"My Dear Facebook, I've Been With Another Site."

Exploring the Id
It didn't take me 48 hours with Facebook to get the itch. I had to see what else was out there. So off I went like a tramp to MySpace. Low and behold, I receive the following email...

I had done it. Truthfully, I almost backed out. I don't really want to know about MySpace. My perception is that it's full of jr. high and high school kids, and a few other people. But in the name of research, I knew I needed to find out the truth.

You're Here; Now Get To Work!
Registration was simple enough. Actually, it was too simple. It asked for basic enough information to prove you were alive and a photo. After that, you are in. It does not try to help you get connections. It gives you Tom. Tom is one of the founders of MySpace. He apparently is in Kuwait, but I don't give a rip about Tom, so I don't care why he's over there. I am in with 50+ million other users and I have to find my friends.

The site has some similarities, but it has a more chaotic feel to it. If Facebook is Discovery Channel, then MySpace truly is MTV. There were flashing banner ads, lots of colors, and lots of info pushed at you. My particular banner ad had a red guy stabbing a sword through a green guy. If flashed very aggressively, similar to the great banner ads of our ancestors.

Although my photo was of a giant me holding a tiny, disabled bird, I have to admit I felt more like the bird. I was alone, cold, and didn't belong here. But I did have Tom.


It's Not You, It's Me
MySpace does have some very strong points. This is the place to discover new music, oh wait, that's Pandora. Well new music from very talented unsigned artists. You can find funny and crazy video clips... oh wait, anything on MySpace is probably on YouTube. But you can blog from MySpace. You know what I'm getting at.

MySpace is old web technology aimed at kids. You know when you go out and you see kids with crazy haircuts and wearing awful outfits, well those are the kids and this is their site.

Apparently I was the green guy.

Dozens of Friends in My Facebook!

The First 48 Hours
I have to say that this has been an interesting experience. Within 2 days I have two dozen friends and family, half of which I found and the other half found me. I've uploaded a video, 20 or so photos, and had people post and posted on other people's walls. A neat feature is the 'mini-feed' that tells you what is going on with all your friends in a brief one sentence line. You can feed your activities to your friends by changing your status.

Wait a Minute!! You're Not My Friend!!
You can't help but to wonder how people use Facebook. For me personally, I don't care who views my profile. I don't care if you send me an invite to be my friend and I don't even know you. I don't even care if Google has my personal health records on their servers, but that's a different issue for a different blog. Facebook does give you the option to run it like a cliquey high school... "I'm sorry, you can't even view my profile because you're not my friend!"

Another extreme is a friend that connected to me today. Honestly, I know we've met, but I can't remember her. Even after a stroll in her photo book, I still am clueless. But none-the-less, she contacted me and we're now friends. I felt pretty good about that until I noticed I was 1 of HUNDREDS! What's that all about? I felt like a stat, a part of the trophy she was building on her Facebook mantel. Like when you brag about making out with a girl and find out she made out with half the guys in your grade.

Facebook for Me
I haven't decided how to use Facebook yet. I like the idea of going to class reunions and instead of saying, "Yeah, give me your number and I'll call you" like I did at my last reunion (knowing myself and knowing I was never going to make the call), I can now tell people to find me on Facebook. Really, it's a great concept... I don't want to keep in contact with most people I meet. Not because I don't want to, but because of the time it takes to maintain. But I do like to check in on them and see what they're up to. And that is what Facebook has done a great job at doing.

Taking the Hijab Off Facebook

History
I am not new to the internet. Not even close. I even created a social networking site back in internet 1.0 days when Friendster was king of the hill and there were rumblings of another one called MySpace that was gaining ground. I've had a LinkedIn account for a number of years, but haven't really done anything with it.

When I first heard about Facebook, it was essentially an electronic yearbook for Harvard created by a student named Mark Zuckerberg. Well, a few years went by and then the buzz starts. A few people I know mention they have Facebook accounts. Then I hear the unthinkable; Facebook is pulling executive level talent away from the internet's golden child, GOOGLE! Young Mr. Zuckerberg has an estimated worth over $1 Billion, and developers have flocked to create widgets for this open community social networking site.

So what's the point? I'm 31 years old, busy with my work at NPS, Webcast Tools, and my involvement with a handful of other web-based businesses. Why in the world should a guy like me join the 66 million other on Facebook? I decided the best way to find out is to join.

Let the Disrobing Begin
After completing the typical sign-up process and clicking on the confirmation link sent to my email, I was directed to a welcome page. Unusual to this welcome page is that I had people waiting for me. Not the MySpace "Tom" that everyone has, but people I actually knew! I have no idea how that works, but I confirmed my friendship with them and moved on. The next step is the gold. I put in my high school and graduation year and University (even though I taste tested 6 in my collegiate career), and it gave me a large list of potential friends already on Facebook. Many I have not talked to in 15 to 20 years. After that, you put in the city you want to network from.

After that, you're in. That was an effective launch. I've been on a total of 5 minutes and already have a few friends and family networked through the site.

Now I'm an official Facebookie. I'll have to get down and dirty with all the widgets and assess those as well.