I discovered a new social network today called DeHood which promised to connect me to my neighbourhood like never before. Why not, I thought. But it just turned out to be a Facebook and Foursquare mashup. Why would I join this network? None of my friends are there. So I left it alone never having posted one DeHood shout.
This happens to me all the time. One of the reasons I didn’t see any value in the social reference management service Mendeley was that it didn’t have what the humanities needed. The flip side of that coin of course was that there wasn’t anyone on that social network that I was remotely interested in getting with intellectually. So I passed on Mendeley as well.
Metcalfe’s Law states that the number of people in a network increases its value. But this is a quandary for me. I have so many friends in Facebook that it’s not just valuable, it’s vital, essential, critical that I remain. Unless an easier way to keep in contact with them all arises, I can’t see myself leaving Facebook until they do. I just hope that my Facebook network appreciates just how valuable they are to me.
Photo Credit: Intersection Consulting
