I’m contemplating opening a Facebook account, but frankly I’m wary of creating yet another opportunity for porno spambots to invade my invitation box. Besides, how many great friends do I really have on any of these social network sites? I’m afraid there are too many (sites) to keep up with. There is just too much virtual networking, mostly of little consequence. I’m totally done with MySpace. I’m wondering if the social web is making me anti-social. I don’t know. The price of being technohipocrati is awfully high on productivity. But I’m holding out hope. I guess I feel a bit like the SETI project trying to find intelligent life in the off-world, except they may be more successful than me searching the universe.
As for Facebook, I’m still taking a wait-and-see approach but I have a feeling that I will cave into hype-pressure and set up an account so I can connect with someone meaningful. I feel a bit like Tracy Sheridan who has been writing at LongBlondTail and The Daily Galaxy, when she wonders if Twitter+Facebook+Jaiku+Pownce = Social Network Fatigue:
Danah Boyd’s theory, “users aren’t going to tire of their friends but they will tire of problematic social spaces that make hanging out with friends difficult.” The question I tend to ponder, however, is one first posed by Read/WriteWeb’s Richard MacManus: “Could social networks prove to be anti-social?”
Anyhow, here’s the dope:
Facebook Is Traffic Jam of Young (and Old):
Since Facebook opened up its doors to the general public last September, the site’s traffic has exploded. And its been invaded by tons and tons of old people.
The social networking site – which until last September was restricted to students - saw its unique user base soar to 26.6 million users as of May 2007, up a hefty 89 percent year over year and more than double the 14 million users the site claimed prior to the lifting of all registration restraints, according to a new report issued by comScore. And perhaps most surprisingly, close to 40 percent of Facebook’s audience, or 10.4 million uniques is now 35 and over. That’s nearly 3 million more users than the 7.8 million 18-24 years olds that frequent the site.
Update: OK, so a good friend of mine who is not a porno spambot has invited me to Facebook. I guess I’ll take the plunge…
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