Some Sort of Social Networking Bend in the Curve

Comments

1. Manny says:
   June 22, 2008 at 11:03 am

   I think there is Twitter follower spam. I noticed that I got “people” signing up whose tweets were all pretty much ads.
2. Chris says:
   June 22, 2008 at 11:09 am

   The noticed the twitter follower spam. I try to root them out from time to time.
3. John Scalzi says:
   June 22, 2008 at 11:21 am

   It’s why I don’t automatically follow everyone who signs up to follow me.
4. Abe says:
   June 22, 2008 at 11:21 am

   No, that’s me and all my relatives.

   “Stoopid Scalzi, why did u friend HIM!?”
5. Abe says:
   June 22, 2008 at 11:25 am

   One thing I’m discovering on Facebook is that my relatives have all turned into raging rightwingers now that Obama is the nominee. Ah, Brooklyn Jews. . .
6. mattw says:
   June 22, 2008 at 11:43 am

   I prefer facebook over myspace. There’s too much clutter and too many adds on myspace. I know more people that use facebook, and it’s easier to try and connect with people I knew in school.
7. Bryce says:
   June 22, 2008 at 12:00 pm

   =O Scalzi tweets?! How did I miss this?
8. John Scalzi says:
   June 22, 2008 at 12:05 pm

   Bryce:

   Beats me. I have all my social networking stuff over there in the sidebar.
9. Chris says:
   June 22, 2008 at 12:20 pm

   I only follow Scalzi, Wil Wheaton and the Mars Phoenix lander.
10. John Scalzi says:
    June 22, 2008 at 12:26 pm

    That’s all you NEED.
11. sng says:
    June 22, 2008 at 12:33 pm

    I’m a facebook friend and follow you on twitter. My, admittedly elitist, view of it is that more smart people use facebook and twitter than myspace. And smart people like Scalzi.

    I think the difference between the twitter and facebook models can be accounted for by the different models. I wouldn’t have asked to be friends on facebook if I hadn’t exchanged a few direct comments here. By contrast I follow a lot of people on twitter who I’ve never said a direct word to in my life. I may just be weird on that front but I don’t think so. Facebook encourages one to think of “friends” as “people I know and have some sort of connection to”. By contrast the twitter model is built around “I’m going to follow this person who might say something interesting every once in a while”.
12. Woolcifer says:
    June 22, 2008 at 12:42 pm

    I FOLLOW NO ONE!!!
13. Larry says:
    June 22, 2008 at 12:53 pm

    Scalzi,

    This article on TechCrunch cites stats that show Facebook caught MySpace in total users in April and passed them in May. It also states that MySpace still has a wide margin (more than double) over Facebook in US only stats.

    Ergo: since you have worldwide appeal, young man, your stats map to the worldwide stats.

    Larry (a math major in hiding)
14. John Scalzi says:
    June 22, 2008 at 12:54 pm

    I is global!
15. Kenneth says:
    June 22, 2008 at 1:21 pm

    Funny, I’m the opposite of #11 sng. I have “friends” on Facebook that I hardly know (although I don’t myself seek to friend strangers, I will accept them). It’s no skin off my back. But on twitter, everything is based on payoff for filling up my twitter feed. A close friend who twitters too much? Gone. A stranger whose tweets are consistently interesting? Good. Scalzi, who apparently tweets only occasionally but with wit? Worth a try.

    And the followers who are clearly just trying to grow an enormous “I’m following” list? I block them without a second thought.
16. Denise McCune says:
    June 22, 2008 at 1:23 pm

    Don’t forget your 580 readers on your LiveJournal feed :)
17. MarkHB says:
    June 22, 2008 at 1:52 pm

    Fifty pence says there’s a sudden slew of new facebook friending from people muttering “I didn’t notice that there” and clicking.
18. John Scalzi says:
    June 22, 2008 at 2:07 pm

    MarkHB:

    Well, of course. And MySpace friending too. And Twitter following!
19. MichaelK! says:
    June 22, 2008 at 2:36 pm

    See, the REAL reason is that the Myspace users are too embarrassed to friend you there, because then you’d have to share Top spaces with Tila Tequila and other Porn Stars.

    That.s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it……
20. Scorpio says:
    June 22, 2008 at 3:11 pm

    Abe, your relatives hark back to my first encounter with racism, which I blogged last week. Pitiful that nothing has changed in 50 years.
21. Robert Walker says:
    June 22, 2008 at 3:21 pm

    To be honest, I have been avoiding the whole facebook thing in the same way I avoided myspace, but I finally bit the bullet with myspace, and it actually isn’t that bad. I think you can control it a lot more than in the early days when every page looked like something exploded on your screen.

    Today, I took the facebook plunge. I figure, if Scalzi has one, what the hell. Now, accept my friendship request, John, so I can have more than one friend and get this party started right. (Heck, we’re already “myspace friends,” so, it’s not like a big step in our relationship or anything.)

    As for this twitter thing, I’m a little too old-man-hey-you-kids-get-off-my-lawn for that at this point. Shit, I can barely figure out this Facebook kajigger.
22. Marko says:
    June 22, 2008 at 3:55 pm

    Side note: that Bebo profile of yours gives me the chuckles every time, specifically the listings for Films.

    “The Taking of Food Lion #622″…hee hee.
23. Chris says:
    June 22, 2008 at 6:35 pm

    I compulsively check Whatever several times a day plus I follow Scalzi on Twitter. I think if I added MySpace I’d go into overload.
24. Mike Cane says:
    June 22, 2008 at 8:15 pm

    Well, hell, Scalzi, I didn’t even know you were on MySpace! I would have ADDed you a while ago!
25. TransDutch says:
    June 22, 2008 at 8:21 pm

    I follow someone on twitter if I am actually interested in what they are doing, or if I know who they are and sometimes they say funny/interesting/insightful things.

    For example – Scalzi/Wil I follow – not because I really care what they are doing this instant – but they say funny/interesting/insightful things, and I know who they are. If I didn’t know who they were, I wouldn’t care how insightful their tweets were. They’re still only 140 characters. I have better things to do with my reading time.

    I friended people on MySpace if they were famous/well-known and I wanted people to know I was a fan. Or if they were a friend. It’s pretty easy to tell the difference between the two categories in my friend list. I don’t log into MySpace as much as I used to. Of course, I have a “real blog” and I don’t see a reason to use MySpace’s poor excuse for a blog.

    I’m not likely to friend someone on Facebook unless I know them. I don’t see the point. I know some people think Facebook skews more intelligent, but it seems people only want to play games on it. The vampire/zombie/Heroes games were fun for maybe 48 hours at most. There are only so many times I can give someone a beer before I get tired of it. The forums aren’t bad, but I can find forums elsewhere.

    LinkedIn is the place for ‘serious networking’. No fun or games, and I think they have that niche locked up.
26. Jason Erik Lundberg says:
    June 23, 2008 at 9:36 am

    How the hell do I have almost as many friends as you, Scalzi? I’m at 619, yet I believe the number of folks who read my blog is several orders of magnitude less than yours.
27. John Scalzi says:
    June 23, 2008 at 9:39 am

    More people like you in real life?
28. Simon Haynes says:
    June 23, 2008 at 8:50 pm

    Personally, I hate the Facebook apps, and if there was a way to de-app Facebook I’d be on it. (The new ‘ignore all’ button is a help, mind you.)
29. Jason Erik Lundberg says:
    June 24, 2008 at 6:34 am

    Nah, that can’t be it.

    Oh, I’m now up to 620. :) Facebook friends, that is.

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