iCarumba, Batman!
I know it’s really ‘Aye Carumba’ and not iCarumba–I studied Spanish for 4yrs! I’m using my “i” version because I’m noticing there are so many i-things in the world: iPods, iPhones, iGlasses (a software) and even iDogs, iFish and iCats! It’s enough to make you scream “iYaiYai!” *~ok, bad pun~*
Even worse than the iCat is the fact social networking web site popularity has dramatically increased over the last year, to the point many people have multiple accounts, with mostly the same individuals on their buddy and friend lists! Even more worse is some sites begin with one vision in mind, and it mutates due to the demands of a user base they never intended to attract. Facebook is a great example:
Facebook began as a way for people to be in contact with others they rarely meet or see: family who live on the far side of the country, fellow students from the university you used to attend, etc. And you can share pictures to them, since they are currently away from your “real” life. Facebook was not intended for daily friends to interact, or for posting quick, poorly written status messages every 5 minutes. It was meant to be a representation (or “Face”) of your life, so others who cannot see your life firsthand can at least sample it. Search was pretty much limited to companies, universities, and high schools (not for current high school students, but for high school ALUMNI to find each other). All was wonderful, until: teenagers!
Teenagers turned Facebook into Friendster (which is actually designed for your often-seen-real-life friends and buddies to have a cyber-life in addition to real life). While Facebook creators were not really happy with this newly rising group of users, it did increase their total number of customers, which in turns attracts advertising and revenue (as businesses did not care “who” was online, only that it was hundreds of thousands of them).
I’ve noticed that more than 90% of the people on the average person’s Facebook friend list is a person they see fairly often, talk to on the phone often, or SMS to often (or all of the above!). I’ve even seen people communicate in stereo! (e.g. sending SMS to each other, while also updating each other’s “walls”). When asked “why?” I often hear “well, they wrote me comment, so now I must write one.” (uhhh…)
These web sites are supposedly to be all in fun, I know. But, lets say you have Facebook AND you have Friendster. Does the average person interact with different people on the two different services? NO! most of the people on a person’s list for one service is on the list of EVERY service account they have! So now people are getting messages from the same individuals on Facebook, on Friendster, on SMS, on the Phone, and lets not forget Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger (hates it!), Sypke, ICQ, IRQ, Google Talk (I can name easily more)! *~OK, Moving On…~*
I am the same. I have all these services too! And I have SMS, Blackberry Messenger, and Twitter (which is the only service most people need, as all most people do is make quick comments to each other on all the other services, which is what Twitter does better than anyone, but anyway…). I have SO MANY Web 2.0, Social Networking Accounts, that when I do remember to visit them, I must always request “email me my password” or worse, “email me my username” Because it been SO LONG I cant even remember them for the web site! EVEN MORE SCARY is some people can’t even remember which email address they used to sign up for that particular web service, because they have SO MANY email accounts too! So, some people can’t even tell that web site where to send their forgotten info!
*~ How Fucked-Up is that? That you have accounts you not visit for so long, you cant even remember the username or password or even email account anymore, yet you STILL KEEP IT! It like keeping Duncan Donuts even though they are 3 months old! ~*
I recently began to think “why do I have these accounts? And I don’t even log into all of them alway, so why do I keep them?!” I asked friends and they too said the same! Most of the adults log into one or two often, and maybe check the others from time to time, simply to clear the messages from the inboxes. Teens like to use them all, but that’s OK: they’re teen hahaha!
So, I have decided to delete all my social networking accounts, except Yahoo! messenger, Twitter and Facebook. (I’m still undecided, Maybe I will keep MySpace instead of Facebook, which is Hell-A-Boring to me with its lame applications, while MySpace has lots of cool content, like Music artist pages, enhanced video capabilities, etc., and MySpace has many more users than Facebook–contrary to what most people may believe). For Facebook status messages, I do not even update them! I only update Twitter, and have Twitter auto-feed Facebook status box hahahaha.
Now that that’s settled, what about the buddy and friend lists? How many “friends” do you have on your Yahoo!, Friendster and Facebook? How many of them are really friends u interact with, or have history (such as attending the same university class, or coworkers) via that service? How many of those “friends” on your lists do you never even hear from? How many of them do u comment to (not counting you ‘replying’ their comments) because you are thinking of them, and want to give them a cool shout-out? I’ve seen “friends” with over 600 “friends” on their list (usually the pretty girls have this many, cos guys can’t help but add them, so they feel they are cool hahaha). Is it so bad to “decline” a friend request? Is it so bad to clean the list and keep just people you “actually” know and interact with? Is it so evil to delete 300 of those 600 people, because you heard from them only once, and not ever again? Let’s find out!
I’m trashing anyone on my list that I cannot immediately remember who they are! On my old Yahoo! Messenger account (I trashed it about 3yrs ago, cos so many people and spam email) had like 150 people on it! and I had NO IDEA who they were! Today I have maybe 20 total on my Yahoo! Messenger buddy list, but I know who they are, and I hear from them at least once in a while, but I separate them into Yahoo! Messenger groups. I’ve 5 groups:
- “A-List” (for those very few who are close, real-life friends I constantly interact with)
- “Friends” (nice people who I know in real-life, or interact with for many years)
- “Friends-At-Large” (good people who I don’t get to chat to often, due to distance, real-life things, etc, but we stay in touch from time to time)
- “The Others” (stolen from the TV show “Lost”: people who I’ve met, and rare to talk to, but feel I should maintain contact to. Usually ex-coworkers, or networking-relationship)
- “The Psychos” (only 3 on this list: Neurotic people I’ve marked as permanently offline, and ignored. Miss Split-Personality with her multiple accounts, The Stalker, and The Nympho-Travel Agent are in this group)
Anyway, I will soon be freed from the chains of too much Web 2.0 (social networking web sites, for you non-geeks). Later I’m cleaning house! I’ll keep only those services that have unique specialties, then trashing the rest! 
Bahasa Indonesia Lesson For Today:
Lengkap: Complete
Contoh (example):
Ibu saya senang karena dapur saya sudah lengkap.
My mother is happy because my kitchen is already complete.
Take care! Oh crap, I forgot I used to have a Multiply Account! I have to log back on at home and trash that one too *cryyyy…. Lord All Mighty, Please Deliver me from the Evil that is “invite your friends to use this service”!