Am I the only one who is totally baffled about "web 2.0" sites like MySpace and their ilk? You know, where all the under-thirties hang out. Each page has hundreds of links and pictures and comments and connections. It is not explained what anything is about. It is not clear what the page itself is about. And everything about it is soooo superficial, nothing of meaningful interest...
Is it just me getting middle aged, or what?
7 comments:
Dunno about the fascination with these sites but I resisted MySpace until I wanted to hear music clips from friends (17,000 potential sax players on Sax on the Web for example).
Once I joined, I was hooked and I've found more interesting music and fascinating people than one could imagine.
I'm on FaceBook now 'cuz my daughter-in-law and neices asked. I don't like it as much because there is less emphasis in music.
I'm over 50 and most of music friends on MySpace are too. That's probably because I'm into jazz. So your age characterization of the audience for these things might be off a little.
Gandalfe's MySpace
I didn't think anybody middle aged could stand the barrage of impressions from MySpace. I get confused.
Myspace always reminded me of a city wall with tons of band posters badly layered on top of each other. All of them chaotically looking for space. Except the wall doesnt play anoying music as soon as you walk past it.
"And everything about it is soooo superficial, nothing of meaningful interest..."
In what sense? Is Myspace different from Blogger or any other blogging website? If there is, I haven't noticed. Although I'll admit I can't figure out why it's so much more popular.
Personally, I've found it a great place to discover new music, and occasionally, new people. I bought Wolfmother's CD before anyone had ever heard of them in America because of it. I think it's gonna replace MTV one day if it hasn't already.
Thanks, Leviathud.
Jes, it's a sliding scale. It's not just MySpace.
I'm sure there's good stuff there. It's just the impression I've gotten from most of the pages I've seen so far.
Gandalfe's page is better. And even that one, when I scroll down to the dozens of Friends with photos and comments, I give up. Who are all these people? Who should I take seriously?
I think that probably most of the people who use Facebook and, to a lesser extent MySpace, are either teenagers or in their twenties. Most of the people I know who use those websites are in that age range, and anyone over 30 doesn't seem to want to be bothered.
The thing I most think about that cluttered, hysterically nutso web design is, that nobody is USING it. On sites like MyPage or whatever, the kids can just automatically add stuff -- put "my videos" up; then put "my friends' videos" up; then put "my friends' cats' videos" up. It's easy to simply stab thousands more components onto those pages because of the way MyPage interfaces are designed. "Omigosh, Boppsie has a MyPage identity! I have to put her on my own page!" Click click zap.
But nobody is setting up these pages to be USED. Nobody is saying, "OK, I need for Boppsie's MyPage identity to be readily accessible to mom and dad." In fact, almost nobody ever clicks to Boppsie's MyPage identity from Frannie's MyPage identity EVER. The links are THERE; they're just not FUNCTIONAL, in the sense that NOBODY ever tries to MAKE them function.
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