So, I recently joined Facebook. Mostly it was an experiment. After two people had asked me to join I caved and set up a profile to see what it was all about. I’ve just come to the conclusion that using a social network is setting up a new aspect of your life and not just a reflection of what you’re already doing – unless, that is, you are an introverted individual craving attention.

I’ve been using computers for over 25 years. When I began, “graphics” meant writing a BASIC program to draw a circle. I’ve been using the internet for about 14 years – since before the World Wide Web existed, when Bulletin Boards were popular and email was processed offline because on your 1200 baud dial-up connection (if you’re still using dial-up you’ll be on a 56,000 baud connection!) it didn’t make sense to “stay connected”. UUCP was your portal to friends and Usenet, where all the cool stuff was happening. So I feel justified in saying that I know what an “intuitive, user friendly” application is. Facebook isn’t one. Nor is MySpace. I suspect none of them are.

Facebook, like MySpace, is someone’s idea of what someone else wants to do. I suspect that, like much computer software, there is very little input from the intended users on what would actually make sense. The result is a cluttered mess that has to be learnt rather than just used. With all of my experience, I had trouble doing something as simple as adding an RSS feed to my page. And there’s another thing. What if I want to do something as simple as put a picture on my page that is topical? I can find no obvious way of doing that. The profile page is “structured” and it looks like I need to add an “application” just to put a simple picture where I want to. Because of that structure, my profile page does not represent who I am, but is a strongly structured view of how capable I am of operating Facebook!

By watching my few friends on Facebook, it seems to me I see a pattern emerge. If you multiply spare time (an inverse of the number of children you have in your home) by youth (the older you get the less you have) and divide by knowledge of computers and the internet – you get what I will call the “social factor”. The higher the social factor, the more stuff you will have on your Facebook/MySpace/whatever page(s) and the greater number of activities will occur.

Given the number of people I know who aren’t (at least to my knowledge) on Facebook or MySpace or equivalent, I’d have to say that I’m doing quite well networking without the Facebooks and MySpaces of this world. No, I’ve largely stuck with that largest and (by a long, long way) oldest of internet social networks – email – and also to some extent instant messaging. I see instant messaging as an extension of email in that the only difference is in the timeline.

Email and instant messaging don’t have the “discovery” mechanisms of “social networks” so you’re pretty much left to do that offline – in the real world. The real world is where you can truly see and interact with people, and get to know them. I’d hate to be judged solely on the content of my blog!