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How Social Networks May Kill Search as We Know It
mattnyc99 writes "Recently we discussed a startup that's blending social networking with traditional Web search. But now high geek Glenn Derene takes it one step further, pronouncing that our increasingly traceable online footprints will transform Google's dominant algorithm and open up the world of Web search for the 21st century. Speaking to a tuned-in VC guy and scoring a rare interview with Google's VP of search, Derene may have some meat behind his newly-coined term: 'faceboogle.' From the article: 'As we each carve out our individual niche on the Web, the logic of search may well flip inside out. Since we are essentially meta-tagging ourselves through our social networking memberships, shopping habits and surfing addictions, it's conceivable that the information could attempt to find us — the old concept of push media, but in a far more refined way.'"
No, you are not the only one. I know only one person who actually has a membership to a social network, and he tried to get me to sign up as well (MySpace, back when it was new). I signed up, and the only time I went back to the site was to delete my profile. ...and yes, I am under 30.
I find the idea of a social network intriguing, but I have yet to see any value in any of the offerings presently available.
As a 33-year-old, I don't know anyone that uses these stupid social-networking sites, except for some teenagers and college students. It appears to be primarily a phenomenon among the under-24 crowd.
Despite what the other moron who responded to you said, I think you're exactly right. People over the age of 25 simply don't use social networking sites very often, and the per-capita usage probably falls off exponentially with increasing age. It's not a matter of not liking "new" things, it's about being pragmatic and not wasting time on crap which isn't useful. There's tons of older (50+) people who have eagerly taken to the internet, but you won't find any of them on facebook or myspace. They use the internet because it has many useful qualities: finding useful information (wikipedia, etc.), shopping (amazon, etc.), communications (email, something the under-25 crowd doesn't seem to use any more), etc. They don't use social-networking sites because they're a waste of time and they're not useful.