Social Software: Good Fun or Fruitless Fad?

[AbsolutChaos]

Re: Social Software: Good Fun or Fruitless Fad?

Well, let’s see…I’ve already mentioned on another thread that all my “off-line” friends here in Hawaii were a direct result of various online groups/sites, so I’m a big proponent for these types of groups.

1. Friendster: Never joined it. At the time it didn’t make sense to me, and I didn’t see how I could get anything out of it. For me the main goal of an online group is to facilitate meeting “off line,“ and I couldn’t understand the lure of just adding random people to your friends list just to have a big collection. I still don’t get it.

2. Global Pau Hana: Went to their first official gathering, which took place at Palomino’s, and I’ve been actively attending their events ever since, whether it’s the monthly happy hours or the monthly moonwalks. Many members of this group are also members of…

3. …the Yahoo group that I started almost three years ago, The Newcomer’s Ohana. Originally meant to help other newcomers in their 20s/30s make friends and know what was going on around the island, it now includes lots of life-time and long-time Hawaii residents. I still post weekly events and invites, but while I encourage others to post their own invites and attend events, my group never seems to have much active participation, other than a loyal core group of less than ten members (out of over 200 members who are supposedly using this site). It probably doesn’t belong here, as it isn’t about collecting friends, only facilitating ‘offline” interaction between members who share similar interests.

4. My Space: Initially resisted this too, but eventually my curiosity got the best of me. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It seemed like all my friends had “my space” pages, and more interestingly, they seemed to be privy to exclusive info on deals at clubs/private parties. I was tired of being left out, so I joined. I check my page occasionally and am occasionally contacted by people who used to go to high school with me or guys who try to add me to their collection of “girls” on Myspace.

5. Ryze: Joined this too in the hopes of meeting others on the island who were more “young professionals” who shared my interests and had a similar background. However, I never really got much out of this site, and while I AM a member still, I haven’t checked the site in ages. Business networking isn’t really something I can do with my job.

6. Elist Hawaii: Another group I joined but never really participated in. Noticed that their site appears to have expired and is up for renewal. Perhaps this group was absorbed into GPH? Their events always seemed interesting, but I would always have prior engagements by the time I learned of the Elist get-togethers.

7. Meetin Honolulu: Joined this group, but because there were perhaps other groups that already filled the niche that Meetin fills in other locations around the US, this site never really took off here in Hawaii. Nonetheless, I did meet a few members of this group at a gathering or two.

8. Meetup Honolulu: This group is rather new and has active participation. I’m curious to see how long the enthusiasm lasts. I’ve only made it to one of their events so far, and it turned out to not have a great turnout. However, it appears the previous events had better turnouts. This group I try to semi-actively participate in.

[Pomai]

Re: Social Software: Good Fun or Fruitless Fad?

For pun's sake, Im surprised this thread HERE hasn't mentioned THERE yet.

The good folks over at Ohana Lanai seem to make it their regular "virtual hang-out".

THERE is a software-driven virtual world, based on a fantasy island. Literally. A fantasy island. Think of Grand Theft Auto (not in a bad way, but a virtual way), meets Instant Messaging, with a sprinkle of Ocean Nightclub (or any nightclub for that matter) - all in a virtual island landscape and you're THERE.

Currenty the software only supports PC, so Mac OSX users (like me) can't go THERE. Yet.

I was able to explore THERE on a dinosour PC a couple of times. But the software is demanding on video RAM and bandwith, and it eventually wouldn't let me log in, so I gave up. Never bothered to figure the problem. They need a Mac version in order for this cat to play.

If you're a PC user, check it out. There's quite a few expats from Hawaii in THERE.

[jkpescador]

Re: Social Software: Good Fun or Fruitless Fad?

6. Elist Hawaii: Another group I joined but never really participated in. Noticed that their site appears to have expired and is up for renewal. Perhaps this group was absorbed into GPH? Their events always seemed interesting, but I would always have prior engagements by the time I learned of the Elist get-togethers.

As someone that helped to start e-List I'd have to say it had its peaks and valleys. Most of the people listed on greatergoodradio.com attended e-List at one time or another in order to give you an idea who attended (including Evan). Linda Lingle came out to e-List during her election year; 2002. We used to have VCs attend thanks to Ed Young formerly of City Bank. Some deals did get made at these events. Some people made contacts that exist till today.

I still keep in touch with some people I met.

I don't think I've gone to an event since 2003. e-List has joined globalpauhana because it's hard putting on events especially when you don't know how many people will show up; from as many as 150 to as little as 30. Often times people needed to be prodded into talking to others. As time went on many of us that were in charge got married, had kids, etc.

Some of the old crew have been talking that there may be a need for such events again. I don't know what will happen with this.

[Cameron]

Re: Social Software: Good Fun or Fruitless Fad?

hey i hate to sound like i'm spamming but this pertains to my latest project check out my post about it here http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthread.php?t=7670

[bitachu]

Re: Social Software: Good Fun or Fruitless Fad?

What I have done is strengthen connections and maintained something of a database of connections which may come in handy down the road. Is that valuable? I think so.

Well i've used these social internet sites/groups as a means to meet all kinds of new friends and people. Wether it be new activity friends, maybe possible business connections, or even just people visiting i'm always looking for new contacts.

What I especially like about these internet sites is that i'm meeting totally new contacts whom I would probably never meet in real life. I'm really focused in on meeting friends and contact outside of my current social circle.

I've recently kinda took the lead role in MeetinHonolulu and i've met a bunch of cool new friends. I've kinda encouraged various members of different internet social groups to join meetin and i've told my members to join other groups as well.

What i've recently been doing is focusing in on Myspace members and encouraging them to join my group. It seems like your typical hawaii myspace person is local and they aren't involved in any other social internet site. I just think its weird that someone who has a online description of their life and friends for all the world to see, is only part of myspace...those are the types of users I would like to see in my group.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Social Software: Good Fun or Fruitless Fad?

"...people talking with speaking..." the prophetic words from Simon and Garfunkle's Sounds of Silence.

[pzarquon]

Re: Social Software: Good Fun or Fruitless Fad?

Interesting. Facebook has decided to open its doors to everyone. Official blog post here.

Part of the appeal of Facebook was stricter than usual access control. You needed an .edu academic address to join, and you were linked largely through schools. But the downside to the exclusivity was the generally smaller populace, which isn't as attractive to marketers.

There was recently talk of a Facebook acquisition by Yahoo! (since it's Yahoo 360 experiment seems to have fizzled), and news that Facebook would allow politicians to set up profiles to reach out to an increasingly hard to reach demographic. So this latest "all comers" move isn't too surprising. Facebook seems to have decided that the hit it would take in its exclusive cachet will be worth a bigger membership base.

I kind of liked wandering around in there 'cause the links and networks seemed tighter. Now, who knows what's going to happen.

Still, if anyone wants to take Facebook for a spin, send me an e-mail at ryanozawa@gmail.com. I can invite you in and give you a tiny head start in building a network.

[Hellbent]

Re: Social Software: Good Fun or Fruitless Fad?

There was an article in todays paper about another MS project, www.mywallop.com. Its in closed beta test but if you google for it, you can read some of the project notes, which sounds kind of interesting. If youre into social network software that is =p

[damontucker]

Re: Social Software: Good Fun or Fruitless Fad?

There was an article in todays paper about another MS project, www.mywallop.com. Its in closed beta test but if you google for it, you can read some of the project notes, which sounds kind of interesting. If youre into social network software that is =p

I read that article too... however... to pay for something as simple as HTML coding embedded onto a page sounds like there really trying to make a quick dollar off the less computer savvy type...

I'll stick with the free myspace account.

[pzarquon]

Re: Social Software: Good Fun or Fruitless Fad?

A new entry in the "fruitless fad" column for social networks:

Social sites becoming too much of a good thing
Many young folks burning out on online sharing

If you believe the buzz, the latest incarnation of the Web is all about sharing, connecting and community. Social networking sites such as MySpace and Palo Alto's Facebook have exploded in popularity, drawing new users into the fold each day. Users create profiles about themselves, link to their friends and post photos, messages and updates about their daily lives. Like instant messaging and chat rooms before it, social networking has become a powerful way for people to communicate via the Web and another place for people to spend their time online.

But even as the phenomenon continues to swell, the effort to maintain an active social life on the Web is taking its toll. Some have grown tired of what once was novel. Some feel bombarded by unsolicited messages, friend requests and advertisements. And some are cutting back.

Of course, another way to respond to the explosion of these sites is to create yet another site. Meet FindMeOn.com, "a new way to assert and verify ownership over online elements, identities and personalities... [and] verifiably extend your true identity across social networks and blogs, essentially creating an ad-hoc social network out of everything you join." (And no, I haven't joined!) A social network to manage social networks? It was inevitable.

[pzarquon]

Re: Social Software: Good Fun or Fruitless Fad?

This doesn't exactly fit "social software," but since we talked about how online social networks only really stand out when they have a real-world component, and since we mentioned GPH, TheNewcomersOhana, Bytemarks, and the like...

The old "Dinner Girls and Boys" group is now "Connect Hawaii." Monthly mixers and dinners and special events with other professionals. Mostly young (20s-30), mostly single, mostly much better looking than me. The difference is, though, there's now a membership fee.

Is the value of a well-run, organized, active networking group worth a membership fee? I guess they'll find out. I, for one, am glad there are free alternatives for the tragically yet proudly unhip like me!

I wrote up my thoughts on Connect Hawaii, including a peek at the hard-to-find fee structure, on my blog.

[pzarquon]

Re: Social Software: Good Fun or Fruitless Fad?

In the social networking space, a lot of the recent buzz has centered on Facebook. Once a closed network focused on students, it's now wide open... in more ways than one.

See, MySpace is a usability disaster. It looks awful, and doesn't work much better. So a lot of companies developed tools and "widgets" that you could add to your MySpace page. Photo slide shows. Music players. Videos. But it turns out that the more popular a "widget" became, the more likely MySpace would block it. They'd rather you use their limited, unstable, or non-existent equivalents than "plug in" outside services.

So, what did Facebook do? Exactly the opposite. They completely opened up their system, allowing independent developers to come up with all manner of tools that Facebook users could use and add to their profiles. From Twitter to iLike to music players to movie reviews to horoscopes... if you can imagine it, you (or some talented coder) can create it. Indeed, a surprising number of the most popular "Facebook Applications" were developed by high school kids!

MySpace is still ten times the size of Facebook, but I think this open system is a genius move. I already prefer it simply because it's not ugly and unstable, but the unlimited plug-in applications make it a sure-fire winner. In the race to be the space where you can collect and track everything, Facebook has pulled into the lead.

Wanna be my Facebook friend?

[1stwahine]

Re: Social Software: Good Fun or Fruitless Fad?

K-den. I joined ~ I need Friends too.heheheh
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=705021086

Auntie Lynn

[pzarquon]

Re: Social Software: Good Fun or Fruitless Fad?

One of the growing players in the social network space is Ning. Rather than being a social network site, like Facebook or Multiply, Ning is a service that allows you to create your own. So, if you ever wanted a nice community-type site -- with photos and videos and blogs and profiles -- for a specific group, you can set one up. For your judo team, your chess club, your condo complex...

So, of course, I've created a Hawaii network. Anyone and everyone is welcome. If you've never done the social network thing, here's a small playground to try it out. Post some pictures, set up your profile, make some friends. I'd love it if you'd help me kick the tires on this service!

HawaiiBase:
http://hawaii.ning.com

...and everyone, no forget to be Aunty Lynn's Facebook friend!

[1stwahine]

Re: Social Software: Good Fun or Fruitless Fad?

Hui!! I wen join. I getting confused with all dis new stuff. Remember...I'm Bi-Polar!!! It's simple and easy. I like the layout. Some of the others were very hard for me to join where I needed assistance. This and Face were simple foa "challenged" like myself to do.

Mahalo Ryan!!

Also, On MyBlogLog, I'm still featured on the Posse!heheheh It changes, but my face still stays on representing Hawai'i. Yep! It still has the little red x there in the corner cause Ryan said my Blog was Xrated.

Auntie Lynn