Facebook, Plurk and other social networks

I've been using Facebook for quite some time, and the things I like about it is it's interactive capabilities that allow me to know what my friends are doing - something another social network site seemed to have missing, so naturally, after seeing - and experiencing this, I gravitated to Facebook more often than said other site.

At first, I thought it wouldn't be that easy, as I already had many friends in the other site. but my Facebook friends - some of them who are likewise friends in the other site, now surpass my friends in said other site, so it shows that I'm spending more time (and effort) updating Facebook than the other. I even posted on the other site's quote portion my Facebook account link... in case peopel are wondering why I visit on rare occasions.

What's stopping me from just dropping the other account? I've still go t a few (though not really that many) straggler friends who still greet me in the other site. Now, you'd wonder what to do in a social network that seems very friendly? For starters, I checked my privacy settings - after all, friends of friends are fine... but I don't want everything too exposed to just everyone - not that I'd place pictures that would put my friends (or me) in a bad light, of course - btu I just wanted to limit the viewing of said pictures to people I know, and not complete strangers.

How much time do I spend on Facebook? Good question... there are days I feel that I spend too much time with it - others where I am thankful for it 9specially in reminding me about others' special occasions. And since my birthday just passed - I got to be on the receiving end of these greetings.. and let me put some statistics here to show you how Facebook keeps me connected with friends.

On March 15 - my birthday, I received 23 text message greetings from friends and family, via my cell phone of course. In my other site? I got about three. From Facebook, I received 49 greetings... even I was surprised at the influx... and though others might also point out that said number was really just a fourth of my friends here, I'd still say I would have a hard time remembering when I received such numbers. I would alos like to point out that one friend greeted me by text, because she was confused with the new Facebook format... which apparently did not remind her of friend's birthdays - as easily as it used to. So these were high numbers despite the learning curve of the new Facebook look and feel.

And since we're on the subject... what about the new look and feel? It can get confusing, and searching for other items aren't as easy as it used to be. I know I had to fumble around to look for my pictures and notes a while ago.

So why did Facebook make the change? Still don't know... though some TV shows say it's in reaction to Twitter's interactivity... and maybe that of Plurk, too. Well, since I've not really used Twitter, I can't react to that - but Plurk is another matter.

I've been a fairly recent Plurker, and what I can say is that it gives me a quick and dirty manner of updating my status - not just in Plurk, but said updates also appear in both Facebook , and my other site. So it's got two things going for it... basically boiling down to having a fast AND convenient manner of letting everyone know what you are doing... and that's it.

I do not see how Plurk forced the hand of Facebook - though from what I read/hear, it's the interactivity - the same strength I chose Facebook over the other site, that got them worried and thus changed theri look and feel.

Does the new design give more leeway... more freedom? I'm still learning, but these past few days have been humorous, as I see some colleagues make some mistakes - due to Facebook's new style or setting... mistakes that somehow cause them to accidentally spam others. Ah... growth pains.

Personally, I don't see any conflict with both Facebook and Plurk.,,, and I'll continue using them both - to keep in touch, to inform... or to simply break the day's monotony. Will I Twitter as well... hmmm... still thinking about that. If I can see some unique capabilities not offered by either Fcebook or plurk, I just might do that.

One thing seemingly going for Twitter is that it's got lots of blog contents - in fact, it's community is composed of a lot of bloggers. I see attempts by Facebook to try showing the same number of blog contents - but since Facebook seemingly did not start that way, few folks kinda miss the fact that you can actually blog in Facebook too - through the notes portion.

In fact, let's take another site... this one in particular, Blogger.com. It's no Twitter either - since there is no limit to how long a suggested article is going to be (or at least, I've not encountered one yet) . Not so in Twitter... you've got a maximum ceiling to the number of words, so you're forced to be succinct, as opposed to my possible ramblings here... and thinking of minutiae considerations, it looks like I've not been minutely blogging as much as I should.

Meanwhile... as the site wars seem to continue, I just write this article and any other thing that comes to mind... after all, I'm not in it for the strategies - I just like to keep my thoughts documented and posted somewhere (blog), let some friends know what I'm thinking of or doing at a particular time (plurk) and keep tabs with friends - maybe see their pictures and learn more about them (facebook). I don't need changing looks or themes - unless I myself find a reason for making the change.

But how do these social networks affect my productivity and all that? Ah... that will be discussed in a separate segment.