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This Ning thing is my first time participating in an online social network*. I've been enjoying the groups and discussions, but am conflicted about this friend business. (Yes, I know that makes me sound like a total luddite.)
What value do you attach to your "friends"? Are you a willy-nilly friend collector or do you have some sort of criteria for who to friend or whose friend request to accept?
Do you participate in other similar animals--MySpace, Facebook, or even another Ning thing? Why do you like/dislike it?
Thanks!
*This assumes I'm correct in not viewing a blog--even a public blog--as a type of social network.
I've only done the "social networking thing" with sites that have something to do with things I'm interested in, like LibraryThing (if you could even call it a social network) or Last.fm. Books and music. I don't "do" MySpace because, well, half the pages crash my browser and I'm probably the only person without a Facebok account.
I don't go out of my way to friend people, but if they ask I usually reciprocate. It got pretty bad at Flickr, where people tend to friend you if you've made even one nice comment on their pictures. I have about 70 "friends" there, and that's about 65 too many. I feel like a jerk if I say no, though.
actually, you're not the only one, as I only what you do. Well, aside from the Flickr, only because I've not a good digital camera of my own yet. :-)
As for the question, I have been a part of social groups in the past, but have backed way off for various reasons. From what I've seen (with friends), many groups can overwhelm one if not careful.
I use Facebook but I don't really care for it. It feels like spying on old classmates or something!
I don't have many 'friends' here b/c I only sent requests to the regular visitors or bloggers I visit regularly who are also doing the NaBloPo thing. I'm not a collector. Of course, if you asked me to be your friend, I'd probably accept :)
So far I have established profiles on MySpace, Facebook, Ning, and a few other smaller and more topic-oriented social sites. MySpace has some very nice people on it, but it also has a lot of adds, teen-agers pretending to be older than they are, people seeking to "hook-up," many suggestive spam messages, and in the end not really my style. Facebook has been completely the opposite; it's been fun, positive, and much more in line with how I want to present myself and to whom. The difference between the two is their original purpose in being formed - MySpace was, I think, formed around small bands trying to promote their work, Facebook was formed around college students looking to build profesisonal networks for the future. So far Ning has been very good as well.
As far as friends go, I don't go on a collecting spree. I "friend" (I guess it's a verb now) people who I know personally or through business dealings. A few are people whom I have not met in person but with whom I have often corresponded, generally out of shared memberships or interests like RSPB or Audubon, or birdwatching or blogging.
I'm fairly new to the social networks, but so far, I like it. I participate in two other ning groups, facebook, and have my own ning network, http://www.iowaavenue.com. I'm meeting people I never would have met before. Are they people I talk to everyday? No. Are they people I would like to get to know better? Yes. If someone asks to be my friend, I don't usually just accept their offer; I look over their profile or groups they belong to.
Support, motivation, inspiration, and maybe just conversation all work on social networks. It's nice to know that you have things in common with someone in the UK, or Canada, or even in the same city, but would never have known if not for social networks.........................:)
I have a profile on MySpace but my friends are people that I actually know in real life or family members or Marine wives. I keep my profile private because, fundamentally, I hate Myspace. It's just an extension of high school popularity contests imo.
I didn't even know Ning existed before this year's NaBloPoMo.
I have a Facebook profile but I only signed up to get free iTunes downloads from Ticketmaster, lmao.
Lastly, I have a GoodReads profile. I use it to keep track of my books more than I do to socialize.
On Myspace, I don't accept friend requests from people that I don't know outside of Myspace in some form or another. I don't think I have any friends at all on Facebook. I really don't remember. As for Ning, I'm not opposed to accepting friend requests from people that I don't know because we all have blogging in common and I like extending my blog "friends" network. I'm always looking for new blogs to read.
