Ok, it's official: I'm over social networking sites. I got onto Friendster three years ago when everyone else did, found all my friends, acquaintances, and high school crushes, it was all exciting, and - nothing ever happened with it. It just sat there. Everyone shifted over to myspace, I made a vague attempt at a myspace page but never saw the point. Everyone moved on to facebook, I haven't even tried.
And now the one useful function of Friendster is gone. It used to send an e-mail for your friends' birthdays, and it was a handy little tool (except for the people who put in a fake birthdate). Well, in the last week I've gotten messages about two different friends telling me "[Name]'s birthday is almost here!" and a handy button to See When. This little ploy to make me visit their pointless site was bad enough, but I just tested it and it doesn't even tell you when [Name]'s birthday is - it takes you to your Friendster homepage. It took me four clicks to find out that the latest friend's birthday is August first, and, frankly, I didn't care that much - I was in an internship with her in 2002 and haven't seen her since 2003.
Conveniently, this message also came with an "unsubscribe" button. Farewell, Friendster! I'll be getting my social networking without your help!
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8 comments:
Interestingly, the only person I know who uses Friendster calls it a "gay lawyer dating service". Which, I am guessing, is not one of your big objectives!
I use Facebook, but mainly because it allows me to see into the often-hilarious lives of my undergrads. It's also a lot cleaner to look at/use than Friendster or MySpace (which I don't understand at all - it's so horrible to look at!). But there aren't many people our age on Facebook - mainly just grad students or profs.
First three letters of my verification word? OAM!
i signed up for friendster when it first came out, pre-myspace. no one i know still uses it. i'm not sure why i keep it running . . . i also hate myspace. i used it originally to promote my music, but now i just keep tabs on my sorority sisters. i never even entered info on it!
however.
i use facebook. and i like it. the interface is clean and easy to use. although it's now open to people within geographic networks instead of just colleges [thus allowing me to join], it's still MUCH more private than myspace.
admit it though. everyone loves a little bit of stalking time. :)
I'm in the same boat as most folks here, I think. Signed up for Friendster when I heard the story about it on NPR about 2-3years ago. Found a bunch of people I know (including Spice and TOWWAS) and then did nothing else with it.
I have no desire to set up and maintain a site on Facebook or MySpace because all the stories out there involving either of them usually revolve around a central theme of "You posted something there that is now being used to embarrass you beyond belief" and not "You posted something there that got you promoted or saved your life".
Ha! So true, Grrrbear. And seriously, what crack were the designers of myspace smoking? It is the worst-looking, most confusing site I have ever tried to navigate. The only thing myspace is useful for is listening to singles.
I'm actually sitting across from a friend (laptop party!) while she creates a MySpace page to promote her...blog? (Who knew?) I find myspace categorically annoying, except for the music listening use you mention.
I use facebook -- most of my friends are on it, and it has a clean design and inoffensive color scheme. It also has a handy little sidebar that just gives a friend's name and birthday...
As the liver-wither of a teenage girl, I can tell you that none of us - NONE OF US - can comprehend the devotion of the intended audience. Song decisions? Agonizing. Background changes? Worthy of eight very serious phone conversations.
myspace = the most miserable days of geocities.
ARGH!!!!! STOP THE ANIMATED GIFS!!!!
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