Yeah, yeah… back to it.
Real life has been distracting me from the internet. I’ve been Facebooking (is that a verb?) and occasionally Twittering (tweeting?), but that’s about it. No blog, no YouTube, no etc… Dailybooth broke down for weeks and killed my mojo there… so…
Vidcon? Hmm… got a chance to go to Colombia instead. Guess which I picked.
Anyway…
I’ve got to get some sleep as I’ve got a bike ride in the morning… but more later.
My World of Social Networks
My “real life friends” often don’t get it. My girlfriend doesn’t get it. My family doesn’t get it. Social networks are my hobby. Sure, I like making music (once my all consuming passion, although I’m very mediocre at it), I like riding my bike, and many other things, but social networking has been a huge part of my life for the past four or five year. Some even say I’m addicted, which I don’t think is totally accurate.
Sure, there have been periods of fascination with different social media outlets. At one point, my most frequently visited social network site was MySpace. That site helped me network with other musicians, bands, and venue owners to help plan my one musical tour across the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois.
I shied away from MySpace when I found YouTube, my first experience with a truly active social network. For those of you who might be passive YouTube users, let me assure you there’s a thriving “community” environment among the more avid users of that site. If you’re familiar with the likes of SXEPhil, Fred, Nigahiga, or Michael Buckley (WhatTheBuckShow), you’ve seen the tip of the iceberg. You have to dig beyond the front page to truly find the YouTube community, though (that hasn’t always been true).
Back in the early part of 2007, I was very much immersed in the YouTube community (the closest I’d come to calling myself “addicted). It’s been my starting-point to branch out to other social networks, which I’ve mostly found through other members of the YouTube community. I joined a large list of social networks, and for a short period of time, helped run one (Velocurean, which is now alive only in online-magazine format).
Here’s my current list of social networks and my take on them:
Email – What? Email is a communication tool, not a social network! Well, some would argue that any communication tool can be a basis for a social network. I don’t think the founders of YouTube saw the formation of a community when they were planning their site.
My “email network” consists of less than ten people, but it’s very active. They’re all people I’ve met through social media, some male, some female, some straight, some gay, some from other states, countries, etc. There are times I check my inbox and find that a thread that’s spanned over 30 emails via a “reply all” chain.
MySpace - Seriously, I can’t remember the last time I logged onto my MySpace profile. When my main passion was trying to be a gigging musician, I found MySpace incredibly useful. Otherwise, the pointless “friend collecting” and profile pages that get customized to the point that they’re completely unreadable, not to mention they’re not usually very useful.
YouTube – I found the community aspect of YouTube back in December of 2006 when I was doing random searches and found NickyNik’s page (on YouTube they call it a “channel”). Particularly funny was his video “YouTube Sex Simulation Suit,” in which he mentions a few of the other members of the YouTube community. I investigated their channels, and opened the door to a whole new world. There was a period when I’d upload several videos in one day, all in an effort to reach out and interact with the other members of the site’s community.
Since then, much has changed. What was once a small and tight-knit community has grown to a near-bloated state and it’s become a playground full of competitive attention-seekers who only find themselves gratified by growing subscription and view numbers (some ironically don’t even produce their own content). Many of the most popular YouTube video makers get over a million hits per video. They’ve branched off into their own Disney-like community of pseudo-stardom. Meanwhile, there still exists a crowd of lesser-known, “non-front-page” users who interact very prolifically. Currently, I find myself with the energy to make about three videos a week and I try to respond to as many of the comments as I can.
Facebook – I sort of resisted this at first. It seemed like a plainer version of MySpace. I use it now because it’s popularity has caused much of my family and many of my friends to use it. I use it to communicate with them. I also like a couple of the games (namely Bouncing Balls and Tower Defense… I don’t like the role-playing games that force you to make your friends play too). Facebook is unique to me in that, while I invite anyone in my social network world to join me on almost any of my other networks, I reserve Facebook mainly for people I know in “real life.” So if you know me via the internet, and I don’t accept your Facebook friend request, please don’t be offended and hey, maybe we could meet up elsewhere… maybe Twitter or Dailybooth?
Twitter – I joined Twitter because of “peer pressure” from two people with whom I never interact with on the site anymore. My first post was “Why would anyone use this site?” About a year later, I posted a bunch of goofy posts as a joke and then went back an deleted them all. Since then, I’ve mainly used it as a mass-messaging system to link things from other social networks. I usually log in from my computer and only read the freshest 50 or so messages (I read ALL messages directed at me with the @ sign).
I know people who “follow” thousands of people and have thousands of “followers.” Unless you’re a celebrity, I don’t get it. I barely keep up with the sixty or so people I follow, how can one follow thousands?
I also started a second Twitter account called “DoomedChildhood” which I use to publicly document quirky moments from my life. When I started, I had no troubles doing so on a daily basis. Now, I’m running out of ideas. It’s all about finding that balance between “just funny or quirky enough to share” and too much information. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll continue that account.
Linkedin – Not feelin’ it.
DailyBooth – Still figuring this one out, myself. I don’t understand the idea of posting multiple self-portraits. I am finding a great deal of enjoyment posting photos I take with my iPhone (with the occasional downloaded photo or sometimes a self-portrait, usually to make a certain point). I have a small “following” there and I follow a small amount of people. It has lots of potential and if it ever gains traction I think it could be a really great place to interact. Oh, and I guess the name suggests a daily photo upload. Whatever. Sometimes I go a couple days with no upload, sometimes there are two or three in a day.
Formspring.me - I love the idea, I hate the layout! There is not easy way to find other people. There should be a way to link to similar questions, find people by the questions those you’re following ask others, there should be a “featured” section… the only way I’ve successfully gotten people to my Formspring page is to use the Twitter and Facebook spamming tools they include on their site, which in turn pisses off most of my Facebook and Twitter people. I’m hoping this site gets its head out of its ass.
Foursquare – Fuck Foursquare.
Friendster - I joined this site on a lark. We were making fun it in my “email community” and I joined as a joke in late January or early February of this year. I have no content in my profile and one “Friendster friend.” I don’t see the attraction to this site and I guess many share that view. Oh, and the fact that they sent me a “special Valentine’s day message” on February 22nd really showed me what kind of quality they have to offer. Really, why is this site even still online?
Vloggerheads – Yeah, a 2900 member site full of disgruntled YouTube users. I tried. There are a few good people over there, but they’re severely eclipsed by all the bullshit. Too much pointless politics. Too much anger. Too many missed attempts at humor. Too much middle-aged emo. Too many long and boring video blogs. Most people SUCK at video blogging.
12seconds.TV – I would LOVE for this site to take off. It’s fun. It’s Twitter for video! The problem is it’s troublesome to upload decent videos from mobile devices (something that’s actually getting better). This site, more than anything else, has made me want to upgrade my iPhone to the 3GS. For now, my uploads are sporadic.
Digg - I must admit my total lacking in “nerd cool” on this one. I just joined. I wish I’d joined long ago, ’cause the site is pretty cool. I wish, also, that I dragged myself over there more often. I’m trying… did you see how many damned social networks I’m already trying to keep up with?
Dumb Song Wednesday
The Internet is FOREVER, and that includes ChatRoulette!
Thinking about trying out the new social networking phenom “ChatRoulette.com?” Think about this: Screen capturing software is cheap and easy to find. So before you go popping up on camera in what turns out to be the most discussed video on YouTube ever (shown here in re-edited form since the original got yanked from the site), keep in mind that the person on the other end could be recording your weird antics, bad hair, masturbation fantasies, or requests for really bad songs like “Fireflies.” Oh, and if you’re not of legal age, you should definitely not be on Chat Roulette… but since teenagers don’t listen, moms and dads, if your creating a situation where your kid’s getting on Chat Roulette, you need to pay closer attention to your kids. Parental control software is as cheap and easy to find as screen capturing software!
Here, Purple Puppet gave Chat Roulette a try. This is what he got after editing out about forty minutes of penis footage… and that was with the setting on “clean chat!” What is it with guys wanting to masturbate on camera?
Ben Folds does Chat Roulette
Nothing more to be said… simply funny as hell:
YouTube’s New Free Translation Utility for Uploads!
Just upload your video and, while you’re adding the info in the “edit” section, click “translate” and select the language you want it to translate and viola! It works like a charm! I tried it last night, even through Carolina’s sarcasm about the whole process:
Yes, of course the whole thing is a ruse. If you’re one of my blog readers, you’re probably already smart enough to know that… but I wonder just how many people are going to take it seriously!
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