "useful," aside from just getting more people to hear about the project before and as it's finished.
The appeal is that you stay connected with more and more people as you go through life.
My sister, five years older than me, is only in touch with a handful of people from high school, college, grad school, and her former workplaces. The number of people she liked and was interested in the lives of and even had career stuff in common with was far greater.
Only connect, yo. This kind of connectivity historically has only been accessible to high society echelons, and I definitely see it as an egalitarian force for good. (Pace those who would bring up Myspace and Facebook class issues...)
LinkedIn really blows, though.
"Only connect, yo"?
I have to agree to a certain extent with NathanL. Facebook is a rather powerful platform to keep connected and make new connections with people. What sites like LinkedIn miss is that there's more to life than being interested in someone if and only if they happen to share your profession.
If you're interested in boosting readership for a blog, spending some time making your facebook profile reflect the coolness that is you can probably help accomplish that goal.
I suppose like many things on the internet, it can be used for good (i.e. creating and/or enhancing meaningful online and offline relationships), or evil (i.e. creating and/or enhancing an addiction for more and more harmful introspection and procrastination)
I probably don't have to tell you about all the great little applications people are making and will continue to make which really set facebook apart from other sites.
I totally agree that Facebook just seems to be a way to waste time and check up and see what your "friends" are doing at any particular time. Personally, I'd rather waste my time reading blogs because then I might even learn something interesting (like I do reading your blog).
"Only connect, yo."
Everyone knows one has to try to hip up one's pretentious references to appear down with the kids.
As an undergrad, the target audience of the thing, I can safely say its only uses are as a procrastination aid and to help with hooking up (or so I hear, at least).
Facebook is flavour of the month. If you look beyond the existing user base and imagine a private group of colleagues able to exchange everything from instant messages to drafts of papers you can see the real value of these applications. Don't know why people get hung up on fitting in with the present structure when you can change it to anything you want. I guess we are all conformists and feel we should fill in the boxes for our favourite movies and not list our favourite scientific papers!
Everyone knows one has to try to hip up one's pretentious references to appear down with the kids.
Yes, but after you're 30, you can only use slang ironically.
It's a rule.
Facebook is flavour of the month. If you look beyond the existing user base and imagine a private group of colleagues able to exchange everything from instant messages to drafts of papers you can see the real value of these applications. Don't know why people get hung up on fitting in with the present structure when you can change it to anything you want. I guess we are all conformists and feel we should fill in the boxes for our favourite movies and not list our favourite scientific papers!
I'm not sure why Facebook should play that role rather than, say, the existing blog and chat clients. I guess there's soemthing to be said for the cenvenience of having everything in one place, but then, that also tends to lead to the conformity problem...
I'm half tempted to set up a "Quantum Physics for Dogs" group, and decorate it with pictures of Emmy, but I do have work that I need to be doing.
The best argument I've heard is that it is a way of filtering info you receive through a mesh of people you trust. Of course, you have to have the right kinds of things in the prefiltered info stream, first, and that's not been my impression.
Since I left my country, Facebook has allowed me to stay in touch with most of my friends and also find some old friends from whom I didn't know anything in years. It also helps me remember people's birthdays, emails, etc. Although you can find utilities that do most of this, it is much more convenient to have them in one place. So for me, its has been a very valuable tool.
I'm finding I like using Facebook on a purely social level, keeping up wth distant pals and making new ones. I was highly amused, however, when I received an email from Facebook claiming, "Sean Carroll says you are married! Please confirm!" followed by "You are now married to Sean Carroll." Better than "I now pronounce...." Because otherwise, you know, I might not realize it... :)
"# 9 | Stuart Coleman | October 3, 2007 12:22 PM
As an undergrad, the target audience of the thing, I can safely say its only uses are as a procrastination aid and to help with hooking up (or so I hear, at least).
"
No, the target audience undergrads in 4-5 years from when they start using it. The internet ad based system is moving towards targeted ads, how much do you think an ad to run in the Morgon Stanley group goes for? (from what I hear they get signing bonuses of 40k and starting salaries of 100k+ right out of college...)
Considering that facebook now gets 1% of all internet traffic and you volenterily (sp) told them everything they would want to know to targets ads at you (you like band X so they show you ads from similar bands etc. They can target movies like your favorite movies etc) Very similar to google ads, only they don't have to guess at your preferences.
Because one good bit of procrastination deserves another, http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=877 .
I use facebook to keep up with a growing nationwide network of people I meet when I travel. Email/bloging/etc does not in the same way -- you can bulk email people or do IRC or whatever, it's not the same as maintaining an active network with much less overhead.
You really did become my vampire minion :) You can learn a new interesting use for facebook. Tracking how connected you are to the world through an arbitrary chain of people who are interested in the bloodsucking arts...
I use Linked In, because, well, it's guaranteed safe for work. I like the no-nonsense aspect, compared to the teenybopper mess on MySpace or FaceBook which seems to be more college oriented.
Also, maybe I'm a misanthrope, but I'm not terribly interested in having an 'active' network. I'm more interested in letting Linked In manage my rolodex, but I don't necessarily want to keep in close contact with most of the people on it.
"The crucial difference here is between a community, consisting of people crucially unlike ourselves, and a network, or 'lifestyle enclave,' made up of people like ourselves. Many 'communities' in the sense commonly overused today...are actually networks, a fact that the term disguises." Precisely right.
Claremont Review of Books
Summer 2007
A Left-Handed Salute
A review of The Intellectuals and the Flag, by Todd Gitlin