this whole facebook myspace thing

[arguchik]

so...i received an email today, from a friend who has "added (me) as a friend" on facebook. i find this difficult to understand, because i have yet to open a facebook account (or a myspace account, for that matter). i have several questions for y'all:

1. what's the status of the facebook vs. myspace rivalry? is it cooler to have an account with one or the other? or is it sensible to hedge one's bets by having both? i seem to recall reading something about a stratification happening between the two big social networking services, along class and racial lines, so that's why i'm asking. i have no idea how credible that analysis was; i read the article cursorily at best.

2. should i open an account on one of these services, myself? myspace? facebook? both? neither? this is different from question 1 because question 1 is framed as an academic inquiry; this question is framed as a request for personal advice. if it makes any difference...i plan to spend approximately zero time either taking artificially posed "natural" digital pictures of myself to upload to my profile, or crafting the profile itself. (sigh) but of course, you know what they say about the best laid plans, and the relationship between good intentions and the road to hell, and all that. i.e. i would probably spend more time on this crap than i'd prefer. i've got better ways to spend my time (isn't that a line from a liz phair song?). but if i'm going to spend time, how do you think i should spend it?

so here it comes...my very first LJ poll:

[Poll #1047916]

Comments

[maeveh.livejournal.com]

Thank for asking question #2. I've been contemplating creating a myspace account but just haven't gotten around to it for much the same reasons you talk about ... along with glaucon's NSA theory + my problem with Rupert Murdoch owning the company. Murdoch is a tool.

On the pro side is that a lot of Jefferson's crew have accounts + the long-lost friend's angle + the bands + a handful of other groups that I might be interested in keeping track of.

Eh ... maybe I'll just continue to ride that fence and stick with my nice, simple lj.

[arguchik.livejournal.com]

ugh. yes. murdoch is a tool.

it's probably a weirdness of mine, but i'm reluctant to set something up that identifies me by name and location, and that includes pictures (which i understand are optional, but they are also de rigeur).

[maeveh.livejournal.com]

If it's a weirdness to have something that identifies one by name and location, call me weird too. It's probably that I have a very distinctive last name ... there only one other person in the US that has the same first & last name and she's, I think, 10-15 years younger than me ... that makes me leery of letting that out on a social networking site.

Blah, I think I'll pass.

[rojonoir.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I used to be proud of all the hits I'd get googling myself. Now I'm happy there's fewer and fewer - especially old usenet posts. Though I'm pleased my 1993 post about riding unicycles down stairs is still there, and a false hit on IMDB for Zorro the Gay Blade.

[maeveh.livejournal.com]

"and a false hit on IMDB for Zorro the Gay Blade"

OMG, that's just so awesome.

[arguchik.livejournal.com]

false hit on IMDB for Zorro the Gay Blade.

ha! i don't know your real name, though, so i can't google you.

[rojonoir.livejournal.com]

A handy link for foiling google with one level of indirection:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0022627/

another one I like:
http://www.cpan.org/scripts/assorted/firsthack