SNS sites

Once, for a brief moment of weakness, I considered joining MySpace. Thankfully, that feeling was quickly overcome by the riots staged by the logical part of my brain, and all was well once again.

MyProblem with MySpace, is that it is not really worth MyTime, or MyEffort. I realize I'm probably about to alienate a lot of people with the following statements, but I'm gonna throw them out there anyhow. Aesthetically, I find the layout of the site and the profiles to be sloppy, crowded and distracting. Philosophically, I just don't get it. For an example, I'm using this girl's profile who came up under "Cool New People" on the main page (though DocManJay works as well.) Almost 99% of the profiles I viewed were similar to this one, in that images and phrases are tacked onto the page like some kind of ugly digital scrapbook that is supposed to give the viewer an idea of the person's values. Half the comments are variations of "Thanks for the add!" The problem for me there is that whatever social network that is created ends up being purely superficial and fairly vapid. My roommate has deemed the entire site "Slutty" and from my own impressions, I'd say she's not far off. I feel like these people are virtually pimping themselves out.

Now, I am a member of Facebook, and I'm ready for the onslaught of criticism for joining that. Come on, bring it. For me, Facebook is much more representative of my social network. I don't have 5 million friends, I won't pretend to. I actually have met and genuinely like almost everyone listed. It's a way for me to keep in touch with people who I don't see very often, and (very importantly) remember their birthdays. Sorry guys, but I don't really care what TV shows you like, but I do enjoy seeing your set of pictures from the same party we went to. And I like that I can make my profile as public or private as I want. I admit, I preferred when it was exclusive to colleges, and before newsfeed was introduced, but I think the Facebook team has managed the additions well enough that it is still a worthwhile tool and distraction.

To summarize: I need Facebook's framework to help me function, and to filter out a lot of crap that MySpace indulges in. Just a personal preference.