Didn't see that coming.

Although I do have a facebook account I'd still consider myself a Web Octopus then and contend that the reason there seemingly are so few of us is that we don't do web quizzes.

And while I do search for answers to questions I only ever ask my facebook contacts "how are you?" and not "how do I re-wire my coax".

And lastly, my final grumpy comment is that as you yourself mention " my brain would be unable to connect with so many people" a better title would be "Facebook is replacing your brain".

I figured I was more the octopus, but it seems that wikipedia is considered 'social media', so fox it is..

You are missing the most important point. Such social networks have privacy features that would easily allow one to hide their profiles and only add people they actually care about, yet most users don't enable them. Why? Bacause we are attention whores. You can't just say no to Joe or Jane that you saw about 10 years ago and probably will never see again. It's somehow rewarding knowing that people are aware of what position you are in life. The moment everything starts falling apart, said people are no longer interesting to you, and vice-versa. Having 500+ cyber friends on your list that in one way or another will learn about your current life events definitely adds up this immaginary little feeling of being widely liked. Ironically, your list might possibly contain a fraction of fake users.

Social networks may have a use to professionals of certain fields beyond exposing their lives, and very often they are behind corporate profiles. If you're just an average user, you most likely shouldn't be trying to fathom why you add so many random people.

I hate that streaming nonsense. Myspace does it. Facebook does it. I do not want to know what ALL of my social networking friends are doing all the time. I'd like to know what selected friends are doing and be updated ONLY on them. Not everyone. As a result, I don't use Myspace as much and selectively use Facebook only because there are particular friends I want to keep updated on. Not all. Just some.

all here in one place!

1) A twenty-something preening on wasting time exchanging trivia.

2) Random nonsense.

3) Commercial opportunist.

4) An ordinary person from The Past cynically noting that today's trivia makes him into a "virtual" éminence grise.

This is a great article, it really puts a more positive spin on FaceBook, Twitter, and all the other social spaces.

The mainstream media is giving social media and networking a bit of a hammering of late. I think it might be because they are scared of it. They can see what damage it can do to them

But this article shows that a lot of the psychobabble that has been coming out is just off the mark

The social space is not going away, ever. It is the new way and I hope that a lot of people read this story

Jimi Bostock
PUSH Agency
jimi@pushagency.net

First, Any software Writins' Are As Easy to UnderStand as Child Sticking Hand into Operating lawnMower Blade. Only After Fact Do People realize this is NOT Human. Heres Example:

In computer programming, BASIC (an acronym for Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of high-level programming languages. The original BASIC was designed in 1964 by John George Kemeny and Thomas Eugene Kurtz at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, USA to provide computer access to non-science students. At the time, nearly all use of computers required writing custom software, which was something only scientists and mathematicians tended to be able to do. The language and its variants became widespread on microcomputers in the late 1970s and 1980s. BASIC remains popular to this day in a handful of highly modified dialects and new languages influenced by BASIC such as Microsoft Visual Basic. As of 2006, 59% of developers for the .NET platform used Visual Basic .NET as their only language. BASIC Is Only Lernable Language by Individual.

Java, Need JAVA, Ask James Gosling. Probably hasn't Clue, Ask Steve Perlmutter, Tape Over Mouth Proves Muter part. No One Gonna Tell anyone what Language Mess Does, its ALL Spray & Broken Hands Flying Out Exhaust Port, thats hint. No New Languages have Been Developed Since 1969. ALL Writen, Waiting....

Takes Entire USA University System, Selecting Only Families that Cheat Beyond Comprehension, ALL working Frantically to Write ,for Grade & Listened to by TELCO, Proffessor & IBM, 1 of thousand makes Grade, as Temp.

After ALL that Rough Stuff, Taking Reap 'Em Till Leave Additude, Cetain professions Have that Problem, Fear of Others Near Sacred Grave Yard. Psychology IS Such Exteme Group, So Psychologist Saw Break. Test, Retest & Defeat. Not Just FAKEBOOK, In Fact, Book of theDEAD.NO GOOD Can Come of IT.

drashek