The Facebook Experiment

I've never been a huge fan of Facebook but I do have an account that I still use occasionally to check in with people that haven't made it over to Twitter yet. Facebook always felt clunky and hard to use so I just let it fall by the way side. Now with Facebook adding user names to their bag of tricks, if someone wants to find out what I’m up to, they can log in and search for me unless they know the random string of numbers that represents me. This peaked my interest a bit so I decided to do a little experiment and pick 20 Facebook profiles at random from a Twitter search to see if the spark between me and Facebook is still there.

It's not.

Issue #1 From the twenty profiles I looked at, only ONE person had a public profile. That's right. One. So what's the point? Why would I want to befriend you without knowing anything about you? It seems that I have to meet you somewhere else before I can be your friend. Kinda counter productive don't ya think?

Issue #2 After looking around on the one profile that wasn't private, I noticed that they were fans of things like 'not being on fire' and sunshine. Really? Like you just decide to be a fan of something and then meet other people who like 'not being on fire' and sunshine? I guess so. I just don't see how you can meet worth while people based on the fact that they don't like 'being on fire'.

Issue #3 Most of us are familiar with Twitter's status updates. Now with all the different programs like Pixel Pipe and Posterous, you can update all your different media outlets with one quick click of the mouse. I think that's a fantastic idea ( I'll be putting up a Pixel Pipe review once I test it out a bit longer) but putting your Facebook status as your Twitter update is down right annoying. I saw a Facebook update that said something to the effect of:

"RT@joe(via@sam) The way to go http://bit.ly/VUKqL @thatguy @thatotherguy #blog"

That's just crazy talk. Your Facebook status involves a web link you can't click along with Twitter usernames you can't click as well as a hash tag that has nothing to do with Facebook. All that's left is four words that tell you nothing. Facebook users that don't use Twitter have no idea what that means. I wouldn't want an update that couldn't be understood by the entire community.

With that said, goodbye Facebook. We had fun together and I'll always remember the good times we had but it's time for me to move on. Now now, don't cry. I'll keep you around for an occasional update here and there but as for being a useful tool you're not the media for me.