A while back I offered to create groups on LinkedIn for some organizations I belong to. I notified the folks in these organizations and asked if they were interested. Interesting responses. One person sent me Fogeys Flock to FaceBook, a BusinessWeek article on how boomers are using FaceBook over any other social networking platform. I also got an email from someone with as much gray in their hair as I have who wrote "LinkedIn is so then. Facebook is now." I also learned that FaceBook is just collecting information for for a massive database for DARPA/CIA.
Wow. The things you can learn on the internet, huh?
Some folks in these organizations set up groups on FaceBook and invited me to join their circle of "friends". Then I got invitations from people on Quechup. I emailed one of these folks back, asking how I knew them. Never heard back.
One person wrote me the following:I was curious about Faceook about a year ago mostly because of my younger staff and interns so I joined via Brown University and checked it occasionally. Then, over the last two weeks, I've been pummelled by requests from business associates. It's amusing mostly because of the time suck nature of Facebook with microblogging updates (Dave Smith is going to the bathroom,etc.). I'm not sure WHY it's the flavor of the moment and it's certainly less useful than LinkedIn when it comes to a business utility, but it's all the rage for another few minutes.
Don't miss this: Facebook Horror Story: A Millennial Speaks Out
All of this is fascinating to me. NextStage has been doing research on the utility curves of various social networks for about a year now. So far we've interviewed about 600 people on various platforms regarding what they do and how they do it, analyzing why one social network appeals to this person and not to that one.
Like I wrote above, fascinating stuff.
By the way, those other terms in the title to this post? I'm wondering what kind of social networks they'd be because one thing that's become clear is that the name of the social network plays heavily in how it is utilized and by whom (surprise! Branding rears its ugly head yet again).
That "NashuaRadiatorCompany" one, though, is completely mine. There use to be a business here in Nashua, NH, called "The Nashua Radiator Company". They repaired radiator cores and if you don't know what that means, don't worry. As I wrote above, I have gray in my hair. The company went out of business years ago because radiator technology changed. When the business was up for sale I told friends that I thought the location would be a great spot for a upscale restaurant and bar, but that it would only work if the original motif, "The Nashua Radiator Company", remained. The tag would be "A place to let off a little steam".
Hmm...maybe I should invite people on LinkedIn to comment...or do you think FaceBook would be better for that?
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Upcoming Conferences:- DC Emetrics Summit on 14-17 Oct '07
- Society for New Communications Research Annual Research Symposium & Awards Gala on 5-6 Dec 07 in Boston.
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