The PhoneBoy Blog

Social Networking: IN for 2009

29 Dec 2008

This is a no-brainer. Of course social networking is in for 2009. However, with so many choices, it might help to explain what services I plan on using (or not) in 2009.

Twitter : I’ve been on Twitter since it was SMS only and was called Twttr, but I’ve had my ups and downs with the service. It is insanely simple, easy to use, with many, many ways to use it. Of the microblogging services, it is clearly the mindshare leader (both in users and third party applications), which is why it is IN for 2009. The most useful piece of software to come along for Twitter is called Tweetdeck, which makes it much easier to follow conversations in Twitter. It doesn’t make the service like Jaiku in this regard, but it is a massive improvement.

** Jaiku **: I’ve always been a fan of Jaiku, but since it got acquired by Google, it has stagnated. The service has a lot of nice people, but it is skewed towards people with Nokia handsets. It’s not diverse enough, and I have found my interactions there less than spectacular as of late. I am considering placing this on my Out list, but I’ll keep an eye om it in case it improves.

** Facebook*: I think this was the year I finally got* Facebook. I am not one of these guys who uses every Facebook app known to man, but I have found the interactions with people to be rewarding. You know the service has critical mass when it’s mentioned in TV commercials for mobile phone operators. Definite IN for 2009.

Plurk: Other than a nice web and mobile interface, there’s not much here for me. SMS support is non-existent. No innovation except this “karma” nonsense. OUT for 2009.

FriendFeed: I will maintain my presence on FriendFeed, but it won’t be a source of information for me. Seems like an awful lot of work, and I’m all about less work right now. OUT for 2009.

identi.ca: The Jabber of social networking services. Again, most of my community is on Twitter, it lacks proper SMS support. Nice idea, but without critical mass, it’s OUT for 2009.

ping.fm: While I like ping.fm, I realize that by using this service, I am pretending to have a presence on social networks I rarely use. I think I am far better off just using a contact group on my Nokia E71 to send an SMS to Twitter, Facebook, and Jaiku–the three services I care about most. I may still use ping.fm for desktop blasts, but I’m generally putting it in the OUT category.