Where in the world am I today?: North Vancouver, BC, Canada

OK… I have to admit that I was sort of dragged into the whole Social Networking thing a bit reluctantly… Not quite kicking and screaming, but it just seemed like a huge time suck – almost as much (possibly more) of a time suck as keeping up with email, but somehow even more trivial… And yet… I’ve connected and reconnected with more people via Facebook than via any other internet means, and on some levels I appreciate the beast with out fully wanting to embrace it.

I think my first awareness of sites such as Facebook was a few years ago when MySpace was all the rage… A quick trip to Wikipedia shows me that MySpace really started digging it’s heals in around 2004… Facebook apparently got it’s start around then too though it really started getting stupidly huge around 2006 when I think I joined the ranks… I liked Facebook better than MySpace because it’s user interface was cleaner and easier to navigate, or that’s what I found anyway…

Add to the mix Twitter, Last.FM, Linkedin, Plaxo, Bebo, Flickr, etc… Actually thanks again to Wikipedia I just found a list of almost 150 different social networking sites… When’s it gonna end?

On some weird level it feels like a big battle like back in the days of VHS vs. Beta or more recently HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. All these different Web 2.0 companies via-ing for your social networking time all more or less the same-ish yet a little bit different enough to make them feel like they’re making a contribution to the scene…

I suspect that in the middle of all this lies an opportunity for marketing to huge numbers of people and progressing one’s career to the next level what ever one perceives that next level to be. Certainly there were stories back in the MySpace days of comics releasing a Comedy CD and using MySpace to sell it to the network that they’d established via that site. ‘Fan Pages‘ on Facebook seem like a good way to let people who are already fans of your show know what you’re up to and where you’re going to be playing. So there is something there…

I made a status comment on Facebook that suggested that my status comment was more important than a promo kit, or so it felt that particular day because I suspected more people were going to read my status on Facebook than were likely to visit my actual website which in a weird sort of way felt like a good and a bad thing.

I haven’t jumped 100% on the Web 2.0 bandwagon yet but I do see something there. When a site attracts both performers and producers there’s a chance for communication and that communication is usually a very good thing… I guess I’m showing my age… I feel like a Grandpa talking about the latest Fad these teenagers are all the rage about and I still can’t see what the big fuss is all about. If someone knows or can pinpoint it a little more clearly I’d love to feel like I understand it all a bit more… In the mean time I’ll just continue trying to be witty in my Facebook status comments.

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