Week 2: The digital stage

Having already become familiar with facebook (and myspace back in 2007 when it was the hippest thing out) this week I endeavoured to take a look at bebo and linkedIn.

I signed up to linkedIn because I couldn't seem to browse any of the groups as a guest. Naturally, I automatically signed up with a psuedonym, because I don't really like to put my personal details on semi-public sites. But linkedIn is like a job seeking site / social networking site, so it really requires a real name.

I searched on google and found a comparative review that looked at some pros/cons on linkedIn and facebook. I agree that the silly applications that facebook features are a waste of time but it is really quite easy to ignore them. I use facebook solely as a means of finding out about events and contacting people I am not intimate enough with to email or text. A friend of mine (facebook friend/real friend) uses the live feed function as a 'stage' to 'perform' on. I am too shy.

Bebo seemed like even further towards the solely social side of the continuum. I found a song from a band I liked: the chromatics in the city, and I could watch the video streamed from youtube.

I think these sites work well for advertising events, and for gathering a large pool of distant more formal contacts (fans for bands, venues, institutions like the library). They rely on the digital word-of-mouth: if someone mentions it, everyone they know hears about it. Sometimes its nicer to casually glance over what other people are doing / are into, rather than be emailed or spammed about it.