Facebook vs. Myspace

In the last blog that I posted, I spoke about cheap imitations of television shows; the examples being two of Bravo’s reality shows, Project Runway and The Fashion Show. Two of the most popular social networking sites remind of that same scenario.

I have had accounts with two of the largest social networking websites: Facebook and Myspace. I eventually cancelled my Myspace account because it seems like the two sites are becoming ambiguously similar.

Both websites have all of the same entertaining, distracting aspects, from walls posts to profile pages to surveys that are designed for the sole purpose of procrastinating. Now that Facebook has changed it’s requirements for membership, anyone can join either network.

But there is a reason why I still have a Facebook account and no Myspace page, other than the fact that I like the gaming and family tree applications. Security has never been an issue when it comes to Facebooking…unfortunately, I cannot say the same for Myspace.

After several weeks of not checking my Myspace account because I was too bored to care, and was already jumping ship over to Facebook, I decided to login. Apparently, someone hacked into my account and changed a few things. Like that a favorite hobby was to meet strangers in public bathrooms, and that my all-time hero was Charles Manson…among other things.

That’s when I deactivated my account and said goodbye to Myspace. And I don’t miss it one bit!

Multi-Generational Facebook

At first Facebook was exclusively for college. Now, anyone can have an account.

My aunts and uncles have even friend requested me along with all of my cousins on Facebook, which I have reluctantly accepted and added to my limited profile. Call me old fashioned, but I’d prefer if the relatives from my parents’ generation would try to get to know me better through getting together with me, or at least calling me rather than checking up on me via the Internet.

It’s not as if I have pictures or information that I should feel ashamed of because if that were the case, I would delete them considering the influence a profile can have on a job prospect. But when my neighbors/babysitting clients tell me they don’t approve of my kissy-face profile picture because it might attract social networking stalkers that they saw on the last episode of Dateline, I get frustrated.

I liked Facebook a lot more when it was only for college networking. Facebook seems less special now that anyone can be a part of it. It has turned into another Myspace, which wasn’t all that special for the exact reason that anyone could be a member.

I’m keeping my Facebook page the way it is, but I can guarantee that if my parents decide to join, they will get their first taste of social networking rejection. Sorry Mom and Dad.

Nit-Twittering

I am all up for giving in to distractions, but there is a website that has gone far enough: twitter.com. Another social networking site that simply asks its members: what are you doing?

In 140 characters members can tell everyone on the Internet what they are doing at that very moment. Companies and even television shows have joined, along with businesspeople and average Joe’s.

My question is: who cares? What can possibly be conveyed in 140 characters that would be of any significance to me?

I understand that Twitter is a way for companies to do marketing, and it is another way for job-searchers to find prospective employment. But I suppose I choose the more personal route when it comes to communicating on a professional level. I believe that I will get farther through in-person interviews, phone calls and e-mailing.

If I want to communicate with my friends, I prefer the old fashioned way of e-mailing, instant messaging or, if I’m feeling really bold, calling them on the phone! If I want to send messages to people where the medium gives me limited numbers of characters, I will go old school and send a text.

There may be a circumstance when I want the masses to know. That’s when I Facebook.

One of the few advantages that I have found on Twitter is that I am able to market my work that is already on the Internet. Blog posts are easily advertised along with websites for people to check out.

Bottom line, Twitter seems to be a site that is geared towards people with iPhones who know the applications and are “tweeting” constantly all day. But for me, I just feel like a nit-Twitterer.

Join the Mafia

I’ve never been much for video games. Even when I was little and my older brother would ask me to play Sonic: The Hedgehog or Donkey Kong or, my least favorite of all, Mortal Combat, I would get my rear end lovingly handed to me every game. My only defense would be to smash all of the buttons on the control resulting in a miraculous victory. My brother stopped asking me to play after that.

So when my cousin asked me to play a video game online via Facebook, I rejected the application. After several Facebook chat conversations with him, he told me to try out Mafia Wars, mainly because he needed more people for his mafia, but also because he thought I would like it.

I figured I would try and be the procrastinating version of Oprah and do a little multitasking during my Facebooking, Instant Messaging, and E-mailing. That was how my addiction started and I have been hooked ever since.

The basics are that the user is a mob boss with a mafia that does his or her bidding and helps out with jobs, robbing other mafia’s properties, and fighting other mafias in order to make money and loot. Sounds pretty ordinary and, admittedly, boring at first. But as soon as you get snuffed out by a rival mafia, revenge is the sweetest form of victory.

So, I urge all of you, especially all the skeptics out there to give Mafia Wars a try. But as a warning, watch out for Donna Santini and her mafia; she takes no prisoners.