At 216 slides, 'The Real Life Social Network' by Paul Adams takes a fair bit of time to wade through, but it does offer some interesting insights into the various ways in which identity, context and connections play...
When I decided to go on a hiatus from the social networks (read Twitter and Facebook, two of the products that I use most), it had more to do with trying to get a handle on things in both professional and personal life than anything else. Over time, my use of these sites had become more of a crutch to support increasingly bad management of time and effort. Nothing spectacular happened because of the blackout. The world did not become a better place, nor did any of my problems vanish magically, but I did get to focus a lot more on matters that needed dedicated and sustained attention.
For me, the first rule about doing such a blackout was to not tell anyone about it. I was not totally offline and was easily available over email. I had forsaken instant messaging services a long time ago and I rarely use them (Skype, mostly) other than for work-related short stints. It was well over a week before the first messages of 'all ok?' started coming through and even those maxed out in the single digits (including the DMs on Twitter that I did not get to see till today). If this were a popularity contest, I would certainly have lost it hands down, but taking it account my largely asocial self, we are working on a flawed foundation there.
It was not easy going at all. Day one was hard. I am a compulsive 'command + tab' and 'command + n' user. A bad habit and muscle memory are like two peas in a pod - perfectly made for each other. Two or three days into it, things became much easier. I was working with more focus and it was getting more OK to not know immediately what was going on anywhere within seconds of anything happening. More importantly, it was OK to not have a smart ass comment or a snarky response to something or the other. Week two was not something that was part of the original plan, but it so happened that I was heading out of town to the Himalayas for some R&R and it worked out perfectly fine to extend the hiatus for seven more days.
Having popped up back about 11-hours ago on Twitter and Facebook I don't think I missed much. Some observations:
1. Yes, there is a certain delay in knowing what is happening out there, but that actually works out much better for me, with significantly reduced noise levels and better reporting.
2. There are a lot of easily offended, highly opinionated people out there. A lot of times the realtime world feels like a nerve that is ready to burst.
3. Real life (the one without Foursquare, Latitude, GPS etc) is not a fallback. In our part of the world, it is still the primary option.
4. Unless they do eventually get into the payment/shopping space, Facebook will be so passe in 5-years.
5. 12157 tweets and 1115 followers down the road, I still could not explain Twitter to a digital non-native in either 140 characters or even using 140 sentences.
6. I have grown to love email even more.
7. The importance of 'social' in your life is vastly overrated when it does not involve meeting people face-to-face.
8. Both Twitter & Facebook have scaling issues (not speaking about technology). After a point, both become more about distribution than interaction.
9. There is something absolutely lovely about enjoying an icy cold breeze going up the Himalayas and not wondering how to fit the feeling in 140 characters.
10. We are, sadly, slaves of the refresh button.
Of course, none of these need not necessarily apply to anyone else. But it is an interesting experiment. I would suggest that you give it a shot and see how it works out. Obviously, don't tweet about it while you are at it.
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Shashi,
Going out of vogue depends on something new coming up and I think that is a very real possibility.
That does not mean the company will close shop and die. They will still remain a great investment for the VCs who put money into them and stay profitable and even go the IPO route.
There are troubling aspects about Facebook's growth because there is no openly measurable manner of determining the value of their traffic. If you think all of the Farmville farmers are going to increase the value of the network, we are really back into measuring success in terms of eyeballs again.
For Google the FB threat is not a big deal. Mining networks like Facebook is not that big a thing as it is made out by the pundits.
Neena,
It was not as hard as I thought it would be, at least on the trip. Then again, being on the road always makes me happy :)
Asmita,
There is a difference between sharing and almost live-broadcasting the journey :)
R,
Read the blog, interesting to see similar thoughts and good luck.
Aravind,
Need to find that excuse to off tweeting again, time to head for the hills!
Right on money
I recently took a break of almost a week from media (internet, tv, newspapers) when I went for vacation. And my conclusions aren't much different from yours. In fact, for some time, Facebook/Twitter seemed like a giant echo chamber.
BTW, I can't fully agree with your observation that Facebook could go out of vogue. Now, I am the guy who logs on Facebook once a month to accept "friend" invitations from.... non-friends. Yet, I think, they are on a strong wicket. They are still trying to crack the problem of making big money from goldmine of data, but I sense, they will do it - either on their own or with the help from Big G.
Was really curious about how
Was really curious about how not being connected all the time worked out for you.
Could relate to many of the things you said although for me, in relation to Point 1, not needing to know things all the time doesn't involve forsaking Twitter and other updated-by-the-second services, it involves not watching the news everyday and relying on programmes like "The World this Week". Perhaps that is being too disconnected; I didn't know about the German Bakery blast till I heard about it over the phone quite a bit later --- and the German Bakery is/was one of my favourite eateries.
And as for loving eMail, I do, but have I ever told you how much I love to hold hand-written letters, and slowly read them over?
Everything has its place and time
I have not opted for GPRS on phone as yet because I don't want option of internet available all the time. But there is something to be said about wanting to share a beautiful sight/ moment/ your own happiness/ feeling of grace which an access to net (and hence twitter) while travelling gives you.
I too was out of station to warmer climes while Delhi was waking up to daily fog and chilly winds. The sheer delight of warm sun and barmy air was something that I wanted to share with more people than the sleepy passenger sitting next to me. But then again, am not a compulsively connected person like you :p. So I guess this experiment was something new for you. :-)
Amen. :)
I'd weaned off many over the course of the year '09, fb never caught up, and twitter got TOO noisy for me, but I love writing. Am on a hiatus (incl reading blogs, and wouldn't have commented/read if not for the so in tune topic) not because I can't get a handle on things, but just to remove distraction. World surely goes on and the quality of time spent away is treasure-able.
kowthas.wordpress.com
True story.
That's a really true story. I have been on a hiatus too, but not a very strict one. Popped up at times.
And yes, it was OK without all this.
(Don't get me wrong - I LOVE all them)
The most stark and TOTALLY valid point is
9. There is something absolutely lovely about enjoying an icy cold breeze going up the Himalayas and not wondering how to fit the feeling in 140 characters.
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