It feels like I am travelling on a train through a new country. I keep finding new places to explore but only have a little time before I have to move on. But unlike the 'grand tour' of far away lands I can return to these new places at my leisure.
I've set up a Facebook account, and right away I'm surprised by the openness and ease by which I am connected to people I know. I entered my school and my (personal) business, and it brought up as potential friends three guys I went to school with. Now that is networking! The first person I added was my wife, who just joined recently at the request of some of her friends, but she has no idea what it is all about. Then I found a few guys I had worked with, scattered to the ends of the earth. This is the amazing thing, I would be hard pressed to track down an email or even a phone number for them, but just by entering their names I have found them. Obviously, being computer-savvy nerds like myself it was a reasonable guess that they would already have accounts. I think in my case settling down and starting a family has taken me off-line much more so I haven't investigated these newer sites. Ten or fifteen years ago I am sure I would have been seriously addicted.
I also noticed that Facebook is so much more slick and polished than MySpace, it doesn't look like it was designed by a 12-year old (albeit a 12-year old with art school grunge sensibilities). The technology behind it is 'more Web 2.0' as well, it updates the pages dynamically as you work with them.
The only reservation I have is that I am not completely sure about the privacy issues. I'm used to using usernames that don't reveal who I am, not because I have anything to hide, but because the internet makes profiling people so much more convenient than has been possible before. I'm old enough to know that one doesn't put all of their personal details online for the world to see, although I'm sure I am uninteresting enough not to worry about 'stalkers'. I can see that there is potential for these communities to be misused, consider kids choosing who gets to be their friend and who is excluded.
I've been on LinkedIn for a few years now, which is more or less a Facebook for business. It lets you link up with friends and people you have worked with before, with the aim of building networks that may prove useful for business opportunities.
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