Comments on: How many friends should you have?

By: Rana

Rana — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 06:28:55 +0000

there’s no dialogue whatsoever…it’s just people talking at each other, w/o actually engaging.

Well, that’s how some people use Twitter, but that’s not how you must use Twitter. I belong to a circle of interwoven followers and followees, and it’s more like a virtual coffeeshop than a series of monologues – we all reply to each other and read each others’ replies. It’s like chat, yes, but without the anxiety of it all having to take place in real time (a serious consideration when most of us are in separate time zones).

By: salient

salient — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 03:43:44 +0000

there’s no dialogue whatsoever…it’s just people talking at each other, w/o actually engaging.

Yes, but when we start seeing Presidential campaign debates conducted via Twitter, this characteristic will become a thing of incomprehensible beauty.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 02:59:48 +0000

Facebook is made for academics. It requires so little of you. Someone writes a line and then you can wait 10 hours to reply.

By: CK Dexter

CK Dexter — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:08:16 +0000

“there’s no dialogue whatsoever…it’s just people talking at each other, w/o actually engaging.”

Exactly. The funny thing is that Twitter has already been invented. It’s called texting. I mean the blog. I mean the cell phone.

By: John Quiggin

John Quiggin — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:19:11 +0000

I remember hearing the identical story (with genders reversed) from a colleague.

By: skippy

skippy — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 02:55:59 +0000

i just joined twitter earlier this week to see what all the brou-ha-ha was.

actually i had followed a link from my sitemeter traffic index back to a twitter tweet mad kane posted about my blog…so i decided to try it.

it’s pretty damn boring. but i can see why all the tv pundits and journos just love it…

there’s no dialogue whatsoever…it’s just people talking at each other, w/o actually engaging.

By: mollymooly

mollymooly — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 23:33:07 +0000

I love finding out which of my acquaintances have just completed the liquor smuggling in Mob Wars.

By: TW Andrews

TW Andrews — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:40:41 +0000

For me, Facebook is essentially a self-maintaining address book. Any social value it has is pretty minor.

By: JB

JB — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:25:43 +0000

To quote a facebook friend who claimed that it jumped the shark:

“No, it totally just did for me. My landlord just sent me a friend request.”

To quote me in the same thread:

“my landlord’s wife is one of the most frequently updated accounts i track…”

You be the judge.

By: Kieran Healy

Kieran Healy — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:12:25 +0000

There’s a big difference between real-life friends and Facebook “friends.”

Which ones are always asking you for money again?

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:19:32 +0000

There’s a big difference between real-life friends and Facebook “friends.”

By: JoB

JoB — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:41:46 +0000

Five is about right: four and one spare.

The interesting thing about early adopters is that they tend to support the Dalaï Lama but at the same time uncritically force everybody to take a google account completely uncritical of google caving in at the Chinese government every time some under-vice-minister’s aide has an issue.