Facebook friends? Defining moments ahead

Facebook is the social network taking the world by storm. It is truly amazing, and I think it is here to stay...not just a fad. However, I think college students have a different definition of "friends" than I do, and different ways of "knowing" people.

Facebook changes needed - Facebook is still a very young social network service in the process of transforming itself into a business. They have done an amazing job so far, and there are lots of plans for the future. Every young company at some point goes through an identity crisis. Who is their target customer? What do they aspire to be? How will they remain unique and competitive? Facebook hasn't faced these issues yet. There will be "defining moments" when they do.

Who are these friends? Maybe I am old fashioned, but I only accept friend requests from people I actually know, have met, or exchanged email with. On LinkedIn I have around 600 real friends and business associates that I have come to know over the past 20 years. On Facebook I have around 200 real friends. I do not understand why people send "friend" requests to people they don't know. And, when I try to figure out if I am somehow connected to them...they have no profile information, and sometimes no picture. I have 50 friend requests like this. I am too polite to "Ignore" them so I just leave them in the queue. Shout out to Alisha Wright. You are absolutely beautiful, but I don't believe I have ever had the pleasure of meeting you in person or online. How do I know you?

Another problem is the "How do you know this person" process. Facebook provides a list of possible ways you met this person...none of which fit my experience. So, I always click "Skip this step". They could add some choices like; "met online", "met at a conference", "met through mutual friends", or "met at a meeting".

Snagit -  This post gave me the opportunity to try Snagit, a screen capture tool. It is available for a 30 day free trial. I saw my friend Dan Farber, editor at Cnet and ZDnet, using it at a recent conference so I thought I would try it. Pretty cool. Thanks, Dan.

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Comments

[Mike Volpe]

I could not agree more. I am on MySpace in addition to Facebook and Linked in (and others), and 99% of my friend request there are basically Spam, so I have stopped using it. If Facebook really wants to become a _business_ networking tool, it needs to make a lot of changes. Like your article implies, I am not sure that my relationship status and if I am interested in "random play" is really relevant to me as a VP of Marketing and my business contacts.

I wrote a similar piece about this issue - click my name to see the article.

http://www.smallbusinesshub.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/2337/Facebook-Needs-to-Graduate-from-College-to-the-Real-World-to-Beat-LinkedIn.aspx

[Michel]

I recently read an article about security issues (identity thief) on social networking. The issue is that people gives up their personal information without thinking about consequences.

In theory only your friend or people in the same groups as you can see your profile (limited or not). However if you "poke" someone or reply to a "friend" request (such as "hi, thanks for your message but who are you?") then the other person can see your profile. And what more attractive than a sexy girl (such as alisha) asking to be your friend...

Those random invitations could be partly used for those scam, or it might just people using Facebook as a great social network to meet people but not as a professional tool.

[Scott]

Facebook is a great site, but it can't be both a pure "social" network (like MySpace started out as) and a "business" network (like LinkedIn).

As for the "How do you know this person" issues, I use the "From an organization or team" and "Met randomly" choices a lot. You can always fill in the details through the optional textboxes that appear when you check the box next to one of these choices.

[Rodney Rumford]

Hi Don,
Facebook has some challenges around allowing users to select different levels or circles of friends. They have announced a while back that they will be making some changes in this area. This willow you much more freedom on how you interact with "Friends", True Friends, Famils, Business associates, etc.

Trust me, Facebook will get this right in the very near future.

I wrote in September about Facebook Friending Etiquette 101 and offered up 7 tips.

More specific details here: http://facereviews.com/2007/09/27/facebook-friending-etiquette-101

Cheers!
Rodney Rumford
Editor: Facereviews.com

[shashib]

Hi Dan,

Along with Snagit there are some other basic free prograsm that are good. Cropper and m5Snap.

IF you are not using many advanced uses then free may be OK.

[Yihong Ding]

Hi Don,

It is not hard to explain why people send "friend" requests to people they don't know. They want to extend their social network for whatever reasons applied to them.

Facebook provides an option to let people specify which type of friendships is between two acclaimed friends. One of the category is "Facebook friends." You see, that's it! They want you to be at least one of their "Facebook friends," though this new concept may not be applicable to you. ;-)

So I send you a friend request at Facebook today. Since we have already had some sharing of what friends on Facebook might be at your blog, maybe we can label this new friendship at Facebook to be "The-Next-Big-Thing friend," if you would accept this friend request.

cheers,

-- Yihong

[Don Crowley]

I was getting spammed on plaxo and mySpace. I've deleted both accounts. I love Facebook though. I have rarely been spammed there.

I also might have a separate definition of spammed to you. I have a blog and if someone gets in touch and says they like my blog, I'll add them to my 'friends'. I got hooked up with Dan Faber on Facebook in a similar fashion. I've never been in touch with Dan. But I am a huge fan of his work. When I got in touch I told him that. No problem hooking up.

One last point. Personally I would have made the personal information on the screenshots anonymous. Some may have had genuine reasons for wanting to hook up but may not have explained themselves. All my humble opinion.

[Phil Barrett]

Great comments - something i've blogged about it... and something facebook is addressing in the very near future which will allow you to sort friends and provide more professional input on what you are looking for
check out my post on it:
http://www.burningthebacon.com/2007/10/25/facebook-takes-my-advice-implementing-all-suggestions/