philcrissman.com - Latest Comments in Scoble: Ballmer still doesn&#8217;t get social networkinghttp://philcrissman.disqus.com/enThu, 04 Oct 2007 10:06:27 -0000Re: Scoble: Ballmer still doesn&#8217;t get social networkinghttp://philcrissman.com/2007/10/03/scoble-ballmer-still-doesnt-get-social-networking#comment-9805026Well... from where I sit, one main reason _is_ just that: everyone else is. But I don't mean in the sense of, "everyone is wearing plaid knickers this year, so I will to." I think the services have value <em>because</em> of the people who are on them. (This does create a bit of a catch-22 for anyone wanting to start such a community, but that's one of those challenges all the present networks have had to overcome as well).<br><br>Scoble uses the example of eBay; eBay would be worthless if it didn't have a large community of people buying and selling items. Likewise Facebook/LinkedIn/et al. would be worthless if you have no friends or associates using it; but if you <em>do</em>, then there is value.<br><br>I'm definitely not suggesting there's much value in the proliferation of Silly Applications (Zombies? Werewolves? Pirates and Ninjas? Oh my) on Facebook, but I think it's function as a way to connect and stay in touch with people is potentially very valuable. MySpace; I do have one, but I've pretty much abandoned myspace.<br><br>Twitter is a different sort of thing, but I think there's value to be found there, as well, in the conversation -- but I've probably written enough about Twitter for awhile. ;-)<br><br>I'm definitely not saying that "everyone" must (or even should) have an account on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, Digg, Slashdot, Reddit, Virb, Bebo, etc, etc, etc -- not at all. But I think for those communities where one has connections, or could potentially create connections... to me, that has value. And <em>that</em> is what (I think) Scoble is saying that Ballmer's not getting.<br><br>From the overly-long-comment department... thanks!Phil CrissmanThu, 04 Oct 2007 10:06:27 -0000Re: Scoble: Ballmer still doesn&#8217;t get social networkinghttp://philcrissman.com/2007/10/03/scoble-ballmer-still-doesnt-get-social-networking#comment-9805025I'll be honest - I don't think _I_ understand the benefit of social networking. I'm on linkedin - I can see some potential benefit there - but I'm not on myspace or facebook, and I can't think of a compelling reason (other than, perhaps, "everybody else is") to join.mrbenThu, 04 Oct 2007 06:25:15 -0000