PUBLISHED: Google offers home 'slave' service amid reports staff fleeing to Facebook

This was a fun one to write and it generated some interesting discussion.

Google offers home 'slave' service amid reports staff fleeing to Facebook:

http://www.news.com.au/technology/google-offers-home-slave-service-amid-reports-staff-fleeing-to-facebook/story-e6frfro0-1225946489374

Has Facebook overtaken Starbucks as the "third space"?

OUT --------> IN

Chief revenue officer for US-based casual games developer and distributor GameHouse, Matt Huttlett, made the point in passing at the Casual Gaming Association's annual conference Casual Connect in July that Facebook has overtaken Starbucks as the "third space".

He was joking, but I think his assertion can be taken seriously on a number of levels.

There is much discussion about how social or anti-social we're becoming because of social media and how our methods of communication have transformed from literal to virtual catch-ups.

Also, we have seen strong trends over the last few years track the rapid rise of social utilities like Facebook that correlate directly to how people spend their free time to relax and unwind.

This graph displays the exponential-like growth of users on Facebook since its launch in 2004:

For so many people to direct significant amounts of time towards this internet site, something (or rather many things) have to give.

In a fast-paced society where time is money it may seem more 'economical' to send a friend a quick shout out on Facebook or chat with them online for 5-10 minutes while on a lunch break, rather than physically catching-up over coffee.

Chances are, you're drinking coffee while you're on Facebook anyway. Starbucks coffee even? So both boxes are ticked, right?

Without getting into details about the psychological and cultural effects of a reliance on Facebook as a substitute for social activity, I think the point can be made that the "third space" is changing.

That place away from home and work where you can relax and while away your free time no longer involves getting in your car or walking down the street to a rendezvous. It can be as easy as getting out your iPhone or Blackberry, or jumping into an internet cafe.

What do you think? Has Facebook overtaken Starbucks (or Gloria Jeans for a more fitting Australian equivalent) as the "third space"? If not Facebook, what?

What is Facebook for?

Facebook has revolutionised communication. People can now 'catch up' on the web and virtually 'keep-in-touch'. Just like phones, social networking sites are a blessing and a curse. They give us easy access to people around the world but make us increasingly impersonal.

As with the introduction of any new piece of technological communication it leads one to ask what it is for and how it should and shouldn't be used.

There is no simple answer, if there is an answer at all, and perhaps possible answers will change over time.

To use myself as a case study, I use Facebook for networking (such as building media and musical theatre contacts as part of my work and social life) and as a convenient way to keep in touch with friends, particularly those interstate and overseas. I can alert friends and professionals to what's happening in my life and vice versa. Facebook, among other things, also provides an easy and efficient way to organise events.

For me, my profile is private and I hardly broadcast personal details that could compromise my safety but I don't see Facebook as the place you congregate only your 'closest' friends (those you'd send a Christmas card to, per say).

On the other hand, some hold their Facebook page sacred for various reasons; I know some who keep a tight lid on their friends because they feel the personal views they express and photos they post may taint their 'professional' image or reputation.

People's profiles function within both extremes of maximum and minimum security, and Facebook fortunately enables each individual to make that choice.

If Facebook is a different utility for different people what can we learn from this?

Perhaps that if you broadcast your personal life for all the world to see you're essentially inviting all sorts of peeping toms, but, also that Facebook doesn't need to be the place to only keep your bosom body lifelong friends.

Then what is the 'socially acceptable' way to use Facebook? How do you negotiate who you accept and decline? Where are the barriers and what determines them?

Because of these many unanswered question it's probably best to respect that people can and do use Facebook in different ways which may not be compatible with our own.

Where do you draw the line for Facebook 'friends'? What motivates you to accept or decline a request?

What is Facebook for?

Ode to the Internet: Hopelessly Devoted to You

The Internet is full of charm, but also sings a siren song.

Move over TV, we now have yet another form of advanced technology to capture first spot for absolute time waster and number one procrastination tool.

It's a lure we love to hate and hate to love: the Internet.

A reoccurring part of my life now consists of checking my email before and/or after work. That 'catching up' method of communication usually occupies a good half hour. However, due to the wonders of the Internet, one link leads to another link which leads to a quick Wikipedia search, leading to another Wikipedia link, to a related search link, a source link, and so the cycle continues until you glance at the clock and you are either late for work or it is hours past your bedtime.

As much as I'd like to believe time passes quicker while on the Internet, it is a cheap cop-out disguising the real problem at hand- how to avoid wasting time that could be better spent elsewhere.

To me, the biggest time-wasters are community boards and social utilities like Facebook. A quick “hello” to catch up on Facebook can lead to a detailed chat about where you are going next holidays, or what you are having for breakfast- since you have talked the whole night away with your six conversations running at once. All the while you are also playing Café World, checkers with your mate from America, uploading photos from the birthday party last weekend, and joining the “I am Going to Marry One of the Men in Jane Austen's Novels” group.

As much as the Internet is an invaluable source of information, and serves as an extensive vehicle for intellectual development, to those lacking some self-control, it is a nasty distraction to making real progress in your life.

Even writing this blog took me a good part of the morning because it sat stationary while I read the amusing posts of university students on the www.boredofstudies.org student community board. One of the topics: “Which uni has most Asians: UNSW or USYD?”, among with “Which faculty do you think is most attractive [at the University of Sydney]?” Intellectual discussion, indeed.

Yes, in sickness and in health, we are hopelessly devoted to the Internet.