Has Social networking already failed?

Thursday, June 18th
by Mark Carras

You ever get so tired that you loose any shred of common sense? Well, if I had any common sense I would head for bed right now. Instead I need to get a rant out of my head. Facebook has two “features” that their users seem to confuse. One of them is the great “like” button. This is for when someone you follow says, posts, or submits something you like. You have nothing intelligent to say about it, but you agree, enjoy, or somehow are reacting in a positive manner to said item. It keeps people from the ultra-retarded comments like “good post” or “cool”. Nothing intelligent to say? Just click the like button and shut the hell up. Good stuff.

Another feature is the ability to create a fan page for anything. On the surface this seems like a good idea. I can create a fan page for the Teamsters Union and find other Teamsters brothers and sisters from around the country (yes, I am a proud card carrying member). I can maybe create a fan page for the cartoon The Tick and find other fans of this cult comic. When used like this it is a great thing. Maybe if they limited people to only being able to create one or two fan pages this thing would not have gotten so out of control. Now we have fan pages that would have been better submitted as simple comments. There are fan pages of “George Bush is a Douche”. Now of course I agree that George Bush is a douche. If I see someone say that I will click the like button in a second. I will not however clutter my Facebook profile with ten million fan page memberships of everything I dislike. Do we really need a fan page for farting? Do I need to connect with other people who like to fart? What good does it do for me to connect with others who would join a fan page for “Sex”? I am married and my wife is the only one who needs to know what a fan I am of sex. I don’t see the benefit of networking with other people who join a fan page of “Hating Will Ferrel”. Now you all know that I have a passionate hatred for Will Ferrel that would give any psychologist a lifetime of research, but I would not get anything out of connecting with others who see him as the talentless hack he is.

Maybe I don’t get it. I use Facebook to network, communicate, and maybe find old friends I have lost contact with. I don’t need busy work. I want to share cool articles I find, educate myself a little, find good music , and plan a meet up or two. I don’t have time to kill. I don’t need clutter, noise, or shiny things to distract me. This misuse of the fan page has made me loose interest in joining any fan page on Facebook at all. It has ruined it for me! I’m afraid that if I join one that does have a purpose it will open a Pandora’s Box I could never close. If I accept a fan page that I think might have something to offer me, I am afraid I will be turned into a zombie that joins every fan page that I think is “cute” or “witty”.

The thing I really wonder is, doesn’t it destroy all impact if you just go click happy and join and “like” everything. Are we really communicating or have we turned into placating robots that are not really even paying attention to each other. If that is the case then the social networking experiment has already failed.