Social networking - the art of conversation is dead

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Social networking - the art of conversation is dead

Wednesday, February 13, 2008 4:34 PM | Social Web 2.0 Social Media StumbleUpon Orkut Facebook Social Networking

I enjoy social networking and am a member on several popular services. Being that I am older (42) I don't have as many friends in my profiles as many of the younger users do, so I look for discussions on several topics. The choices are so few.

The problem is that most of the groups are seldom visited or are full of spam messages. It is quite a shame that these discussions aren’t kept cleaner and used more often.

I’ve always enjoyed participating in group discussions online. Back before the Internet was generally available, I used local dial-up bulletin boards (BBS’es), and as the Internet became more popular I turned to Usenet discussion groups and online forums. I still love niche forums because the conversations tend to be lively and provide great information.

I’ve signed up for several discussion groups on Facebook, Orkut, and StumbleUpon. I am quite disappointed with the few actual conversations and on one network (which shall remain nameless – starts with an “O”) nothing but spam even with 29,000 members on one of the topics I am a member of. If I wanted to read spam, I would go back to Usenet. Please clean the discussion groups up, maybe more users would participate on them.

"It appears that everyone is busy looking at each other’s profiles and posting short messages on the “wall “ instead of getting involved in discussions with each other. Are the majority of social networking users just not interested in developing longer conversations with each other? Are online conversations and the art of conversation dead?"

Both instant messaging and mobile text messaging have become short, quick and abbreviated conversations. Email is becoming more abbreviated, and less honest to goodness conversation. I cringe many times when I read comments on sites, because of the shorthand text and lazy spelling.

I will be the first to admit that many times my grammar is awful and I have “rented fingers” when it comes to commenting or contributing to a discussion. I guess it is possible I am of a dying breed and that social network users do not care to be involved in meaningful conversation. You would think that social network discussion groups would be busier than they are and that more people would contribute to them.

Perhaps it’s the deluge of spam in many of the groups that keep users from using them. I wish I had a definitive answer, but from all appearances is a contributing factor.

Someone please prove me wrong and point out a social network that does have lively discussions groups with users that participate frequently. It would be nice to discover them, until then I guess I will stick with online forums and actually have long discussions with others.

I would love to read your comments on this topic!

8 Comments

Comments

Posted by Jake on 2/13/2008 4:43 PM: I definitely agree with you. Surprisingly though I have found some very good discussions on Mixx. However it still isn't what I think it is that you are looking for. The world is getting faster and faster with how it deals with everything. Multitasking has become a necessity rather than a rare skill. Maybe in this world people tend to be involved with too much and forget to slow down and breath (then talk)??
Posted by malcolm on 2/14/2008 12:08 AM: Hi,
yes the 'art' of conversation is dying at fingers of merciless sms'ers but form it a whole new paragigm of language and its function is emerging. I'm 44 and I too have difficulty finding old style conversations. You have to think of communications as both written content and image/structure of the message. There is a lot of symbolism shortcutting text now, which to me is for the better. Text can be reduced basically to combinations of constanants, reducing vowel use to 'i' and 'u'.

I am taking my Master's in Internet Studies and this language shift is my prime focus of investigation.

I hope to hear from you again one day...longhand!

peace

Malcolm
Posted by robojiannis on 2/14/2008 2:43 AM: I'm on several networks too. But I mostly use them as a filter to discover new blogs. Probably the best social network today in cyberspace - as far as communication goes - is blogging.
Posted by allen on 2/14/2008 2:48 AM: Granted blogs are great for opinion and thoughts. I think though that one the social networks you just don't see conversations, only bits and pieces of conversations.
Posted by Yura on 2/14/2008 6:35 AM: Well, Sphinn is pretty reasonable, granted it is run and used by professionals. Occasional submit spam slips by, but it is in the minority.

The community is young, but I don't see how it can get worse, since every contributor loves the industry and the community.
Posted by jegan on 2/14/2008 9:23 PM: I love my neice, and I am proud of what she has accomplished. However, her writing skills are minimal. She texts like crazy- I know, I pay the bill. I set her up with a blog. Slowly, I see improvement. Very nice post. Thanks.
Posted by Wendy on 2/28/2008 11:39 AM: Well maybe there is less conversation these days but as a jewelry designer I have found a great networking forum with other artisans just like myself.

We discuss everything and anything and have become quite fond of each other.
Often commenting on each others work.

When we have problems with a piece we're working on we hit the forum and ask questions, someone is apt to reply and save the day!

There's always something to discuss in length.
Posted by Allen on 2/28/2008 11:50 AM: Hi Wendy,
That's awesome that you found a good solid place to discuss your passion. Forums are still good sources for extended discussions.