Comment by muhfuhkuh | Hacker News Reader

Comment by muhfuhkuh | Hacker News Reader

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"what do I have that's worth actually broadcasting?"

It's an ego-driven medium. All of it: YouTube (when actually done for its intended purpose and not flagrant copyright flouting); facebook/myspace, foursquare, getglue. It's all about what you're doing and more recently _where_ you are when you're doing it. It's about the inherent need for self-fulfillment.

Let's say you have great taste in music. Just by someone noticing your daily playlist, you have an admirer. That admirer might want to know more about you based on that superficial quality, and follow you on your social update tool of choice. It's a tool of communication, much like a phone (actually more like a partyline, but I digress).

When it boils down to it, people need people, and as social creatures, we find every convenient avenue of acquiring and managing our social sphere as we can without expending too much energy. If we didn't care about any of that, hell, we wouldn't ever even comment in HN, right m0nty?

"we wouldn't ever even comment in HN, right m0nty?"

I guessed someone would try to make that point :) You'll notice I rarely do comment here, and I don't on reddit, youtube, Digg, etc. At least here, there is something approaching a conversation. But, Golden Rule: if I have nothing to say, I don't.

But you do acknowledge that you are a user in those networks, correct? You check those sites, and by reading (even without active commenting) you are a participant. Some people project themselves, others observe, that was how social interactions had always been.

> You check those sites

My apologies if I was unclear: I don't check those sites. Also, this insight you have that people are basically social animals, that's not exactly a revelation. But I would contend, along with OP, that our natural sociability is not best served by social networking.

Certainly the ego-driven component you describe is there, but as with group events, there is a balanced version, and then there are the networking whores that don't understand the difference between having a natural connection with someone and "hi my name is X, here's my card, let's have lunch!"

You don't have to post navel-gazing facebook status updates. It is also a very elegant way to share family and friend group photos and plan events.

Do you even remember how hard it was to plan events with Evite? That was incredibly horrible, and yet people were thrilled because it was better than nothing.

I often get good information on Twitter, for example about events happening in my city. I am thankful that some people share the information. Ego driven, I don't know - obviously there are "egos" behind the keyboard, but sharing can be a win for everyone.

Maybe it is just hard to grasp for people who don't understand the concept of "pay forward"?

> Maybe it is just hard to grasp for people who don't understand the concept of "pay forward"?

So ... so I'm a bad person if I don't use Twitter? Seriously?

No, but maybe for not tolerating people who do use it.

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