• What’s the point of facebook?

    I tend to avoid using most “2.0” web applications because I fail to see an advantage in doing so. Don’t get me wrong, some applications have been used particularly well by some people but that doesn’t mean that I can do much with them myself.

    I knew very little about Facebook and was equally apathetic but I decided to set up an account anyway; just to see what all the fuss was about. To date I am extremely underwhelmed.

    All it seems to do is 1) list my friends, details, hobbies and interests; 2) allow me to chat to friends (because I couldn’t do that through “traditional” methods like email and IM); and 3) list my contact details to friends (the same contact details that are available here).

    From my experience so far I feel that Facebook is really just a convergence of Bebo’s chatty, friendly, social aspect and LinkedIn’s more professional, online CV-type approach.

    I purposely avoid Bebo because I see it as a blog for people who don’t blog – I also feel that using it to its fullest involves collating a lot of personal information in one place, which I’m not too keen on. I do use LinkedIn but it doesn’t seem like enough other people in Ireland do to make it worthwhile (to that degree there has been some worth in signing up to Facebook as I can connect with more Irish journalists etc.).

    I have a distinct fear that, as a result of my decision to only use “2.0” websites that actually offer me something new, I’ll soon be a kind of dinosaur of the internet age. Sure look at me, sitting here with my wordpress blog, MSN client and email account. I’m such a has-been.

    That doesn’t bother me too much – I just can’t bring myself to sign up to and regularly use websites that have absolutely nothing to offer me. It seems to me that for the most part Facebook fits into that category.