[Air-l] social network migration

[Sam Ladner]

I have just started to follow this thread, so forgive me if this is a
repeat. I have found Facebook to have taken off recently in the Toronto
community. The huge size of the Toronto FB community is now well known:
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=2398302130

I bridge two communities -- academic and interactive private sector. The
interactive types scorn myspace because of its horrible UX.

Facebook however is widely praised for its innovative interface, its use of
latest fast-loading front end coding (e.g., DHTML), and its recent opening
of its API. I find interaction designers frequently use Facebook as an
example and an exemplar of good UX.

Now for the scholarly types, this community seems to be a bit more
fragmented. I know many of these people who have accounts on myspace and
even friendster, in addition to Facebook. I personally have an inactive
friendster account that never ceases to amaze me when I get notices that
someone actually was there. These are slowly dribbling off.

I also find it interesting that NONE of my academic friends use Linkedin,
but my private sector contacts consider it de rigeur. If we are to adapt
Goffman's notion of "the front," I believe each "place" has its own
"scripts" that are attractive to some and unpalatable to others. Perhaps the
linkedin front is too "business-y" for sociologists.